Qualifications

“The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.” Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel ‭16:1-7 ‭ESV‬‬

When you read the passage above you can see that even a devout man like Samuel can be fooled. When he looked at Jesse's oldest son, Eliab, he naturally assumed that God must have chosen this noble and strong young man to be the Lord's chosen anointed leader. But the Lord makes it crystal clear in the above passage that the people He chooses to do great things for Him are called on the basis of inward character, not on the basis of their outward appearance and impressive resume. 

If you read on through verses 8-11, you will find that David's dad, Jesse, didn't even include him in the line up of his sons. He was a complete afterthought to Jesse. But qualification for leadership is not measured by how tall you are, how much you weigh, or the background you have listed on your resume. 

So what does God look for?

God's qualifications for leadership are evident in verse 7.

  “And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.”1 Kings ‭3:6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

And goes on to show in 1st Kings 11:4-6 how quickly a leader can fall away from the center of God's will. 

“For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done.” 1 Kings‬ ‭11:4-6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Whatever else qualifies people for leadership, no one is qualified by the standard God has until their heart is ready. The leader's prayer and their focus must center solely on God. Their skills, intelligence, and hard work are all part of the package but God reminds us all that, in His final analysis, one thing makes all the difference...God looks at the heart.