Great Expectations Jan Vickers. March 2009. The Big Year.

Introduction

This essay has been influenced by an article called Great Expectations published in on 20th January 2009 written by Derek Draper1. I will be looking at the great expectations being put upon Barack Obama at the beginning of his presidency of the US and our tendency to look to leaders, both political and spiritual, to fulfil our longings. I will comment on how they will inevitably fail and disappoint us and conclude that the only sure place to put our hope is in God alone. I will also look at what our approach to leaders should be and how God uses them even in their imperfections.

The Expectations on Political Leaders

On Tuesday 20th January 2009 Barack Obama became the 44th President of the USA. There were over 2 million people in the crowd in Washington itself and an estimated 1.5 billion in the TV audience, all wanting to note this moment in history when finally after a past of slavery and segregation the first black president was sworn in. Emotions ran high as “the capital was engulfed in a frenzied and irresistible party spirit...”2 as “...some wept, some fainted and some were paralyzed with fear. “3 In President Obama’s inaugural speech he reflected on the areas of life where he desired to bring about change :the economy, money markets, foreign policy, human rights, race and religious intolerance, science and the environment, defence, government, values and the Third World.4

President Obama “brought with him to his presidency the most massive burden of expectation of possibly any world leader in modern times.”5 To his credit he attempted to bring a sense of reality to proceedings by outlining the difficulties as well as the hopes and dreams of the current world situation. Maybe even the fluffing of his lines as he was sworn in was a symbol that he was ‘just a man’ and not the messiah that the people were hoping for.

In Britain too we have had our own examples of great expectations being put on our politicians. When Margaret Thatcher became the first female Prime Minister in 1979 there was huge expectation on her. Yet her famous speech to the Conservative Party Conference in 1980 “the lady is not for turning”, meant to invoke a sense of stability and resoluteness of purpose, soon developed into a perception of The Iron Lady as intransigent and unyielding. When she was eventually ousted from office by her own cabinet in 1990 the country was desperate for a change.6 7

1 Draper, Derek. Great Expectations. The Guardian Newspaper, 20.01.09. 2 Leonard, Tom. From Freezing Dawn to Chilly Dusk they watched history being made. , 21.01.09. 3 Applebaum, Anne. Remaking America. The Daily Telegraph, 21.01.09. 4 Harinden, Toby. New Leader Promises a new era. The Daily Telegraph, 21.01.09. 5 Heffer, Simon. The words of a serious man ready to face up to hard reality. The Daily Telegraph. 21.01.09. 6 www.bbc.co.uk/history. Historic Figures. Margaret Thatcher. 7 www.biographyonline.net/politicians/uk/margaret-thatcher. In 1997 along came , a landslide victory for the youngest Prime Minister in 200 years. Brain Whelan describes the approach of ‘just call me Tony’ as “the bright, young, charismatic messianic figure the country longed for” – a man who appeared to understand the people and would deliver what they hoped for. “His specific praises were modest in scope, but his rhetoric was dizzying. He promised nothing less than a country reborn, sweeping away the ‘sleaze’ and drift of the Major years. And he deployed all of his charm and charisma on TV chat shows showing himself to be a natural in front of the cameras.”8 If the ‘lady was not for turning’ then here was a man who appeared to be telling papers what they wanted to hear, one minute being anti-euro, another minute a Europhile. This led to a pleading to be trusted but resulted eventually in “things [getting] so bad that even when Blair was saying something obvious, he was disbelieved.”9

These two examples show politicians who were greeted rapturously by the population with hopes of great transformation of society for good and yet eventually they were perceived critically. Will President Obama, currently taking up office, be able to deliver the expectations that the people have put upon him? Or will the result be disappointment, disillusionment and cynicism? Derek Draper says that by idealising Obama so much we are “engineering our own inevitable disappointment. Instead of enjoying what he achieves, we will end up comparing his time in office not with what went before, or even what might have reasonably been expected but with our own impossible fantasies.”10

Our Longings for Perfection

Picking up on those last words “impossible fantasies” indicates we are subconsciously searching for the “all-attentive parent we felt we could rely upon completely”11, or a perfect employer, romantic partner, a national leader, or a church pastor who could put everything right for us and the world. Donald Winnicott, a psychoanalyst, coined the phrase “good enough father or mother”12 which is the best any of us can hope to either have had as a child ourselves or become for our own children. Having a ‘good enough’ politician, employer, husband, wife, friend, or church leader should be ‘good enough’, providing us with room to grow and develop for ourselves. Following this idea, ‘good enough’ is actually better than perfect. And yet we still have this longing for perfection both within us and in the world around us, looking for someone to fulfil those needs for utter goodness and love. Perhaps the fact that our authority figures are only ‘good enough’ gives us the space to exercise free will in our search for God.

The Bible story is a narrative of man’s loss of that perfect love and life, the search in man’s heart for a world of order driven by love and the desire of the Father to restore that to his children. That longing is for the outer decaying man to be renewed in the inner man, for the momentary light affliction to be replaced with an eternal weight of glory and the earthly tent to be changed into a home in eternity13, a longing to be clothed in immortality.14 Even creation itself is groaning, bringing

8 Wheelon, Brian. The Tony Blair Story. www/news.bbc.co.uk. 9 Mar, Andrew. How Blair put the media into a spin. May 2007. BBC News Chanel. www/news.bbc.co.uk. 10 Draper, Derek. Great Expectations. The Guardian Newspaper, 20.01.09. 11 Draper, Derek. Great Expectations. The Guardian Newspaper, 20.01.09. 12 www.changingminds.org. Donald Winnicott. 13 2 Cor 4:16 14 2 Cor 5:8 it from slavery to corruption – the failure of human solutions, the basic falleness of the world – into freedom.15

Where can we put our hope?

So if our longing is for perfection and even the best of our human leaders are neither perfect in themselves nor able to deliver perfection, should we be putting our hope in them? The Bible would say that is not where our primary trust should be placed but rather in God alone. “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.”16

Trusting in man will not defeat the enemies we come up against or lead us into true freedom. “Oh give us help against the adversary for deliverance by man is vain. Through God we shall do valiantly and it is He who will tread down our adversaries.”17

Many nations look to the strength of their military but Isaiah 31:1 speaks of “woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses and chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong but they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord.”18 It also shows the weakness of military strength in comparison to the strength of God: “No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.”19 It is in trusting in God rather than our leaders’ weapons, skills, possessions, earning power, professions, personality and might that we will see victory. “Some boast in chariots and some in horses but we will boast in the name of the Lord our God.”20 “Through You we push back our enemies; through Your name we trample our foes. I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; but You give us victory over our enemies; You have put our adversaries to shame.”21

The outward appearance, the charismatic personality and physical attractiveness do not guarantee that a leader can be trusted. When Samuel was looking to anoint a leader from among the sons of Jesse he saw Eliab but the Lord said to Samuel “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”22 Nor can those be trusted that are not humble and have no integrity. “Blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust and has not turned to the proud nor to those who lapse into falsehood.”23

15 Rom 8:18-23 16 Ps 118:8-9 (NASB) 17 Ps 60:9-12 (NASB) 18 Is 31:1 (NASB) 19 Ps 33: 16-19 (NIV) 20 Ps 20:7 (NASB) 21 Ps 44: 5-7 (NASB) 22 1 Sam 16:7 (NASB) 23 Ps 40:4 (NASB) Turning to God in trust rather than to man delivers the prosperity of both soul and land that people long for. Psalm 146 is a Psalm telling of the outcome in society of those who choose to trust God. “Do not trust in princes, in mortal man in whom there is no salvation (v3) ...how blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob whose hope is in the Lord his God (v5)”. There then follows a list of the benefits: faithfulness, executing justice for the oppressed, feeding the hungry, setting prisoners free, opening blind eyes, raising up the bowed down, loving of goodness, protecting strangers, and supporting orphans and widows. This sounds very much like the aspirations the people have for the Obama presidency to fulfil. We know that there will be disillusionment in man, yet “He who believes in God will not be disappointed.”24

The place of flawed leaders in the story of God

In Matthew 9:36 we read that “seeing the people, [Jesus ] felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.”25 He knew the results of having no leadership. In Ezekiel 34:1-10 we see the distress of God over bad shepherding where the leaders live for themselves and have left the sheep hungry ,sickly, diseased, broken, scattered ,dominated and lost. The Lord is so moved with compassion that He feeds and cares for the sheep Himself (vs 11-22) until he finds a leader he trusts for them and He sets David as their Shepherd (v23).

We have examples throughout the Bible of God using flawed leaders for his purposes. The pagan King Artaxerxes appointed Ezra as the head of a delegation of leading men, opened up his treasury and gave Ezra all that he needed to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem.26 He also gave favour to Nehemiah in his desires to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, releasing him from his service, and giving him letters of favour and safety, practical provision of timber and an army of horsemen.27 A political leader who is not necessarily of our Christian persuasion is still able to be used by God to extend his kingdom.

We also see leaders who went through incredible transformations. In Daniel 3 we see Nebuchadnezzar make a golden image of himself and command the people to worship it. But God changed him so much that by the end of Daniel 4 Nebuchadnezzar makes this declaration: “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honour the King of heaven, for all his works are true and his ways just and he is able to humble those who walk in pride.”28 The apostle Paul was also a man who went through an incredible change from a man who was “cruel to God’s church and even tried to destroy it”29to a great apostle building up the church and encouraging the faith throughout all the generations since.

There were of course good leaders, such as Deborah30 who was also a prophet, who would sit under a palm tree and settle legal cases for the Israelites and who with Barak led the army to victory against Sisera. David, a man “who play[ed] skilfully, a valiant man, a man of war, prudent in speech

24 Rom 9:33 (NASB) 25 Matt 9:36 (NASB) 26 Ezra 7:20 27 Neh 2:5-9 28 Dan 4:37 (NASB) 29 Gal 1:13(CEV) 30 Judges 4 and eloquent, an attractive person: and the Lord was with him”31, exercised great courage in the slaying of Goliath32, was a loyal friend to Jonathan33, was a true worshipper of God34 and through wisdom and strength brought in the Golden Age in Israel. And yet he too failed morally in his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of her husband.35 His repentance and restoration to God brought him to a place where, despite his faults, he was seen as a great king, a man after God’s own heart. Understanding and forgiveness for those of our leaders who have fallen is important – God may yet have great things to do in them and through them.

Other leaders started off in a good place with God but fell towards the end of their time. Though fearful in himself, God called Gideon “a mighty man of valour.”36 He defeated the Midianites37 and earned himself a place in the Hebrews’ Hall of Fame.”38 Yet, despite rejecting the offering of a crown to rule, made a pagan ephod of gold which the people worshipped and “it became a snare to Gideon and his family.”39 Solomon was a wise and just king who reigned for four decades. He was an extravagant builder, a successful diplomat and an important trader in the region and brought unprecedented stability, prosperity and national unity to Israel. Yet, also in the long run, he oppressed the people and was tolerant of pagan worship which in his later years turned his heart from God.40 “As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth ...and Molech...so Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.”41

How should we regard our leaders?

It is too easy to have such high expectations of our leaders that we set ourselves up for disappointment and end up in cynicism and bitterness. Despite being inevitably flawed, the role of leadership both in political terms and in church structures is certainly put in place by God.42 What then should our attitudes be to those in authority over us? The Scriptures exhort us to be praying for those in authority43, to submit to them44, to be working respectfully for our employers45, to give “double honour”46 to our church leaders, and to “obey your leaders and submit to them for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief

31 1 Sam 16:18 (NIV) 32 1 Sam 17 33 1 Sam 18: 1-4 34 2 Sam 6 35 2 Sam 11 36 Judges 6:12 (NIV) 37 Judges 7 38 Heb 11:32 39 Judges 8:27 40 Who’s Who In The Bible – An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary. The Readers Digest Association. USA 1994. 41 1 Kings 11: 4-6 (NIV) 42 Acts 20:28 43 1 Tim 2: 1-4 44 1 Pet 2:13-18 45 1 Tim 6:1-2 46 1 Tim 5:17 for this would be unprofitable for you.”47 There is a mutuality of benefit in having an honouring relationship with those in authority.

Expanding on this theme of the responsibilities of the people to their leaders and the leaders to their people would be the subject of another study, as would dealing with our disappointments and how to avoid entrenching ourselves in unhelpful and even damaging defensiveness.

Conclusion

There are four key conclusions to draw from this study. Firstly, it is good to have expectations of our leaders as long as those expectations are not impossibly high as this will only lead to disappointment which can turn to bitterness and be very destructive. Secondly , only God can ultimately fulfil both the longings of our hearts and our longings for our society; therefore we need to put our hope in Him. Thirdly, God will use all leaders, whether Christian or pagan, upright or flawed. And finally, our response to all leaders should be to pray for them, to bless and honour them, to forgive them and to be counter-cultural in our positive, supportive and non-cynical attitude. This will be to the blessing and benefit of both us and our society.

Bibliography

Amplified Bible. Zondervan. 1987. Michigan. Applebaum, Anne. Remaking America. The Daily Telegraph. 21.01.09 Contemporary English Version Bible. 2001. HarperCollins. . Draper, Derek. Great Expectations. The Guardian Newspaper. 20.01.09. Harnden, Toby. New Leader Promises a New Era. The Daily Telegraph. 21.01.09 Leonard, Tom. From Freezing Dawn To Chilly Dusk They Watched History Being Made. The Daily Telegraph. 21.01.09. Marr, Andrew. How Blair Put the Media Into a Spin. May 2007. BBC News Channel. www.news.bbc.co.uk. New American Standard Bible. 1995. The Lockman Foundation. New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Holman Bible Publishers. 1981. Tennessee. New Bible Commentary Revised. IVP. 1970. Leicester. New Inductive Study Bible. 2000. Harvest House Publishers. Oregon. New International Version Bible. 1978. Hodder and Stoughton, Great Britain. NIV Complete Concordance. Goodrick & Kohlenberg. Hodder & Stoughton. 1983. Great Britain. Wheelan, Brian. The Tony Blair Story. www.news.bbc.co.uk. Whose Who In The Bible – An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary. The Readers Digest Association. 1994. USA. www.bbc.co.uk/history. Historic Figures. Margaret Thatcher www.biographyonline.net/politicians/uk/margaret-thatcher. www.changingminds.org.DonaldWinnicott

47 1 Tim 5:17