1 Samuel, Chapter
14, Verse 24-26
24 Even though the Israelites were exhausted
that day, Saul laid an oath on them, saying, “Cursed be the one who takes food
before evening, before I am able to avenge myself on my enemies.” So none of
the people tasted food. 25 Now there was a honeycomb lying on the ground, 26and when the soldiers came to the comb the
honey was flowing; yet no one raised a hand from it to his mouth, because the
people feared the oath.
Saul was unfaithful and
weak and therefore led his warriors by fear rather than by inspiration. His
main concern was keeping and holding power. Hum…some things don’t change. There
was no humility in him; only hubris. “I” was the first word in his life rather
than saying and living the word of God. Hear,
O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your
God with all your Heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind, and
with all your strength.”
Saul fell because of his
hubris when humility would have saved him. Real leaders are humble. They
realize and appreciate the sacrifices of others and consider it a privilege to
have the honor and trust to lead them.
In our continued study
of John McCain’s book, “Character is Destiny"[1]
having reviewed the characteristics essential to a creative mind we now are
ready to advance to those characteristic of character that are essential to a
person making right judgments. The first characteristic we see from the graph
is that of humility; it being the
foremost crucial element of good judgment; which sadly King Saul was much
lacking in. John McCain’s example for us as the person who was a model of
humility is that of Dwight
D. Eisenhower.
McCain states of Eisenhower:
That Eisenhower rose from an obscure
army officer from rural Kansas made the most important decision of World War
Two and saved the world from Nazi tyranny as the Supreme Allied Commander for forces
that stormed the beaches of Normandy to take back Europe from the forces of
darkness.
As the men of the 101st Airborne
Division lifted their gear, packs weighing over a hundred pounds, and lined up
to board the waiting aircraft Eisenhower shook the hand of their commander,
Brigadier General Max Taylor, one young soldier stopped just before he entered
the plane, turned, and snapped a crisp salute. Supreme Allied Commander General
Dwight David Eisenhower returned the salute and smiled. Then he turned away,
walked to his car, and wept. “It’s very hard,” he said, “to look a soldier in
the eye when you fear you are sending him to his death.” It was seven o’clock
in the evening, June 5, 1944. The men to whom he had just bid farewell were
part of the initial stage of Operation Overlord. As the men of the 101st
Airborne Division lifted their gear, packs weighing over a hundred pounds, and
lined up to board the waiting aircraft, and he shook the hand of their
commander, Brigadier General Max Taylor, one young soldier stopped just before
he entered the plane, turned, and snapped a crisp salute. Supreme Allied
Commander General Dwight David Eisenhower returned the salute and smiled. Then
he turned away, walked to his car, and wept. “It’s very hard,” he said, “to
look a soldier in the eye when you fear you are sending him to his death.” It
was seven o’clock in the evening, June 5, 1944. The men to whom he had just bid
farewell were part of the initial stage of Operation Overlord. One man, and one
man alone, had made the now irreversible decision to launch the greatest air
and seaborne invasion in history, Dwight David Eisenhower. Not all the leading
figures in the Allied cause were as modest, collegial, and selfless as Ike.
Some of them were downright prima donnas, like the vain British general Field
Marshal Bernard Montgomery, who was never satisfied unless he received more
glory and attention than any other general in the field; the prickly Free
French General Charles de Gaulle, whose arrogance and sense of entitlement
vastly exceeded the size of the force he commanded; the great Winston
Churchill, whose sense of destiny, vast knowledge and experience of warfare, and
potent personality could overwhelm the brightest star in his presence.
Eisenhower would have to soothe their egos, take their criticism, settle their
disputes, guide them, encourage them, disappoint them, defend them, and keep
them all working in harness together. Like Marshall, he knew victory would have
to be a team effort. The Allies would have to be far more unified than they had
been in the last war, when jealousy, bickering, and suspicion had contributed
to the deaths of the best part of a generation of the British and French. Many
of the senior Allied commanders who were subordinate to him believed themselves
his superior in experience and ability. Perhaps they were in some respects.
But, as events turned out, no man could have done the job better. It took a
humble man to lead these men and lead he did; not only saving us and the world
from its darkest hour.
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