How confident do you feel as a Christian leader? I’m not talking about eternity, by the way — that is, your assurance of salvation — but about here and now. How confident are you as you face your immediate future?

In fact, let’s try to quantify your feeling. On a scale of 1 to 10, one being a total lack of confidence and 10 being absolute confidence, how do you rate your confidence level? On most days, I score well enough. Not a 10 by any stretch of the imagination, or even a nine, but never below a five either. How about you?

Now let’s get to the really important question: Why? What is the basis for your confidence as a Christian leader? This is the really important question. After all, if your “why” is determined by your circumstances, then your confidence level will rise and fall as those circumstances change. Because circumstances always change, however, we need a better basis for our confidence as leaders.

In Psalm 62, King David points to where all believers, but especially leaders, should put their confidence. His advice is not the result of academic theorizing but hard-won experience. Over the course of 12 verses, he directs our attention to one hope, two problems, and three divine attributes.

One Hope
David begins the psalm with this affirmation: “Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation, I will never be shaken” (verse 1). In other words, the basis of our confidence as Christian leaders — our one hope — is God. As David puts it: “my hope comes from him” (verse 5).

“Well, duh,” I can hear you saying. “Of course our hope is in God! What else is new?” True, hope in God is basic Christian theology, but how often do we forget this theology in the teeth of adversity?

For example, think of the last time you experienced serious conflict in your church. How much time did you spend praying about it, personally and with others? Did you follow biblical principles about confrontation and conflict resolution? Did you search the Scriptures diligently to see if they could shine a light on a substantive resolution of the underlying problem?

In my experience as a pastor and as an observer of other pastors, I’m always amazed at how often these three things get shortchanged in Christian leadership. We affirm the importance of prayer, theology and biblical principles verbally, but then we turn to leadership gurus, management books, business principles and psychological techniques to actually solve the problem. Our gospel message becomes tangential to our leadership methods, which is not a good place to be as a Christian leader. Shouldn’t how we lead be shaped by what — or better, whom — we believe in?

That is David’s point. He describes God throughout the psalm as our “rest,” “salvation,” “rock,” “fortress,” “hope,” “honor” and “mighty rock” (verses 1,2,5-8). This is good theology. But in the midst of adversity, as David's leadership was being challenged by his enemies, he reminds both himself and others to operationalize that theology: “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge” (verse 8, emphasis added).

The temptation Christian leaders must face down is allowing our heads to believe that God is our hope while our hearts long for worldly success and our hands put secular methodologies to work in our congregations. Such a split between an orthodox head, a worldy heart and secular hands is the essence of practical atheism. If God is the Rock, we must lean into Him in all areas of life, including leadership.

He is our one hope.

Two Problems
That one hope is sorely tested by two problems that David goes on to identify: the problem of evil and the problem of futility.

The problem of evil is this: Bad things happen to good people. David speaks about this problem in verses 3 and 4. Specifically, he talks about violence, dishonesty and hypocrisy. “How long will you assault me?” he asks his adversaries, who want to “throw [him] down” and “topple him.” Perhaps he is speaking about an intended or attempted coup d’état here. “[T]hey take delight in lies,” he says. These adversaries must have been close to David, for he notes that with “their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse.”

The problem of futility is this: Everything has a shelf life. David speaks about this problem in verses 9 and 10. He describes life as “a breath” and a “lie.” The point, it seems to me, is that life seems permanent while we live it, but whether “lowborn” or “highborn,” we all die. Additionally, the wealth we accumulate in this life — whether honestly or not — doesn’t follow us into the life to come. Consequently, David says, “though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.”

These aren’t just philosophical problems for Christian leaders. They’re existential ones — they affect us at the core of who we are. You start a ministry and see it grow. It’s your baby, your passion, the time-intensive investment of your working hours. Then some pastoral staffer or board member or layperson comes along and tries to take it from you. Or, having succeeded in that endeavor and been promoted to another, you see your successor kill the ministry you started through incompetence or indifference or their own supposedly “better” ministry.

David was a man after God’s own heart because he always turned to God, confident that God would be there to meet his present need.

Been there, done that? I have. You probably have too. It’s quite a punch in the gut, isn’t it?

Look, I’m not trying to convince you that ministry is all slog and no joy. There are moments of luminous joy, a divine gift. And I’m not trying to tell you that can’t be reasonably confident in yourself and your colleagues. I’ve discovered what I’m good at and try to spend my working hours doing that. Plus, my best working relationships — and perhaps yours — are testament to what God can do with a pastoral team seeking His will together.

What I am trying to convince you is not to place your confidence solely in self, others or circumstances. Bad stuff happens. Everything has a shelf life. Except God. He’s good all the time, and He never changes.

Three Divine Attributes
If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice I’ve quietly set up a dilemma. Following David, I’ve stated that God is our one hope. Also following David, I’ve pointed out that ministry (and life more generally) is beset with evil and futility. The question is, how can God be our one hope in the face of such problems?

David answers that question in verses 11 and 12: “One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: ‘Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord is unfailing love’; and ‘You reward everyone according to what they have done.’” We know that God can deliver us in, through, and out of adversity because He is a God of power, love, and justice.

Indeed, it’s the combination of these three attributes that gives us confidence in God. Power: God can deliver us. Love: God wants to deliver us. Justice: God remembers our work and will reward our faithfulness (Matthew 16:27). Take away any of these attributes and our confidence falters. Keep them together, and you realize that evil and futility themselves have a shelf life. They will be “swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54, cf. Isaiah 25:8).

Knowing this, who can fail to be filled with confidence in God? Compared to what He will do for us, any adversities we experience now — in ministry or life — are “light and momentary” (2 Corinthians 4:17). And having confidence, how can we not approach our adversities with a different mentality and skill set?

God describes David as “a man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22). I often struggle to figure out why God would describe David, violent and sexually immoral as he was, in that exalted manner. What I’ve settled on is this: David was a man after God’s own heart because, whatever he was doing, he turned to God. Exhausted by his labors, he turned to God as his rest. Hounded by his enemies, he turned to God as his refuge and his fortress. Ashamed of his failures, he turned to God as his honor. Guilty because of his sins, he turned to God for his salvation.

David was a man after God’s own heart because he always turned to God, confident that God would be there to meet his present need.

That’s the kind of confidence we need Christian leaders to cultivate most. Not as a substitute for honing our craft as preachers or refining our wisdom as counselors or cultivating our skills as managers, but rather, as their foundation, the “mighty rock” on which all else depends.