Favour And Union

 Favour and Union

I pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, hence the afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Favour and the other I called Union; so I pastured the flock.

ZECHARIAH 11.7

This obscure verse hidden away among the Minor Prophets gives a powerful prescription for godly leadership. Zechariah described taking a flock from the greedy shepherds who had controlled them. The first thing he did was to select two shepherd staffs. One he called “Favour,” and the other he called “Union.”

What tools for leadership in the hands of every godly leader! Favor is the disposition of kindness toward those you lead. It is closely related to grace in that it is an expression of loving concern for those in your charge.

Union refers to a binding together between the shepherd and those he leads. A godly leader doesn’t stand aloof and disconnected. His life is intertwined with those he leads because he genuinely cares about them. He doesn’t say, “Go do this,” but “Let’s go do this!”

Apply these principles in your leadership of those under your charge and you will be behaving like another Great Shepherd. Favour and Union are His staffs too.