We live in times of great cynicism about leaders.

From politicians to leaders in business and entertainment and spiritual leaders,

we find ourselves surrounded by stories of leadership failures.

Yet, even in our growing suspicions, our closeheartedness toward leaders,

we cannot be done with the idea of leadership.

It is both a practical necessity and it's a deep longing of the human heart.

God made us to be led.

We were made for true leaders, for good leaders, and we ache for them.

For leaders who will bless their followers and seek the good of their followers

rather than use them.

And this angst about leaders in our times makes Psalm 72 an especially relevant word for us.

And not just as humans, and not just as those who are alive in 2023,

but in particular for us as a church, as we'll see.

Psalm 72 is a prayer for the ideal leader.

And it's the 3,000 year old prayer cast in the terms of ancient Israel.

We'll try to wade through that.

And yet the vision is strikingly timeless.

Both in terms of its ultimate fulfillment and in terms of its personal application to us

in our various roles and manifestations of leadership.

We all are led.

So this is relevant.

And most of us serve as leaders in some aspect of our lives,

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