In the cover of your presence you hide them
from the plots of men; 
you store them in your shelter
from the strife of tongues.

— Psalm 31:20

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Ministry, sadly, can be filled with strife. The thorns of criticism and slander and disunity seem to mark the path of servant leadership. Painful disagreements, thoughtless comments, and endless complaints can easily become the norm in a world of vocal sinners.

There are many ploys the evil one uses to subtly turn us toe to toe when we should be laboring side by side. Over time, we become convinced that we’re engaged in a noble battle with the enemy when in fact we’re merely flailing at one another and having no positive influence on our community besides modeling for onlookers how not to behave.

Too often we focus on preferences instead of principles, backward-looking nostalgia instead of forward-looking mission, picky areas of difference rather than core areas of agreement.

I am thankful, then, for a colleague who recently shared Psalm 31:20 with me.

In the cover of your presence you hide them
   from the plots of men; 
you store them in your shelter
   from the strife of tongues.

“The strife of tongues” can erode the confidence, sap the passion, and demoralize the soul of even the strongest leader. Whenever a leader tries to bring conviction where there was compromise, clarity where there was ambiguity, change where there was stagnancy, unity where there was division, or direction where there was confusion, the talk heats up and the friction increases. “The strife of tongues” can become the dark soundtrack of leadership, and the many sharp verbal thrusts can leave cuts that accumulate and throb and conspire to derail the leader’s focus and even deliver him over to discouragement and despair.

Of course, not all difficult talk is sinful or unhealthy. Many disagreements are necessary, well-intended, and productive under the right circumstances. The best leaders, secure in Christ and marked by love, desire feedback and pushback and sharpening discussion. But there’s still a tendency to turn even the most well-intended conversations into quarrelsome opinion sessions focused on historical hurts and ungodly suspicions and paralyzing ideals rather than unified missional faithfulness. These conversations, spiraling downward as they do, can be exhausting and disillusioning.

Yet God in his kindness has provided shelter for the beleaguered leader. God’s “presence” is a “cover” where the upright man can flee, finding refuge from “the plots of men.” What’s more, God actively “stores” his beloved ones in this protective shelter, bringing us in from the cold blasts of conflict and settling us in the warm family room of his covenant presence.

Accessing this shelter, baring our burdens, and warming our hearts in this family room are vital disciplines to cultivate, lest the constant war of words outside hamster-wheel us into a weariness that reaches deep into the bones.

Sometimes we wonder why good men give up, why noble politicians retire early and cease trying to fix what’s broken, why well-respected men and women transition honorably but dejectedly from successful leadership positions, why loving and faithful pastors give up the ministry. So often it’s due to the stresses of leadership and the deep discouragement that comes when a leader realizes that all the bluster and blather assaulting his ears each week is simply a byproduct of an abiding lethargy choke-holding his community into a semi-consciousness that’s lost all awareness of the dignity, necessity, and urgency of its mission in the world.

If you’re in this place, know that God has a place for you. It is “the cover of his presence.” It’s a place where you may hide, at any time and at all times. It’s a place where, rather than giving up, you enter in, and find yourself wrapped in the warm embrace of a Father whose voice is always and only for your good. Here “the plots of men” have no power, and “the strife of tongues” holds no sway. Here there is ample balm for all the cuts you endure as you lead people along the thorn-infested paths of our fallen world.

If you’re ministering amidst conflict, I implore you to find this shelter at all costs, and know that it is more present than the ever-present conflict you endure.

In the cover of your presence you hide them
   from the plots of men; 
you store them in your shelter
   from the strife of tongues.