You will recall the story of King Saul who, charged with eliminating the Amalekites, spared the best of the spoil and took the king captive as a kind of political trophy. Confronted by Samuel concerning why he had not accomplished the task appointed to him by the Lord, Saul blamed the people. He claimed that he had done everything right, but the people had taken the spoil and, well, what could he do (1 Samuel 15)?

Yesterday President Obama established a bi-partisan commission to find out why the government can't seem to pay for its programs and just keeps spending money hand-over-fist anyway. This from the man who last week presented a budget to Congress with more than $1.3 trillion in deficits, and who raised the country's debt ceiling to its highest level ever. Shouldn't the President just sit down with himself, take a long look in the mirror, and ask, "Hey, Obama, what's the deal? Why can't you control yourself? Why do you insist on spending more money than the nation will ever have?"

I don't know; perhaps he's done that, and perhaps appointing this commission will give him time to deflect the heat from himself to someone else, maybe even the commission. Or maybe the commission will come up with a "bi-partisan recommendation" to raise taxes, and then the President can throw yet another campaign promise overboard. At any rate, just like King Saul, President Obama is refusing to be a leader, refusing to take responsibility yet again, and looking around for someone else to blame for the nation's ills.

This is not leadership. This is not the stuff we expect of a President. Meanwhile, across town, conservative politicians assembled en masse, not to demonstrate their ability to lead the country - in my view, nearly as questionable as that of Mr. Obama - but to point the finger of blame and derision at the President. Real mature.

Are there any leaders left out there? Have all the prophets retired? Are we waiting from some real leader to be discovered out among his father's flocks somewhere - someone who'll take on the giants at the risk of life and reputation, clinging to nothing more than, "This is what the Lord says"?.

I don't think that's likely any time soon, either. The leaders this nation needs for tomorrow won't be reared on the "blame someone else" mindset of America's current political class. They will be born in the fires of revival, nurtured in the classroom of spiritual discipline, thrust into leadership through lives of loving service, and proven as the men and women of God they claim to be by lives of holiness and Truth.

But where are the churches that will be the nurseries for such leaders?

T. M. Moore