Your ability to delegate begins with your ability to confess - 1 Chronicles 25-29

I run into a lot of people who can't (or, won't) delegate. It is by far the most often identifiable aspect of leadership I am asked to work with my my day job as a leadership executive coach. "I have the biggest trouble delegating," is often the way it is plainly stated. In this section of 1 Chronicles we have David's preparation for the building of the temple. You know the story that He was not allowed to build it because God said he was a man who shed blood (he had Urriah killed immorally and had killed many of God's enemies). Instead of David simply living out is retirement years in bliss he put together what might be the biggest and best leadership transition plan of all ages. He set up someone to take care of every piece of his kingdom, while at the same time preparing everyone to be ready to build the temple under his son Solomon's reign. David didn't take God's message of "no you can't build it," as a reason to sit back and relax. He actually stood before the nation and its leadership and confessed that God had told him "no" and the reason was because of his own failures (28:3). If you want to learn to delegate and be motivated to do so you have to be able to learn to confess your sins and failures before your consistency. God already knows but David's willingness to articulate that God was stopping him from doing one thing because of his failures didn't cause him to fail to do what he could. Delegation and putting others in place to do what you can't is a mark of leadership. David was not stopped by one "no" from God but rather saw it as reason to work harder and celebrate further the mighty character of God (29:10-19). David shows us that our ability to delegate is dependent upon our ability to confess to God and others our inability to "do it all." God has many people in our lives who can do the things we can't if we confess that we can't and ask for help as David did.