…Josiah read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant… (2 Kings 23:2).
The leader must go first.
The leader must go big.
The leader must be visible.
The leader must be consistent.
This is the only way to affect real change.
Josiah did this extremely well. In fact, he did it better than any other king!
Josiah called all the people together and read “in their hearing” God’s word. Then he made it his own and took a public stand to confirm it (v. 3). Josiah went first, and “then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.”
The rest of Josiah’s reign is punctuated by telltale phrases like:
in accordance with the Word of the Lord
as it is written in this book of the covenant
fulfilled the requirements of the law
Here’s one of the most amazing things to me: Josiah’s wholehearted obedience to God ends up fulfilling perfectly a 300-year-old prophecy that God gave through a prophet of Judah (v. 16; 1 Kings 13:1-3).
A mark of a godly leader is his public alignment with God’s Word.
When the leader goes public and then wholeheartedly follows through on his commitment to God, others will follow his lead. May all of us be that kind of pacesetting leader.
This is part 51 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here.
Some of the most formative leadership books I read early in my leadership journey were written by J. Oswald Sanders. Books like Spiritual Maturity and Spiritual Leadership. It’s my desire to be a lifelong learner, and in that pursuit, I need an external, objective source to help keep me on track. Sanders’ book A Spiritual Clinic is just the check-up I needed!
In the physical world, we may get a check-up from our primary care physician, a counseling session with a mental health professional, or perhaps a regular check-up with a spiritual advisor like a pastor or mentor. All of these are healthy if they are all grounded in the principles in God’s Word.
Sanders brings us to his spiritual clinic for a well-rounded check-up of our spiritual leadership. He says, “[This book’s] thesis is that the complex strains and problems which the Christian worker encounters in the contemporary world find their answer, not in tranquilizers or stimulants, but in a correct understanding and application of scriptural principles, and effectiveness in Christian work is the natural outcome of conformity to spiritual laws enunciated in the Scriptures.”
So “doctor” Sanders holds up the mirror of God’s Word to our activities to see how we are performing in light of God’s standards. He addresses topics like stress, learning, suffering, depression, spiritual ups-and-downs, and our conscience. He zeros-in on leadership topics like ambition, authority, discipleship, use of time, and understanding God’s calling.
Each chapter is short but packed with so many principles that it should take you quite a while to evaluate and implement. This is time well spent!
It seems like these two things go together: leadership and grumbling. Sadly, it is usually an ugly, downward spiral: people grumble against those in leadership, the leaders feel the need to defend themselves and typically respond angrily, which causes even more grumbling against those in leadership. And down goes the spiral!
It doesn’t have to be this way. And it should neverbe this way among Christians!
Grumbling can be deadly for grumblers, but it doesn’t have to be for godly leaders.
(What does it mean to be a “godly leader”? I have an ongoing series of posts with the consistent theme “A mark of a godly leader is…” catalogued here.)
I have been friends with Greg Heeres for nearly 30 years. During that time we have truly lived out the truism from wise King Solomon, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”
Greg and I have partnered together on both for-profit and non-profit ventures. We learned together, sharpened each other, and are both better off because of our close friendship.
Now it’s time for us to give back to others.
I’m so excited to announce a new podcast series we are launching on YouTube in just a couple of weeks. It’s called “The Craig And Greg Show.” We are passionate about investing in emerging leaders so each podcast is a short conversation designed to help sharpen leaders.
Check out the Maximize Leadership channel—both our website and our YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe and click the bell on YouTube so that you are notified when each episode posts.
You can also get in touch with us through Twitter and Facebook.
When Shechem…saw Dinah, he took her and he raped her (Genesis 34).
There is no doubt that what Shechem did to Diana was abhorrent. The text is full of reminders:
an outrageous thing
a thing that should not be done
Dinah had been defiled
their sister had been defiled
he treated our sister like a prostitute
Shechem never admits to his wrongdoing. We don’t even know if he told his father Hamor what he had done. Dinah was being kept in the city away from her family, so she didn’t tell her father Jacob. Somehow, however, Jacob found out and his response is curious: he did nothing about it (v. 5). Even as Shechem and Hamor address Jacob’s family, it’s Diana’s brothers who reply deceitfully, so either Jacob has left the meeting or he is still sitting there silently.
Levi and Simeon have the same mother as Dinah. Their reaction to their sister’s defilement is extreme—they kill every male in Shechem’s hometown!
Since Shechem hadn’t even mentioned his crime to his father, it’s possible that the rape of Dinah has been kept a secret from the rest of the citizens of his city. Perhaps if the other city leaders had found out, Shechem alone would have been punished, instead of the whole city being wiped out.
Jacob’s silence and inaction to this injustice prompted an overreaction by his sons.
When a leader’s response is inappropriate to injustice, the followers’ response is likely to become even more so. Injustices must be dealt with in a God-honoring way: quickly and appropriately.
A mark of a godly leader is his appropriate and timely reaction to injustices.
This is part 50 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here.
Some of my favorite books to read are in the categories of history and leadership. Five Presidents by Clint Hill is a treasure-trove of both history and leadership, giving us a front-row seat to the leadership styles of five United States presidents.
Mr. Hill was on the presidential protection detail for Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford. During his time, America experienced several “firsts” and Mr. Hill was right there to see them firsthand. During this time in our country’s history, only one of these presidents was elected, reelected, and finished both of his terms as president: Dwight Eisenhower. President Kennedy was assassinated, President Johnson finished JFK’s term but withdrew from running for reelection, President Nixon resigned during his second term, and President Ford became the only president to serve as both president and vice president without being elected to either office and then was defeated in his reelection bid.
Five Presidents is not only an eye-opening, behind-the-scenes look at key historical events during the 1960s and ’70s, but it is also an informative study on the different leadership styles of these five unique men. Eisenhower ran the executive branch like a general, Kennedy was an idealist, Johnson used brute force, Nixon started off well and allowed his own insecurities to derail him, and Ford served as the “ordinary man” trying to clean up the mess left by his predecessor.
Mr. Hill also documents the changes in the operations of the Secret Service. When he began his assignment, there were no bullet-proof presidential vehicles, no protection for presidential candidates (only elected officials), no permanent residence for the vice president, and no Air Force Two. By the time he retired, all of these things—and many more—had been implemented.
Whether you enjoy history, leadership, or presidential biographies, Five Presidents will be a highly enjoyable and informative book for you.
…Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her (1 Samuel 28:7).
How sad for King Saul! But this is the inevitable path for one who was put into his leadership position by God and then completely turned his back on God.
God did so much over so many years to try to get Saul to turn back to Him, but Saul persisted in his self-sufficiency. As Paul wrote in Galatians, “A man reaps what he sows.” Militarily, Saul had one shining moment: delivering the people of Jabesh Gilead. The closing words of 1 Samuel show us the valiant man from Jabesh conducting a covert nighttime mission to remove the bodies of Saul and his sons from the Philistines, and then giving them a proper burial. Just imagine how many more valiant men may have been around if Saul had continually obeyed God!
Now, nearing the end of his life, Saul is at his wits’ end: God is not answering him by any means he tries. As a result, this final chapter of Saul’s leadership is characterized by words like:
afraid
terror filled his heart
great distress
filled with fear
his strength was gone
Until King Saul ultimately takes his own life.
The consequences of Saul’s sinful self-sufficiency impacted more than just him. A leader’s sins have devastating effects on his followers. Throughout Saul’s reign as king we see the army fearful, hesitant, ill-equipped, slinking away, confused, set up for failure, and ultimately defeated. Saul could never get out of his own way, taking Israel down with him.
A mark of a godless leader is sinful self-sufficiency.
How sad for Saul and Israel. Especially because Saul’s demise was totally avoidable if he only would have repented of his pride and turned wholeheartedly to God.
This is a sober reminder for all leaders:if God has put you in a place of leadership, you will experience success. Don’t let that success fool you, as it did with Saul, into thinking you created that success. This is the first step toward the downward slide that ultimately destroyed Saul, and it will be your undoing as well.
This is part 49 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here.
…all of them were leaders of the Israelites (Numbers 13:3).
Caleb and Joshua were two of the ten leaders who were sent out to explore the land of Canaan in advance of the Israelites’ crossing the Jordan River.
One of their areas of exploration was Hebron, the city where God first promised this land to Abraham and his descendants. It was here that the explorers saw the giants of Anak. Next, they went to the Valley of Eschol and took a sample of the gigantic-sized fruit. The explorers all experienced the same journey, but they did not all come to the same conclusion.
Ten of the explorer said, “The food is gigantic but so are the people. We cannot defeat them!” (13:26-29)
“Then Caleb silenced” those naysayers and said, “We can do it!” And Joshua joined Caleb in declaring, “Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them” (13:30; 14:6-9).
The majority rules, right?
No! God did not send them in as a committee to vote on His plan. God had already said, “Take possession of the land”—that wasn’t up for debate or vote!
The naysayers said, “It looks like a good land, but….”
Caleb and Joshua said, “They look like giants, but….”
The majority saw the negatives and made excuses. They saw their situation as bigger than God.
The minority saw God as bigger than the giants. God by Himself is always the Majority. Always. My vote doesn’t change a thing. In fact, I don’t even get a vote! My only decision is whether or not to trust God and obey Him. Obedience—faithful, trusting obedience in God’s word—puts me on God’s side.
A mark of a godly leader is one who makes sure he is always on God’s side.
This is part 48 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here.
In May 1917, the British war cabinet was divided. Some of the generals wanted to continue a combined assault on the German forces, but other generals saw the need to confront the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. They selected General Edmund Allenby to lead the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force against the Turks.
Allenby’s forces were able to quickly recapture Jerusalem, but the Turks had entrenched themselves at Micmash Megiddo, allowing them a place to launch counterattacks. As battle plans were being contemplated, Major Vivian Gilbert came to Allenby with an unorthodox solution. Major Gilbert was a student of history, and he remembered the name Micmash Megiddo from an ancient text. Reading in his tent by candlelight one night, he rediscovered the text.
Gilbert brought his report to Allenby. To take advantage of this text, conventional battle plans would have to be scraped. Instead of attacking with overwhelming force, as was usually done, Allenby ordered one company out. This small force discovered just a few Turks whom they overpowered with hardly a sound. Then scaling the cliffs, the company took up their position just before daybreak. When dawn broke and the Turks saw Allenby’s men on the highest, most strategic point, they panicked, thinking they were nearly surrounded, and quickly retreated.
In his journal, Major Gilbert wrote, “And so after thousands of years British troops successfully copied the tactics of Jonathan.”
Before his successful assault, Jonathan had another military campaign that ended poorly. The Philistines seized the high ground, the Israelite army was reduced to a fraction of its original size, and many of the Israelite soldiers who remained were defecting to the Philistines or deserting the army altogether. And if that weren’t bad enough, Israel had only two swords left: one for King Saul and one for Jonathan.
Jonathan’s first military campaign had been with 1000 men. As he discovered, that was actually too many men! For his next assault on Micmash, Jonathan switched tactics: he alone would attack the enemy with only his armor bearer to assist him.
Was Jonathan impetuous? reckless? a man with a death wish? No! He was a God-fearing initiator. He knew that God would fight for anyone who was fighting for God’s people. I think his inspiration came from this promise—Each one of you will put to flight a thousand of the enemy, for the Lord your God fights for you, just as He has promised (Joshua 23:10).
Knowing that God would help him, three times Jonathan implores his armor bearer, “C’mon, let’s go!”
Jim Rohn noted, “The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn and shine with increasing clearness on your path.”
Just look at the light that dawned with Jonathan’s c’mon-let’s-go initiative:
his armor bearer said he was with Jonathan “heart and soul” even though he didn’t even have a sword!
God sent an earthquake that caused the Philistines to panic
King Saul finally mobilized the remaining army that remained with him
God so confused the Philistine that they turned and fought against each other
the Israelite deserters returned from Philistia
the fearful soldiers that had deserted returned to their posts
Could God have defeated the Philistines on His own? Of course He could have. But He was waiting for just one godly leader to say, “Enough is enough! C’mon, let’s go!”
Godly men are never satisfied with maintaining the status quo. Godly men know that standing still is really moving backward. Godly men know that their initiative can start a momentum that liberates others.
Fellas, your family needs you to initiate. Your Christian brothers and sisters need you to initiate. Your countrymen need you to initiate.
Take the initiative for God’s glory, for your family’s protection, for your nation’s revival, for generations yet to be born. Let’s charge the enemy of our souls together—
The leader must go first.
Craig T. Owens 