I've been reading in Judges lately because I'm fascinated with leadership and it is about a very unique time in the history of Israel. They weren't sure what they wanted to be, and these Judges were sent to them to lead them through different periods of time. I read this one recently:
1 The men of Ephraim called out their forces, crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, "Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you? We're going to burn down your house over your head."
2 Jephthah answered, "I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the Ammonites, and although I called, you didn't save me out of their hands. 3 When I saw that you wouldn't help, I took my life in my hands and crossed over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave me the victory over them. Now why have you come up today to fight me?" Judges 12:1-3
Jephthah then proceeded to wipe out the Ephraimites. It was just like a leader. "I asked for your help, you didn't answer, so I decided to do it myself." It is the burden of leadership. Everybody's got ideas about how it should be done until they're the ones with the monkey on their back. Everybody's got a plan until the buck stops with them. Jephthah dealt with that. The task at hand was more important then the worrying about hurting the Ephraimites' feelings. He had to weigh the issues. There will be times, as a leader, that you will have to just step in and get done what needs to be done. It comes with the territory of leadership. And there will be times when what needs to get done won't always be excepted well by those in the "family." When you're a leader, you don't have the luxury of second guesses or how everyone always feels. You have to get it done. The key is to make sure you're within the will of God. If you hurt people's feelings or step on someone's toes or step in and finish the job and you're not operating in the spirit of Jesus, you have problems. Everything in the organization starts to go wrong. You see this in the business world all the time. In ministry, if you are operating under God's direction, the people on the same page as the Holy Spirit usually support you and help you. And if they don't, like the Ephramites, they probably aren't most concerned with the overall work of the Kingdom anyway. I felt for Jephthah as a I read that passage. Any leader has been in that situation. That's why it's SO important for leaders to be tapped into the heart of God. You're simply going to make people mad along the way. You're going to alienate some people. You're going to disappoint some people. Make sure it's people not on board with the mission of the Kingdom (and not God) that you disappoint.
Carter
