You’ve heard the saying that, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going,” right?
When it comes to being a good leader, there’s more truth to that statement than one might initially think. I believe that it’s in the face of adversity that true leadership is revealed. One cannot be afraid to take on challenges and get things done. People have no reason to follow someone that simply shys away when things get a little rough.
People want to follow someone who is bold and strong and willing to knock down some walls every once in a while.
As we begin to look at Deborah, our next leader in the Book of Judges (chapters 4 and 5), we first discover that her role as Judge over Israel started during the reign of Jabin king of Canaan. The commander of Jabin’s army was a man named Sisera.
Sisera was apparently a very bad man. It’s recorded that he had “900 chariots of iron,” and this made him a powerful force to be reckoned with. It’s also recorded that he “oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years,” and this type of behavior must have struck the Israelites with great fear. Being an Israelite at this time would’ve been a challenge, and I’m sure they felt like there was a lot to overcome.
Enter Deborah.
Basically she calls up Barak to lead an Israelite army up against Sisera, and ends up even going with him into battle. They went out and routed the army of Sisera. Much more could be said about this battle and how this victory was won, but the point that I wanted to make here was about how Deborah (and Barak) overcame such great oppression.
They didn’t shy away from the challenge.
They refused to continue to live in fear and decided that it was time to take on this oppression and get rid of it once and for all. I’ll continue to write more about Deborah, but the first thing that I noticed about her is that she is an overcomer.
Isn’t the same thing true in the business world? We often face challenges, and get into situations where it feels like it is totally an uphill battle. What matters most during those times is the fact that we fight to overcome those situations.
Imagine the “leader” who shys away from challenges and problems. It usually doesn’t take long for them to be spotted as a weak link, and for their “followers” to loose respect for them. On the other hand, the leader that continually rises to the challenge and stands up for what they believe in is likely to have followers even if they aren’t asking for any.
Questions to consider:
- What challenges do you face in your role today?
- Are you redirecting things in order to avoid the conflict, or are you taking those conflicts head on?
- How do you rate yourself as an overcomer?
- What types of things do you need to do to improve how you rate yourself as an overcomer?
- How can you use a current challenge to help rally the troops with you to victory?
See more from the management by God series!
You know, this is why I like annual reviews. Day to day, it feels like I’m Sisyphus rolling the boulder up the same hill again. But when I see what we’ve accomplished over the course of a year, I realize that we’re making a difference.
This is a great point! I didn’t think about it when I wrote this, but evaluation and benchmarking are important keys to overcoming obstacles. It’s much easier to see how far you’ve come if you can measure growth and successes along the way.
My husband pointed out that I get into a cycle of pity and discouragement about once every two weeks. Within a few hours or a day I am back on the horse again, but those times of discouragement can go deep and be quite crippling. I think i need to figure out what triggers those moments so I can make the cycle skip a beat…overcoming takes some planning!
I love that this post had that kind of impact! Overcoming challenging things in our lives certainly does take some planning, but also courage to take them on.
Thanks for sharing Michelle! I’ll be praying and standing in agreement with you as you take on that discouragement!