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In Isaiah 9:8, the Bible says: “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” Impactful leaders don’t wait to see if anyone else is going to rise to the occasion before they signify interest. In this vision of Isaiah, he saw that God had a need and he willingly offered himself to meet the need of God. One thing that we must realize as leaders is that the central theme of our leadership assignment is the ability to rise to any occasion; whether they are palatable or not. How impactful your leadership would be would be dependent on how many occasions you rise to per time.
Listen to Podcast: Impactful Leadership Part 2
David, no doubt was a leader whose impact transcends his generation. He gave his account of what it means to rise to the occasion when he was handling his father’s cattle business and a lion and bear came to wreak havoc. In 1 Samuel 17 from verse 33-36, the Bible says:
“And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him [in other words, you cannot rise to this occasion]; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.”
What is required of you as a leader in your organization is to rise to the occasion, and not to fold your arms when things aren’t going the way they should go. Even when the followers don’t know what to do, you as the leader must know what to do. When Jesus asked His disciples what it would take to feed the multitudes, the Bible made us to understand that He already knew what He was going to do. Many leaders would wait, fold their hands and do nothing until things deteriorate and get out of hands before they act. This of course, would not lead to impactful leadership. In the book of Judges, the Bible gave us another example of a leader who rose to the occasion and saved her people. The name of this leader was Deborah. The Bible says Judges 4:1-9:
“When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. 2 So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim. 3 And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel. 4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6 Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; 7 and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?”
The Lord had spoken concerning the situation and what the people must do to be salvaged. But the man, Barak; who was supposed to see to the execution of the commandment of God for their liberation didn’t rise to the occasion, until Deborah arose to the occasion. And this is what impactful leadership truly entails, arising to the occasion as the leader as time demands it.
8 And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!” 9 So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
Now, if you read the entire story from verse 14 till the end, the Lord did deliver Israel from the hands of their enemies has have been said. However, there was something that Deborah and Barak said in Judges 5:1-2 that I really want us to take note of when it comes to rising to the occasion as a leader. It says: “Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying: when leaders lead in Israel, when the people willingly offer themselves, Bless the Lord.” What does this mean? It simply means that when the leaders of the organization or whatever entity you are leading rise to the occasion, and the people that are being led also respond positively to the leadership, then the outcome is always great and positive. Did we see that? So, as the leader, don’t just be the only one to rise to the occasion, always make sure that you also carry along the people with you under your leadership so that you all can both rise to the occasion together.
In summary, impactful leadership requires that the leader rises to the occasion per time. Don’t wait and assume that someone else would come and do your job for you. Don’t be like Barak who couldn’t rise to the occasion and then delayed the deliverance of his people. Because the Bible says for 20 years, they were under the oppression of Jabin. As the leader, if you don’t rise up to the occasion, the problem would persist, and people would perceive your leadership as ineffective and un impactful. I pray that God would always give us the wisdom and strength to always rise to the occasion as leaders that we are.
Thank you for the gift of your time, and my name remains Abiola Obayomi. Please don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and people within your sphere of leadership influence so that they can also get to benefit from what we have shared with ourselves. Till next time on Leaderview, remain impactful in your leadership and always rise to the occasion. Thank you.
[Centre for New Dimension Leadership]
