When a leader has poor decision-making skills it will lead to disaster. Read Jeremiah 40:7-41:10.

Babylon had captured Jerusalem; they massacred most of the people, took most of the rest into captivity and exiled them to Babylon but left a small contingent of troops behind with some of the poor people of Judah. Jeremiah was also freed and allowed to stay in Judah. King Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah as the Jewish governor over the towns of Judah and the few poor people that were left behind.

Leaders must cling to their God-given vision even when their team doesn’t comprehend. Read Jeremiah 7:27-28.

Without question the prophet Jeremiah received one of the toughest assignments of any leader in the Bible. God called him to lead a stubborn people, then God informed him in today’s verses that the people would not follow his lead. Jeremiah spent nearly five decades, from 626 BC to 585 BC, urging a rebellious people to repent of their rebellion against God without seeing any significant positive response to his messages. In spite of his frequent discouragement and pain, Jeremiah is a model of a faithful leader who demonstrated endurance in the face of extended opposition.

Long-range planning is an integral characteristic of effective leadership. Read Isaiah 37:21-26.

God is the ultimate long-range planner. He had a plan for the entire universe from before its beginning through the future beyond our ability to explain it. Isaiah communicates in chapter 37 that God also had a plan for the Assyrian Empire from its rise to power several thousand years before the birth of Christ to its fall to the Babylonian Empire. God’s plan included great military success for Sennacherib, king of Assyria and an embarrassing attempt to capture Jerusalem that ended in his withdrawal to handle an uprising at home without capturing the city.

Initiative is defined as the ability to act and make decisions without the leading of other people. Initiative is the first step in a process that, once taken, determines subsequent events. High performing leaders have the ability to take initiative. Read Nehemiah 1:4-2:8.

It had been over three quarters of a century since the first Jewish exiles returned to Judah and Jerusalem. Nehemiah lived in Babylon and served the Persian King Artaxerxes directly as his cupbearer and personal attendant. He had never visited Judah but being from a Jewish heritage sought reports from groups that traveled to Judah and then returned to Babylon. His brother was part of one of those groups and brought a very discouraging report concerning the capitol city of Jerusalem. The city walls remained in ruin even though some of the Jews had returned 78 years ago, the city could not protect itself, and the people were living in disgrace. Nehemiah couldn’t imagine doing nothing when he heard the walls of Jerusalem had not been repaired. Nehemiah demonstrated that when a leader with initiative knows something in his heart (or gut) they are prompted to act.