Effective leaders are able to communicate values as well as vision to their team. Read Isaiah 30:1-5.

No leader can guarantee the future but every team member has the right to ask their leader “where are we heading” and “what are the methods we will use to get there.” Every responsible leader should have an answer concerning operational core values and the vision for this month and for the next 3 years.

The wise leader will learn from everything in their environment. Read Proverbs 6:6-8.

Every leader has the potential to learn principals of leadership by simply studying the organization and activity of an ant colony. Nature abounds with illustrations of animals and insects that store up provisions during times of abundance in preparation for times of scarcity. God gave them instincts to look ahead and prepare. In today’s verses the ants do what needs to be done when it needs to be done to make provision for the future.

Wise leaders look to God’s example to become effective long range planners. Read Isaiah 37:26.

When Isaiah wrote this verse, Hezekiah was king of Judah, and Assyria was the dominate world power. King Sennacherib of Assyria had captured all the fortified cities of Judah and Jerusalem was under siege. He sent his field commander to King Hezekiah with a message stating, “Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says ‘Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria’…Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them…” Hezekiah took Sennacherib’s letter into the temple and spread it out before the Lord and asked God to deliver Israel by defending His own name. In His answer to Hezekiah’s prayer, God indicated His long range plan for the Assyrian king and the Assyrian nation.

Day 1 – The wise leader develops both short range and long range plans. Read Genesis 3:15.

Adam and Eve had made a decision to disobey a direct command from God and eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. In their shame, they confessed their sin to God and God pronounced judgment for their act of direct defiance. Some of God’s judgments were fulfilled immediately and some would be fulfilled in the future.

For a Christian, no decision is wise if made independently from God. Read Joshua 9:1-15

When the people of living in the land around the city of Jericho saw how God went before His chosen people and destroyed the city walls of Jericho, great fear nearly overwhelmed them. Many kings combined their armies and prepared for battle but the Gibeonites made a different plan. They sent emissaries to Joshua claiming to be from a far off land. They disguised themselves as weary travelers even down to the moldy bread in their saddlebags. They asked for a peace treaty claiming that they lived at such a great distance they would be of no danger to the Jewish people. In this instance, Joshua failed to consult God and made a bad decision. Once a decision was made, he was obligated to keep his word and his decision had long lasting consequences.