Battle Ready: Prepare to Be Used by God (Bold Man Of God)

Author:Farrar, Steve [Farrar, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780781403498
Publisher: David C Cook
Published: 2009-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

The mind of man plans his way,

But the LORD directs his steps. (Prov. 16:9 NASB)

Chapter Seven

High Wire Promotion

“In God’s world there is no substitute for full obedience.”

—James Montgomery Boice

After forty years of waiting, things began to happen—fast.

Moses died and Joshua was named the new leader of Israel.

And Caleb? Well, he got mad, picked up his toys, and went home. He had wanted to be the leader himself, and it wasn’t fair that Joshua got picked instead of him.

In case you’re not familiar with the story, it didn’t happen that way. But it’s interesting that in so many churches and ministries, it does happen that way. Somebody gets mad because they didn’t get the promotion.

And what does that prove? That they should never have gotten the promotion! Wanting to be in the spotlight or to have control is not how you qualify for leadership in the kingdom of God. Those kinds of attitudes are symptomatic of someone who is not ready for leadership. And if they somehow get into leadership, they will fail, because they don’t have the maturity or obedience to do what God directs them to do.

It was an astonishing and brazen act when Palestinian terrorists took eleven Israeli athletes hostage at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.

In response to that outrage, a team of elite German sharpshooters was brought in to take out the terrorists. Each of the sharpshooters had been promoted above his peers because of his superior skill. And as the situation unfolded, each of the sharpshooters had a terrorist in his sights. Yet when the command to “fire” was given, two of the snipers couldn’t bring themselves to pull the trigger. As a result, every hostage was murdered within seconds.1

Yes, they were part of an elite team and had been promoted over their peers. They must have had a real sense of pride in their accomplishment. But in the moment of truth, two of them failed—and innocent lives were snuffed out as a result.

Because of their superior training and skill these sharpshooters had climbed the ladder of promotion. But in the critical moment, they fell from their elite position. They simply couldn’t handle the responsibilities of the promotion. It was a tragic example of the Peter Principle at work.

Back in the seventies, Lawrence J. Peter wrote a book titled The Peter Principle. It was a smash hit. Peter observed that in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to their level of incompetence. Two snipers could not pull the trigger because they couldn’t handle the responsibilities of their promotion. Undoubtedly, they wanted the promotion and the adulation that came with it. But when the rubber met the road, they just simply couldn’t cut it. And hostages died that day because of their incompetence.

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