Tag: The Basis for Great Leadership - Isaiah 7-11

Isaiah 11:3-5

And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Tag:   The Basis for Great Leadership

Isaiah, in the above passage, is painting a picture of the Leadership of the Messiah.   What Isaiah is teaching us about leadership is that “empirical data” can be misleading in regard to establishing leadership.   Note what the writer says about Christ:

And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

He states that Christ will NOT lead by what He observes or by what He hears.  Yet, that is exactly how mankind does leadership.  Leaders today spend time gathering “data” and “observing” behavior.   Earthly leaders compare and contrast, using empirical evidence to make “informed” decisions.  The beauty of the Christ making decisions and leading is that He will lead, says Isaiah, not by observation, but by the Fear of the Lord.   The basis for great leadership is Knowing and Fearing God.   I personally know of NO leadership book that would tell you that your observations and data gathering are to be subservient to your Fear of the Lord.   Isaiah goes on to say that the Messiah will lead in “righteousness” and “faithfulness.”   These are acts of faith toward God.   Christ, the perfect Human Being, would lead in a perfect manner.   He would allow the righteousness of God and faithfulness toward God to trump any observations.  The issue with have with our empirical data is that it is skewed in two ways:  1).  We only see the outside of others.  We do not know their hearts.   Only God knows the hearts.   2). Our own minds are corrupt with our own bias.  Therefore whatever we observe we observe with our own bias.  The only way to truly, really lead is via the Fear of the Lord.  Note what one leader (Solomon) said about that:

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

True insight is only given when we walk in faith toward God and seek His wisdom and seek to have all of our empirical data filtered through the lens of reverence and awe toward God.   It does not matter what I see ... God tells me about the condition of the heart.   It does not matter what I hear ... God has already told me what comes from man’s heart.   What I learn about the human condition via God’s Word trumps anything I observe with my eyes or hear with my ears.  The issue with modern day psychology is that they psychologist do all their work based upon observation and the thoughts of their own minds.  God is telling us to filter everything we see and hear through the righteousness of God’s Word.  That is leading by fearing the Lord.