The Bible can teach us management principles because it is filled with examples of positive and negative leadership.
These Bible management principles include:
1. Consult God before you Speak
God told Moses to send spies to the Promised Land and he sent 12 men who were all leaders of their tribes in Israel. Their names of the 12 spies were Shammua Zaccur, Shaphat Hori, Caleb Jephunneh, Igal Joseph, Hoshea Nun, Palti Raphu, Gaddiel Sodi, Gaddi Susi, Ammiel Gemalli, Sethur Michael, Nahbi Vophsi, Geuel Machi. (Numbers 13:3-15)
When these men returned after spending 40 days spying the land, they gave different reports to the people.
11 of them gave the Israelites a Bad Report by telling them they could not conquer the Promised Land because of the strong people, protected cities and giants who lived there (Numbers 13:28).
Caleb on the other hand gave them a Good Report and told them that they were well able to conquer it. (Numbers 13:33)
The Israelites chose to believe the Bad Report by the 11 spies and acted on it by speaking against God by asking "Why has God brought us here to die by war?" (Numbers 14:3) and rebelling against Him by saying, "Let us chose a leader and return to Egypt!" (Numbers 14:4)
Consequences for Speaking before Praying
1. Death to the LeaderGod punished the spies who had brought the Bad Report to the Israelites with death for they Died by a plague before the Lord. (Numbers 14:37)
2. Problems for their Followers
God also punished the Israelites who were older than 20 years old by declaring that they would die in the wilderness. (Numbers 14:29)
3. Generational Problems
God also punished the children of the Israelites who had made the mistake of following the Bad Report by declaring that their children would wander in the wilderness for 40 years until their parents had all died (Numbers 14:33) instead of enjoying life in a Promised Land flowing with milk and honey.
Therefore if you are a leader always ask God to guide you before you speak to the people you are leading regardless of whether you are leading a family of 4 or a corporation with 4 million employees.
From this incident we can discern that God wanted the 11 spies to tell the Israelites something along the lines of, "There people in the Promised Land are strong and their cities are protected and there are even giants" and finish with Caleb's statement of "Let us go at once and take possession because we are well able to conquer it". (Psalm 19:14)
As a leader you should give your people the correct facts of the problems they are facing because when then they go to conquer the Promised Land they will find giants in there and wonder why you never told them about giants.
However, you have to pray before you speak so that you can know God's perspective on the issue since this will help you frame your speech in a way that is pleasing to God.
To ensure the words you are speaking are pleasing to God, pray the Psalm Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you O Lord my strength and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
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