We had a few break, over two weeks looking at a couple of things outside the Leadership Trip to Genesis. But today, we are continuing the series: The Leadership Trip to Genesis. We stopped with Genesis chapter 32 where we saw the importance of name in effectiveness in leadership. The question that was raised was; what is your name? Today we will continue from Genesis 33 and I believe that you are already excited and ready to receive what the Lord has in stock for us. Today in Genesis 33, we are learning something that is very important to our leadership effectiveness and our organizational growth.
So, we will be looking at Courageous Organizational Structure. We want to see How To Lead Our Teams Through Difficult Challenging Times. Let us quickly go to the book of Genesis 33 and let us learn as quickly as we can from the word of God. Genesis 33 from verse 1, the Bible says:
"Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. 2 And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. 3 Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. 4 But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept."
Listen to Podcast: COURAGEOUS ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE: HOW TO LEAD YOUR TEAM THROUGH CHALLENGING TIMES
Now, if you read the last verse that we just read now, (verse 4), you could think then; what was the point? Why did he do the things he did from verse 1-3, if in the long run, they will meet and embrace each other and there will be no problem. I want you to understand the angle, the perspective of Jacob and the decisions that he made, in that thinking and in that position. In verse 1, the Bible says "Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming…" The question we could ask is who was Esau to Jacob at that moment? What did Esau represent to Jacob? Jacob was a leader of an organization; his family. He had wives, he had children, he had cattles, he had a lot of animals and investments. However, he saw Esau differently from a family member.
Esau to him represented some kind of threats, some opposition and a danger. And so, seeing a danger coming, a threat, in the person of Esau, see what he did in verse 1. He divided the children between Rachael and Leah and the two maidservants. The two maidservants were given to him by Rachael and Leah to marry and bear children through. So, they represent the wives. The Bible says as soon as he saw danger, opposition and a threat coming his way, the Scripture says he decided to divide his children among his wives. And that is very important for us to note.
Then the Bible says: "2 And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. " This is to show the order of placement arranging his children and wives, in the order of their importance to him and to the works of the organization, the activities of the business or the organization. And Bible says in verse 3: "Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother."
Now, he had divided his wives among his wives and he has arranged them accordingly. And the Bible says he crossed over before them. And that shows us a three-layer of decision being made by Jacob in a way to leading his organization, his family through a difficult uncertain time. He was faced with a challenge, he was faced with a threat and danger, instead of sitting down and crying, he made certain decisions, which we must learn from.
The first decision he made was that, number one, he saw danger coming. It is very important. Now, we could say he saw, and that is it not normal to see? It takes a special kind of leader to see danger coming ahead of time. You see, it has been said that some people wonder, it has been said that there are three kinds of people in every society: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happening and those who wonder what is happening. He could have been in a position as a leader wondering what was happening. But he wasn't. He was rather someone who made things happen.
The Bible says he lifted his eyes and saw a threat. As leaders, it is important for us to know that it is part of our responsibility, and not of that of our people and our team, to find out danger coming, threats coming, opposition coming. It is our responsibility as leaders. So, don't wait for your people to begin to cry and complain before you know that there is a need for planning or there is a need for some strategic decisions that will save the family, save the organization and the business from danger. And so, the Bible says he lifted his eyes and saw danger coming.
The next decision he made is in that same verse 1 of Genesis 33. So, the Bible says he divided his children. Another way you can see his children is that they are his fruits, or his products as we may call it; or his offsprings. So, we can call them his products, or his services. He saw danger coming, the Bible says he divided his products, his services or his value offerings. Things he has to offer, he divided them. The Bible says he divided them among their mothers. Each mother takes responsibility for the child under her. He then puts them in positions, in placement, he sets them in order.
It's important to understand here that there is an organizational structure, and there was a courageous action, an act of courage. Scriptures says he puts them in order, in places, he structured his team/organization. In the face of opposition, he decided to structure. He puts order in place, and that talks about structure in the organization. Another place we can see his courage is in Verse 3 when the Bible says he crossed over before them. You see, some leaders says "Go and do." But courageous leaders says "let us go and do." In this moment, he took the lead.
He took the first step towards the dangerous moment, towards uncertainty, towards the threat. He took the step first. He led from the front, and that needed courage to be done. So, we could see that Jacob was a courageous leader who had to put structure to his organization in the face of opposition. He did not know whether Esau would embrace him or whether he would destroy him. Instead of being reactive, he decided to be proactive, by putting structure in place, allowing different people to handle different things based on their capacity and in the areas of their giftedness. There was no round peg in square hole, it was rather round pegs in round holes. Right people in right places, right people in right offices.
There was nothing like giving positions arbitrarily, he put people in different positions or places as they became important to him. So, their importance, their value offerings, their capacity became a criteria for certain people in their places in his organization, in his family. So, the maid servants and their children are in the front, then followed by Leah and her children, and then Rachael and her child. However, he decided to be ahead of all of them. Should a danger comes, he will be the first to partake of it.
Are you so much a leader or you would rather be at the back? You want everyone destroyed and perhaps, you would be the only survivor. That is not how to lead. When your organization gets to a difficult moment, when your family gets to a challenging moment, when your marriage gets to a moment, especially a shaky moment, you must put structure in place. You must put right people, right persons in the right places. Now, if we even bring it home to marriage for instance, Bible says God made them male and female. Now one of the things that you must note is the individuality, the peculiarity of each gender. A male is different from a female, however, they are expected to complement and complete themselves.
And so, when you as a family, when your family is in a turbulent moment, there must also be structure. Your wife should be given the opportunity and must be set in her place. She must be given the opportunity to be doing the things she is most skillful in doing. There are some things you wife can do very well, that you can't do as a man. When you try such things, you would fail. Why should you continue to struggle? Why don't you release her? Allow her to do the things she can flourish in. What are the things that you love to do?
What are the things that you have the capacity to do? Then, establish yourself as an expert in it. Let your wife face the things she can do, and you face the things you can do. Together, you can face any opposition, together you can face any challenge and any threat to your life, to your marriage if only each one of you is functioning in his or her place. Let your marriage have structure, let your organization have structure, let your family have structure. Put the right people in the right places and then take the lead. Don't stand at the back, don't do the least work. Don't be the one that is least committed, rather be the one that is most committed. Be the most busy, show examples by the things you do. Don't go to the back and be shouting and screaming at people. Show examples of good works, influence and authority and then you will see your family rising above the waters.
Thank you for the gift of your time, I am so glad that I had you in today's moment, in spite of the challenges in the recording and everything. We bless God for that. My name is Gboyega Adedeji, and I hope to connect with you again next week. However, I want you to subscribe to our channel, Centre for New Dimension Leadership and then click the bell, so that each time we release videos like this; you are notified as soon as possible. Also, do well to share the videos with your friends and associates, your family and your team. And I trust God helping you as God helps me.
I see God taking us from wherever you are to a higher level, to an effective level, an influential level where we do not lead by shouting or making noise, but we lead with the examples of our lives. My name is Gboyega Adedeji, be a Courageous Organizational Leader (COL™), understand the necessity for structure in your organization and be courageous to take the next step, especially the first step towards opposition, towards threats and towards uncertainty; and I see God helping you in Jesus' name.
Thank you and hope to meet you again next week, same program, God bless you.
