“For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a  time as this?”

Esther 4:14

 

Whether you are a political leader, or a leader in an organization; there is a time which has been allotted to you to execute your leadership assignment and what you do in those time  would determine your legacies, whether you will be remembered for good or for bad. So, one of the questions you must ask yourself as a leader is this: “How Much Time Do I have” to carry out my leadership assignment and effect the necessary change within my sphere of leadership?

You see, Esther may have become the queen because Vashti misbehaved, that is the surface story. But the truth is, there is a reason why she became the queen at that particular time. There is a deliverance that the Jews would need which only could be made possible through Esther being the queen. You may have emerged a leader accidentally or circumstantially, but the truth is, there is a reason God made you the leader of that nation, of that organization, of that family, of that team at such a time as this.

Listen to Podcast: The Question of Time In Leadership

1. Understanding The Question of Time As A Leader Puts You In Command

When you know why you have been made a leader at such a time as this, one thing that that knowledge and understanding does to you is that it puts you in command. You become the commander-in-chief as it were. You deploy everything within your means as the leader; people and material resources, towards ensuring that you deliver on the job. In 1 Chronicles 12:32, the Bible says “And of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs; and all their kinsmen were under their command”(AMP).

Jesus understood this matter of time and command when He said to His disciples to tarry at Jerusalem until they are endue with power. Acts 1:4, the Bible says “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;” because this promise from the Father, which would come through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, is what would put the disciples in command of their much anticipated assignment. So, Jesus told them to wait for that time the promise would come. So, when you understand the question of time in leadership, it simply puts you in command.

2. Understanding The Question of Time Helps You In Navigating The Leadership Terrain

Moses misunderstood his leadership timing. He set out too early to lead; earlier than the time appointed for him and in the process, he committed a grave error. Not knowing what to do about his fatal error, he ran away to Midian and was there for forty more years. Let us read the story in Exodus 2:11-15.

“Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. ¹² So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?” ¹⁴ Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” ¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.”

Exodus 2:11-15

From the story, we can deduce that Moses wanted to step into his leadership destiny forty years earlier than the timing of God. Although, the Bible said that he was full of age, matured enough to handle responsibilities as a man, but Moses failed to understand one of the vital things in leadership, which is timing (Acts 7:23). A leader who does not understand timing in leadership may have all the good intentions in this world, but execute them at a wrong time. Moses had a good intention for the people of Israel to be free from maltreatment, but lacks the right timing to execute them.

So, when you understand the question of time in leadership, it helps you to navigate the leadership terrain. It helps you to know what to do per time, and how to do them. This is very important in your leadership.

3. Understanding The Question of Time Helps You In Allocating Resources Appropriately

One of your areas of assignment as a leader is the adequate and effective deployment of the resources within your disposal in order to achieve the set goals and objectives. Now, if you don’t understand the question of time in leadership, limited resources would be misappropriated and wasted under your watch. And I want us to examine a parable that Jesus told in Luke chapter 19 called the “Parable of the Minas” to buttress this point. Luke 19:11-27, the Bible says:

Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. ¹² Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.¹³ So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’ ¹⁴ But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’¹⁵ “And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. 

¹⁶ Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’ ¹⁷ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’¹⁸ And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’ ¹⁹ Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities.’²⁰ “Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. ²¹ For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ 

²² And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. ²³ Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ ²⁴ “And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.’ ²⁵ (But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas.’) ²⁶ ‘For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ²⁷ But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.’ ”

 

Now, those ten servants we could say, are ten leaders in their own respective rights at that moment. The master called them, gave them resources to do business till he returns from his trip. When he returned, he also called them again to come give account of how they had deployed the resources he gave to them before he embarked on his trip. Those who did well were given additional resources to work with. But the particular one who didn’t appropriate the resource very well was punished for doing so. First, that resource was seized from him and given to the one who had done extremely well.

What does this tell us as leaders? It shows that as a leader, if you don’t understand the question of time, resources at your disposal would be misappropriated and so, an understanding of the question of time is crucial for you in adequately deploying the resources within your disposal.

I believe you have been blessed!

[Centre for New Dimension Leadership]