Leaders Should Place Their Trust in God to Solve the Difficult Problems
God is My CEO: Chapter 7—Tough Decisions

Sometimes in life one is presented only with what seem like lose-lose situations. These are times when everything seems hopeless, when it seems there are no good solutions and like God has abandoned one to a miserable fate. However, if one sees with the eyes of God, one can see that there really are no lose-lose situations; on the contrary, there are really only win-win situations, because in all things God’s grace is shining through, inviting one to become better in some way that beforehand did not even seem possible. Finding the winning idea in a lose-lose or hopeless situation is really the essence of what it means to have God as one’s own personal CEO. The problem is: How does one get to that point, that level of understanding, that place of spiritual insight? This problem is as old as the Psalms themselves, when David first made his lamentations, saying, “My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer…” (Psalm 22:2). This is the way that many people have felt throughout all history. It often appears that human solutions to worldly problems are inadequate and ineffective. What it means to trust in God is the lesson that David learned along the way throughout his many life’s travails. It is the lesson that all people need to learn in this life if they are going to face the tough tests that all face. This paper will show that to find hope in hopeless times or to make the right choice in a tough decision, one has to turn to God and trust that He will lead one in the right way.

The Problem and Who It Affects

How bad is the problem of not knowing what to do when times get tough? It is so bad that it happens to even the best of leaders around the world. Being a great leader is not about getting things done when times are not tough. It is about accepting the tough times and finding the ways to make things work when working solutions appear impossible. The solution, as always, is to seek God’s wisdom to turn a bad situation into a positive one (Jullian, 2002).

What has happened is that too many leaders often forget that they are not actually in control of their situations. The one in control is God. Why people should be concerned about this truth is simple: God sends trials to people to remind them that if they want to succeed they should turn to him in trust, just as David did so long ago. God is the One Who rights the ship, Who calms the storm, Who brings peace in the midst of chaos and turmoil (Firmage, 1995).

This issue of not being able to see the light in a bad situation affects everyone. It causes people to feel depressed, anxious, and uncertain about what to do. Yet leaders have to be able to make good decisions even in difficult times. The fact is that it is the toughest of times that test the mettle of true leaders. Just using David as an example, one can see how he always turned to God for guidance when his own life was threatened or when his own people were in danger (Bosworth, 2011). But even in modern times, faith in God sees people through the worst of times, as the findings of Marks, Dollahite and Baumgartner (2010) show.

For CEOs it is no different: they have to seek wisdom from the highest source—God—if they want to help their companies get through the hardest of situations (Julian, 2002). Julian (2002) argues that instead of trying to avoid difficult issues, leaders should lean into them and embrace them. One important lesson that Julian (2002) describes in the case of Linda Rios Brook, President and GM of KLGT-TV in Minneapolis. She did not know whether she...…hubris. He gives way to covetousness. Myriad temptations await one who has no faith in God, and God alone is the One Who can save people from the temptations awaiting them. To oppose having God as one’s own personal CEO is the height of foolishness.

Conclusion

When David was haunted by feelings of doubt or persecuted by Saul or plagued with dread, he voiced his concerns to God and maintained his faith in the Divine. “My God, I cry out by day…” he stated in Psalm 22:2. David never stopped praying to God or heeding His call. David sought God’s wisdom at all times. That is why he was such a model of virtue for believers on down the centuries. For leaders looking to lead in the 21st century, there can be few better role models. David became a great leader because in the end he was a great believer in God. He knew that he himself was nothing and that he did not bring about any great changes on his own. On the contrary, he sought only to please God, and this is what made him great. In order to please God, he made himself humble, put himself at the service of his king, faced the challenges that awaited, and rose to the occasion. Today’s leaders could learn a lesson from David, but they could also learn great lessons from Brenda Scott and Linda Brooke—two modern leaders who turned to God to help them through their difficult trials. These leaders show that when it comes to solving the problem of poor leadership in today’s world, there is no substitute for God. Indeed, the leaders who try to lead on their own often fail; they shy away from problems because the problems are bigger than they are and since they do not turn to God they have nowhere to turn. But those leaders who do turn to God find that a lose-lose situation can be made into a win and that hopeless situations are never…