Even reluctant leaders can be used by God. Read Jonah 1:1-17 and 3:1-3.

Jonah left no doubt how he felt about giving any encouragement or hope to the Assyrians living in Nineveh. He knew them to be a cruel, idolatrous, proud, ruthless people and even though he was a God-chosen prophet, when God commanded him to preach repentance to the Ninevites, Jonah went the opposite direction. Rather than be too quick to judge Jonah we should ask who among us, which leader hasn’t sensed God telling them to do something they really didn’t want to do. It can be pretty easy to convince ourselves that we know better than God in some circumstances.

Leaders who can say, “I’m humble and proud of it,” may not be as humble as they think. Read Obadiah 3-4.

There are many ways for a leader to express pride; some good and some not so good. I am proud of the accomplishments of my children. I am proud to be an American. I am proud of the caring actions for the less fortunate of my church. I am proud of the people I work with. I am proud to be a former Marine. Kept within some reasonable balance these are all positive God-honoring applications of pride. The Edomites had a different form of pride and were judged for it. Verse three says, “The pride of your hearts has deceived you…” This kind of pride is the exact opposite of humility and leads to a form of arrogance that God hates. Those who have this kind of pride have an inappropriate and inflated view of themselves. They attribute their accomplishments to their own efforts and fail to acknowledge that everything they are and have comes from the hand of God. This is a self-sufficient pride that focuses on self and dishonors God.

Leaders can chart their course toward success but it is God who is the source of their success. Read Obadiah 2-4

The nation of ancient Edom was an economically stable nation that drew much of its livelihood from the caravan trade between Egypt, the Mediterranean and southern Arabia. Edom also traded as far away as India and exported salt and balsam (used for perfume and temple incense in the ancient world) from the Dead-Sea region. In addition to their economic wealth Edom was located geographically so that they were hard to invade militarily.

Leaders must avoid destructive rivalry, comparison, and competition. Read Obadiah 1.

Obadiah may be the most obscure of the Old Testament prophets. He was a prophet that lived about 100 years after the reign of Solomon and it is thought he prophesied around 840 B. C. He wrote the shortest book in the Old Testament, just 21 verses, but his indictment of Edom is a timeless lesson for all leaders. Obadiah makes it very clear that pride, arrogance, acts of betrayal, deceit and intent to harm others will not receive God’s blessing and will bring about a leader’s (or a nation’s) downfall.

The greater the leader the more likely they are a problem solver. Read Daniel 5:10-16.

Babylon had gone through a change of leadership. King Nebuchadnezzar had died and his son Belshazzar was king. Early in his reign he threw a party “for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them” (5:1). As the party got more ruckus, Belshazzar tried to impress his guests by serving wine in the gold and silver goblets taken from the temple of God by his father when he captured Jerusalem. This prideful, brazen insult to the One True God went too far and “Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall…” (v. 5). The party was pretty much over, Belshazzar went white as a sheet and started looking for someone to interpret the handwriting on the wall.