It was hard to believe that someone who was in charge of numerous employees could be so stupid.

Jeremiah 40:1-16

Reference:  v.16  But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, "Don't do such a thing!  What you are saying about Ishmael is not true." (NIV Bible)

Explore:  I recently had a close mate who changed jobs because his boss was treating him unfairly.  I would often hear stories from my mate about the way his boss spoke to him, treated him in front of his colleagues and never congratulated him for work well done.  It was hard to believe that someone who was in charge of numerous employees could be so stupid.  Due to his lack of wisdom and people skills he was losing some of his best employees every couple of months.

Application:  My mate's situation reminded me that just because someone is placed in a position of power it does not mean they have all it takes to fulfil their position successfully.  To be fair, we are all on a journey of learning and development, however each person needs to be willing to learn from their mistakes and aim to improve with the next situation.  Gedaliah was given a place of great importance after the Babylonians had conquered the people of Judah.  However, when he was given some advice and assistance he was not wise enough to look in to it and didn't protect himself.  This ended in a rather disastrous way for Gedaliah, worse than my mate's boss losing a few employees!  Whatever position we have in life, there is always room for improvement.  We can always learn new ways of doing things and better ways to communicate with people.  It we are open to learning and taking advice from others then we will continue to improve in our work as well as our personal life.

Prayer:  Lord, thank you for the responsibilities we have in our life.  Help us to be open to learn new ways so that we can become wiser with our decisions and actions.  Amen.

What responsibilities do you have?  Do you have a mentor or coach who can assist you in improving?