“Don’t Bet on Horses (or Chariots)” is not about the Kentucky Derby or the Roman Coliseum. It is about faithful leaders aligning with the declaration in Psalm 20:7:

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

Chariots and Horses

In the days of Israel’s kings, chariots and horses were tools of battle–tools for “winning”.  They were what kings trusted in to succeed in battle, whether attacking or defending.  We are told in Scripture that Solomon had 1,400 chariots, 4,000 stalls for horses and 12,000 horsemen. When King Hezekiah was facing the King of Assyria as described in 2 Kings 18, the Assyrian’s king’s messengers taunted Hezekiah telling him he could not rely on Egypt “for chariots and for horsemen” to defend Judah.

In the movie Gladiator, the unforgettable re-enactment in the Coliseum of the Battle of Zama has the Romans (under commander Scipio Africanus) coming out on horses and chariots to defeat the “barbarian Carthaginians” (under commander Hannibal Barca) who were on foot. (Below is a link to a clip of this battle) [SPOILER ALERT: trust in chariots and horses can be misplaced.]

Today’s organizational leaders operating in the way of the world have modern versions of “chariots and horses” for the battle of winning in the marketplace. Rather than battles for kingdoms, it is battles in the pursuit of greater profit, because profit is the purpose of business as usual.

The world and business as usual teach organizational leaders to trust in what the kingdom of the world values–principally “impressive” people, “secure” money and systems that “toolify” humans. It is “impressive” based on the world’s credentials, “secure” based on the world’s systems and strategies, and “toolification” based on Profit as Purpose and assumptions of Scarcity and Self-Interest.

“Impressive” People.  When you have an important transaction, hire the biggest-name/most-expensive advisors you can afford.  When you have a problem, hire the biggest-name/most-expensive lawyers or consultants you can afford.  Often this is driven by the anxiety of being second-guessed with 20/20 hindsight–even if things go wrong, no one can fault you for hiring the “best”. In recent years we have also witnessed what some call the “Cult” of CEO “Rock Stars”.  Organizational boards pay exorbitant amounts to secure the leadership of “hot” CEO’s–usually leaders with BIG personalities.  One commentator observed “They are usually the quick-fix answer for a Board motivated by anxiety to fill an important, if not critical, position at the company”.   You may want to look back at post #060 (Humility–A First Thing) to recall what Jim Collins and James Hunter had to say about “big personality”, “celebrity” leaders (not good things–Collins said they lack the humility to take an organization from “good to great” and Hunter even called such leadership “artificial, unbiblical, organizationally unhealthy, inherently corrupting“).

In post #235 (A “Plumb Line” Alternative to “Pendulum” MEI), we talked about the “MEI” reaction to “DEI” in hiring.  MEI stands for “merit, excellence and intelligence”.  Embracing “meritocracy” is very tempting, particularly because its proponents argue that diversity will be a natural by-product of MEI.

We suspect that result is unlikely, because the standards of “merit, excellence and intelligence” will undoubtedly be defined and evaluated based on the world’s idea of those terms.  In other words, MEI will be judged based the presence of past individual accomplishments that the world values and the absence of past individual failures that the world shuns. It will be based on modern-day “chariots and horses”.

Candidates with accomplishments such as attendance at prestigious schools, prior employment with prestigious employers, high GPA’s (weighted for the prestige of the institution), and high standardized test scores will be viewed favorably.  In some sense, the words “merit, excellence and intelligence” are interchangeable.

Those who have not had past opportunities that the world sees as “chariots and horses” will be less likely to receive future opportunities.  An MEI culture is likely to remain closed to the type of people we described in post #142 (Integrity Idea 012: Hire the Unhireable) who have a difficult time getting hired because of an employment challenge, such as the formerly incarcerated, recovering addicts, the homeless, the under-educated, and the developmentally disabled.

“Secure” Money.  Business consultants, particularly those advising organizations in difficult times, sum it up in the phrase “Cash is King“.  It is much easier to trust God, personally or organizationally, when you have large cash reserves (just in case God isn’t trustworthy and shows up late, shows up the wrong way or doesn’t show up at all).   It is ironic that the declaration “In God We Trust” appears on the very money we trust in lieu of God.  (Perhaps our currency should be re-minted with a question mark.)

Of course, trusting in “secure” money is a misplaced trust, because no worldly asset is truly “secure”. Just ask investors in businesses that were “too big to fail” (think Enron, General Motors, Chrysler, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Long-Term Capital, Continental Illinois) or start-ups “too hot to fail” (think Theranos or WeWork), customers of Ponzi-schemes “too good to pass-up” (think Madoff or Stanford Financial) and people living through hyperinflation (think Venezuela, Argentina or Zimbabwe).

Is it any surprise that even faithful leaders can turn to these substitutes for trust in God?  Just look at the example set for them in many of today’s churches:  a penchant for “big personality”/”celebrity” pastors who can draw crowds of thousands (often with “feel good” messages that avoid potentially controversial Biblical messages)?

Have you been the target of annual November/December stewardship campaigns that suggest trust in God may be appropriate for sermons and homilies on personal finance and generosity but “Pledges in Hand” is what the church needs to budget for the coming year?  As we exposed in post #024 (Faith As Usual–Placebos and Side Roads), faith as usual can actually impede progress toward business a better way.

“Toolify” Humans.  Business as usual teaches and promotes trust in systems and strategies that “toolify” people in how they are hired, trained, motivated, promoted, compensated and terminated. People are “tools” when organizations use those “chariots and horses” systems to manage and manipulate how employees are treated based upon what is best for the bottom line—just like a natural resource needed in the production process. In business as usual, those systems and strategies are based on un-Biblical assumptions of Scarcity and Self -Interest.

The toolification of humans by the systems and strategies of business as usual can be explained by the Biblical principle that you can’t serve two masters (“No one can serve two masters“, Matthew 6:24). That means “Profit as Purpose” necessarily leads to “People as Tools” to be manipulated and managed toward that purpose.

If people are not the “end”, they are a tool toward that end.  It is just like online platforms—the user is either the customer or the product.  If the offering is free and profit is the purpose of the organization, then the user is a product (to be sold to third parties) rather than the customer.

We know that many leaders say, “We have several purposes, and profit is just one?” While an organization (or a person) can have “plural” priorities, it can’t have equal priorities. We explored this in more depth in post #172 (“Priority” Problems and Solutions).

What Matthew 6:24 teaches us is that, at the end of the day, there can only be one primary WHY for the organization that will win out— other “purposes” get reduced to being “means” or “strategies.” Of course, until the “end of the day”, the leader of an organization operating in alignment with business as usual can live the illusion that they care about people as much as they care about profit.  But the “end of the day” can come quickly.

We believe trust in “chariots and horses” is misplaced trust.

Trust in God

The pursuit of faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing requires re-directing that misplaced trust in line with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities.  It calls faithful leaders to trust in God, and trust in God is trust in his sovereignty and promises and trust in his commands.

The Bible is pretty clear about the importance of putting trust in God:

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. (Isaiah 26:4)

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord (Jeremiah 17:7)

He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. (2 Kings 18:5)

It is also very clear about not putting trust in the things trusted, loved and idolized by the kingdom of the world–“chariots and horses”:

You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you. (Deuteronomy 6:14)

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. (Romans 12:2)

Do not love the world or the things in the world. (1 John 2:15)

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits[a] of the world, and not according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8)

For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. (Luke 16:15)

A faithful leader of an organization committed to leading faithfully through business a better way rather than in the way of the kingdom of the world will face challenges that require the utmost trust in God’s sovereignty and trust in God’s commands.

James Hunter warns:  “To enact a vision of human flourishing based in the qualities of life that Jesus modeled will invariably challenge the given structures of the social order. In this light, there is no true leadership without putting at risk one’s time, wealth, reputation, and position.”

• Resistance is certain when challenging “the given structures of the social order” in a fallen world.  The Bible warns that those following God’s commands will have trouble (John 16:33), be persecuted (Romans 12:14), suffer affliction (Romans 12:12), be accused of wrongdoing (1 Peter 2:12) and suffer unjustly (1 Peter 2:19).  Resistance may come from employees, customers, vendors, owners, regulators and communities.

• “Dilemmas” are likely.  Because an organization is operating in a fallen world, there may not be “easy answers” to organizational challenges–leaders are likely to be faced with choices that involve two imperfect alternatives.  There may be times when the best stewardship will require difficult decisions that seem at odds with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities.  In that case, the challenge will be taking the time to ensure that the decision is coming from prayerful discernment rather than fear, anxiety, a desire to control, or cultural complacency–prayerfully choosing a path based on a balancing of God’s commands and then trusting in those commands and God’s sovereignty.

• Risks are necessary when facing resistance and resolving dilemmas in line with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities.  As Hunter observes, “there is no true leadership without putting at risk one’s time, wealth, reputation, and position.”  The first principle of Righteousness (a component of Integrity) includes not only doing the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons, but doing what’s right regardless of the personal cost–trusting in God’s commands and God’s sovereignty.

Leading faithfully through business a better way in the face of resistance, dilemmas and risks requires trust, and trust requires faith in God.  We trust God because we have faith God is trustworthy. In the wise words of Dr. Skip Moen:

Faith is my active attitude of total reliance on God’s absolute trustworthiness.  That means that my “faith” is demonstrated in the action of putting myself in His care, no matter what the circumstances!  Until and unless I act on His reliability, I just don’t have faith.  I might have a set of written beliefs that I can recite, but I won’t have any active relationship.  Faith is only found in the action, not the declaration. . . . If faith is the action of trusting Him, then I either act or I don’t act.  I either trust Him, or I try my own way.  There is no half-full measure here.

A faithful leader can have faith in God’s trustworthiness because of God’s past trustworthiness.  As we learn from 2 Kings 19, God rescued Hezikiah and Judah in the face of the Assyrian “chariots and horses”.  As we learn from 2 Chronicles 20, God rescued Jehoshaphat and Judah from the “chariots and horses” of “the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites“.  We see God’s trustworthiness time and time again with the wandering Israelites–the Red Sea, manna, quail, water.

Skip Moen brilliantly observes:

Israel didn’t fail because they refused to acknowledge what God had done. . .  Trust is not a function of facts.  Oh, there are undoubtedly facts preceding the decision to trust, but trust entails deciding a future action without future confirmation.  Trust is, “I’m going forward.  Let’s see what happens.”

Obedience in the face of risk calls a faithful leader to the Surrender side of the Safety/Surrender Gap. In describing the Safety/Surrender Gap, we pointed to the words of Soren Kierkegaard that “infinite resignation is the last stage prior to faith“.

A faithful leader’s ability to pursue God’s will for an organization in doing the right thing, in the right way and for the right reasons, no matter the worldly cost, can only happen when the leader’s heart has been surrendered, allowing the organization’s heart to be surrendered.

It can only happen when a faithful leader embraces genuine stewardship, recognizing God as the true owner.  In a world of business as usual, that takes trust in God’s commands and God’s sovereignty.  It is loving God so much that you don’t to settle for anything less than his best.

PERSONAL NOTE (from PM): My legal career was spent at a firm that counted on the allure of “chariots and horses”.  We were the firm people hired so that no one could ever second-guess the decision.  We were the “impressive people” in which the business as usual world puts their trust.  Trust in “chariots and horses” is real.

Personally, trust in “secure money” has been an idol for me.  As I have shared in a past post, twenty years ago, a dear friend (B.J. Weber) gave me a book called Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions by Gerald May.  He kindly told me he was giving it to me for the “grace” part.  Because I was not struggling with anything I thought of as an addiction (e.g., substances, pornography, etc.), I almost stuck it on a back shelf.  Thankfully, I read it and recognized an addiction that I would have never identified as an addiction–financial security.   I recognized it as a primary driver in my pursuit of worldly “success”.  I was not primarily driven to “succeed” by aspirations of power, prestige or material comfort–I was driven by the fear of “financial and material instability” even though by any rational standard I had “financial and material stability”.  My fear was devoid of trust in God’s promise of provision.

Only five short years later, Lisa and I felt God call me out of my position of “secure money” as a partner in a Wall Street law firm for an undisclosed destination.  We trusted.  Fifteen years have gone by–God has provided (but the fear has not been completely eradicated).  God has shown up many times at just the right time.  Facts are not the problem. I believe–help me have faith enough to trust.

ESSENCE: “Don’t Bet on Horses (or Chariots)” is not about the Kentucky Derby or the Roman Coliseum. It is about faithful leaders aligning with the declaration in Psalm 20:7, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” The world and business as usual teach organizational leaders to trust in what the kingdom of the world values–principally “impressive” people, “secure” money and systems and strategies that “toolify” humans. It is “impressive” based on the world’s credentials, “secure” based on the world’s systems and strategies, and “toolification” based on Profit as Purpose and assumptions of Scarcity and Self-Interest.  We believe that is misplaced trust. The pursuit of faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing requires re-directing that misplaced trust in line with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities.  It calls faithful leaders to trust in God, and trust in God is trust in his sovereignty and promises and trust in his commands. Because business a better way challenges “the given structures of the social order”, obedience to the ways of the Kingdom of God will certainly bring resistance, and resistance is likely to lead to dilemmas. Trusting God in the face of resistance and dilemmas will likely require taking what the world views as risks. In the face of risks, a faithful leader must decide from which side of the Safety/Surrender Gap they will lead.

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Image Credit: Original image by Cristina Martín Naranjo: https://www.pexels.com/photo/golden-sculpture-on-pedestal-7533633/
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