Reading 1 Samuel 13:6-7 tells us that some of the Hebrews that came out to fight were so paralysed with fear and trembling that they left king Saul and crossed over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. That was a kind of leaving your friends to disguise and become part of the enemies. Basically, they joined the Philistines, the enemies that Israel came to fight.
This type of occurrence was exactly what the Lord wanted to avoid when He sent away 31,700 out of 32,000 men home during the time of Gideon in Judges chapter 6. God selected the men that He wanted to use for the fight and asked the others to go and enjoy their families.
You see, a time of war is not a time for training. There is a time for training people, making them jump hurdles, climb ropes, run for kilometres, test their resilience and the rest.
But once you’re set to fight, you choose only those who are battle-ready. Only those who are qualified. If not, the weak person in the group will become a liability to the entire team. Why? Because they’ll not only have to protect themselves, they’ll also have to protect the weak member(s).
Also, you don’t give a loaded firearm to an untrained person. He is not just a risk to himself but the entire squad. You’ll be defending yourself both from the assault of the enemies and his stray bullets.
A sinful person in a team of spiritual people is not minus one. No, a sinful person renders the efforts of the entire team null. So, it becomes zero. The efforts of the rest mean nothing. Recall the sin of Achan in Joshua 7:10-26 that cost Israel the fight against Ai until Achan was removed.
When it’s time to carry out important assignments in an organization, it’s not time to use untrained inexperienced people. Using trained but still, inexperienced personnel for the first time is ok, especially when there’s no one with experience around. But making use of an untrained person for negotiations of business deals might cost the organization a lot.
As a leader, instead of gathering a multitude that will decamp tomorrow to the enemies side, why not train a few that are reliable and go with them. It’s better.
Spend time to train people because once the fight starts, training is over. Whether they’ll decamp or not, won’t be under your control at that point.
