Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, but the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine-tenths remained in the other cities. And the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem. Nehemiah 11:1-2
At one time or another since the time we began our employment, we have received a request to volunteer to work overtime or participate in a project that was not in our work schedule. We were asked to do this in order to meet the goals of our department or company at a time when they most needed our support.
When we are requested to work extra it leaves us with the sense that we have a choice in the matter at hand. On the other hand when we are mandated to work longer hours and our ability to choose is removed, feelings of frustration, annoyance and even anxiety persist.
The descendants of Abraham found themselves facing a challenge that they had not focused on as they were rebuilding the city walls. The project had been completed, but there remained the small matter of populating the city. The leaders themselves lived there, but most of the returned exiles were living comfortably in the surrounding cities.
How could they solve this problem? They could order people to move into the city as they had, but that might seem arbitrary and thoughtless. Here we find one of the challenges of leadership -- motivating stakeholders or employees to go above and beyond their expected commitments when a need arises.
Upon reading the first two verses of Nehemiah 11, we discover that people have decided to cast lots to determine who would populate the city of Jerusalem. This ‘casting of lots’ was a common and accepted practice to impartially choose individuals for a variety of things.
It was believed that the lot pronounced the will of God, which made this an acceptable process to make a decision as life changing as this one. The ten lots were cast representing ten families from each city. If the lot fell on you, your family was selected to move inside the city walls. The lots were cast and the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.
Covering a shift, floating to a new floor or department, temporarily accepting additional responsibilities to meet a deficit are all experiences that we are familiar with working at Loma Linda University Health. While we do not ‘cast lots’ to determine how these needs are met, we can choose whether or not to accept whatever is asked of us during critical times to meet the goals of our organization.
Though our acceptance of the added assignment may or may not provide us with remuneration, it does provide us with a sense that our contributions are vital to our team, department, school and organization. We can be sure that our leaders, managers, patients, clients and stakeholders are thankful for our willingness to go the extra mile.