Many years ago, in an organisation that remains nameless, I was seconded to a major project worth many millions of dollars. There were over 400 people on this project at the time. 70% were engaged from a consultancy firm. My role was coordination of the project management. From the information each person entered into the system daily, I was able to track the progress of the project and produced reports for management.
It was very complicated and the progress was critical to ensure we had the right resources working at capacity and that no one area fell behind and created a critical path that would delay any other area.
Each day, on my own initiative, I backed up all the data and kept a copy off site. One particular day I decided to check the backup integrity to ensure I could restore, in the event of a failure. It was then that I discovered there was a discrepancy in the data I backup the night before to the data I now had on the system.
I had stumbled onto a large and a well executed fraud. I took it to the co-directors, one from my organisation and one from the consultancy, to expose it. When told to ignore it as it was a ‘normal’ part of the agreement with the consultancy, I realised they were behind it! The co-directors had several consultants come in at night to ‘doctor’ the data. It was a means to siphon off a lot of money through the consultancy. I was told in no uncertain terms, “What happens within the Project, stayed in the Project” and to keep quiet or I would take the fall for ‘corrupting’ the data. When pressed, my life was even threatened…and they were serious.
Suffice to say, I was afraid – very afraid. This was plainly wrong. And they were dragging me into their fraud. And that made me even more scared. No longer because of the threat on my life, but because I could no longer live a life of integrity if I let this continue. The next level above my co-director was the Managing Director! And I wasn’t sure as to how far this fraud extended. These guys seemed so well entrenched and protected. What to do?
So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death. When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact. He asked the king’s officer, “Why did the king issue such a harsh decree?” Arioch then explained the matter to Daniel. At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him. Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision.
Daniel 2:13-19
It was at this time I cried out to God for wisdom.
Over night it became clear. God showed me who I needed to reveal this to. I had to take this to my department head from which I had been seconded. He was a man of integrity and advised the other Directors of the organisation that one of their Directors and the Senior Consultant were committing fraud.
To avoid embarrassment to the organisation (public confidence would drop, shares fall and more damage would occur), it was dealt with internally. The Director ‘resigned’ and the Co-director consultant was ‘urgently recalled’ from the project and returned to his parent company in the United States. Which by the way, collapsed world-wide several years later due to massive corruption! A number of consultants were dismissed and full control of the project reverted to our organisation and it progressed on track.
There are times in our life when we will be caught up in a situation where we are under immense duress. It is at those times we can only cry out to the One who will hear. As we fall upon the mercy of God, He will be our deliverer.
…Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said: “Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you…
Daniel 2:19-23
What made it easier for me to do this, was the fact that I already had an intimate relationship with God. You too can have an intimate relationship with God… why wait until you hit bad times and He is the only one left to cry out to?