24. Nehemiah

Leadership is one of the toughest gigs any of us can step up to. To lead well requires us to give it all, to put others first and to never quit. A great example of good leadership can be seen in the movie We Were Soldiers.There is a scene in that film commonly known as Moore’s Speech and Moore says, “I cannot promise that I will bring you all home alive, but this I swear, before you and before Almighty God, that when we go into battle, I will be the first to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to step off, and I will leave no one behind!” 

Great leaders are, first of all, great role models. They inspire all of us to follow. They give it everything they’ve got. Nehemiah was such a man, an amazing leader and a great strategist. 

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Idea 1: Nehemiah got his priorities ‘spot-on' If I am being honest, I am massively impressed with the opening verses of Nehemiah chapter one. 

Once the writer helps us to understand who Nehemiah is, his lineage and origins, and explains the situation that he now finds himself in, as a child of God in exile - the writer takes us straight to the problem at hand. Nehemiah may be a slave in Babylon, but he has not lost his passion for his people and his homeland. He questions Hanani and a few of the other guys after their trip to Judah about the conditions in Jerusalem. What he hears breaks his heart; he literally weeps but then he channels all that grief and anger into prayer and action.

•  What are the things that you feel really passionate about? What are the circumstances that grieve you and make you angry? 

•  How have you been handling your response to this? Have you prayed about the situation?

•  Why not take this opportunity to discuss with your band of brothers how you might become available to transform the situation?

Idea 2: Doing the research and keeping a positive mind-set Nehemiah made a three-day journey to get to Jerusalem. He actually set out under the cover of darkness and he made the decision to keep all that God had laid on his heart to himself. Sometimes we can be a bit too quick to share the stuff that God wants us to spend time working out with Him alone. That said, if we do need to share what God has laid on our hearts choose only one or two trusted friends. 

When Nehemiah reaches Jerusalem, he sees the devastation for himself. It would be fair to say that the walls of Jerusalem were a complete ruin and many of the gates destroyed by fire. Nehemiah carried out a thorough investigation, he went on to build a detailed inventory and plan, but most importantly he spoke with the officials in Jerusalem. These officials had pretty much lost heart and did not know where to begin, so Nehemiah encouraged them, inspired them and then with sword and trowel in hand started to rebuild with them. 

The key verse in this part of the story is chapter 2:20 - "The God of heaven will give us success…” Nehemiah knows where to keep his focus and attention. 

•  Knowing what God is calling us to do is not always easy to discover. Do you know what God has laid on your heart? And, have you ever shared that with a trusted friend?

•  Have you taken the time to research and pray? If not, how might you start to prepare for what God has called you into?

•  How might you apply Nehemiah’s approach to rebuilding the walls to your current work situation? It might be helpful to read Colossians 3:23-24

Idea 3: Staying strong in the face of opposition Whenever we set out to do anything significant, we will always face opposition. The Bible is littered with stories of men, women and children who did everything to live well and they paid the price. You might want to read Hebrews 11:32-12:3 to see how painful this stuff can get sometimes. 

Nehemiah is no exception to this. Almost as soon as the rebuilding starts he is faced with opposition to the work. But, as we said earlier, he keeps the sword and the trowel in his hands. He is willing to fight when he needs to, but he then loses sight of the task in hand, he is rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. 

•  What opposition have you faced? It is helpful to think through as many types of opposition as you can. Sometimes that opposition comes from other people, but sometimes it can be internal and we feel like we’re battling with ourselves.

•  How do we respond to the types of opposition we have just discussed? Have we been able to rise above the criticisms, the hurts? Or have we been tempted to fight fire with fire and get our own back?

•  Why not pray together right now? Ask God to help you respond to opposition with grace and humility, and maybe even to be like Jesus in the heat of it.

Action

The story of Nehemiah is all about approaching life in the right way. As blokes, we are always tempted to just crack on and make stuff happen. However, if we don’t stop to pray, we can end up causing ourselves and others around us some pain. On top of that, a lack of prayer can often result in failure. 

Take some time over the coming days to evaluate the things that you are doing. Pray about your work, your family, your ministry etc. Finally, once you have examined all the main areas of your life, think through what the story of Nehemiah can teach you in each of those spheres.