Leadership Lessons from Nehemiah
/
Leadership is always a challenge. Leading during a pandemic and in the midst of social unrest, division, and a presidential election is particularly challenging.
Although most of my readers have substantial leadership experience, all of us can profit from being reminded of the fundamentals of effective leadership. Peter wrote:
Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. (2 Peter 1:12–15)
We can learn a great deal from studying Nehemiah’s leadership practices. He was a superb leader who faced extreme challenges in circumstances that make ours pale in comparison.
Here is a quick helicopter flyover of some of the key principles I see in Nehemiah’s leadership that you and I can apply to our leadership during these challenging times.
Leaders assess the situation and the opportunities
One of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.” (Ne 1:2-3)
Application: Before taking action we must first assess our situation. One of our first priorities as leaders is to observe, assess, listen and learn before attempting to lead.
Leaders Begin with Prayer
Notice Nehemiah’s immediate reaction to hearing the news: “As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” (Ne 1:4).
Application: Nehemiah’s first reaction was not to do, but to pray. Leaders by their nature are action oriented — we are doers. Our tendency is to see a problem or an opportunity and to start doing something to solve the problem or to take advantage of the opportunity. However, if we genuinely believe that God is control we will pray before doing. As James reminds us:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13ff)
Leaders pray continuously – While Acting
Nehemiah prayed earnestly after hearing the bad news about Jerusalem. He also prayed in the moment.
Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. (Ne 2:4; 4:9)
Application: As leaders (and as Christians) prayer should be the posture of our leadership and of our lives. This is why Paul instructs us to pray without ceasing.
Leaders are Courageous
I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. (Ne 2:1-2) …
... Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? … Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” ... And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. (Ne 2:2; 2:19, 4:1-3,8)
Note: The fact that God has called us to a task and will bless it does not mean that we will not face opposition. We will. One of the principle ways Satan uses to oppose us is by using others to create confusion, disunity, and fear so that the good work we do will stop. Albert Mohler in his book, Conviction to Lead writes:
As leaders we need courage and endurance. If you lead faithfully, you will make decisions that are unpopular, costly, and sometimes filled with risk. There are days when you will have to stand up and take the blame for a bad decision made by others, and plenty of other days when those bad decisions were made by you. But even more frequently, leaders have to bear the burden of right decisions that hurt. [emphasis added]
Courage is not the absence of fear. In the above passage Nehemiah admits, “Then I was very much afraid.” But he acted and did the right thing.
The dictionary defines courage as “mental or moral strength to resist opposition, danger, or hardship. It implies firmness of mind and will in the face of danger or extreme difficulty. The courage to support unpopular causes.” Courage (also called bravery or valour) “is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Physical courage is bravery in the face of physical pain, hardship, death or threat of death, while moral courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, discouragement, or personal loss.”
Application: As leaders, we will face opposition and internal disunity. We will fear. But as leaders trusting in God’s sovereignty and his providence, we lead and commit ourselves to doing the next right thing even though it may cost us.
I believe Jesus was terribly afraid of the torture and death and separation from God that the crucifixion entailed for him. That is why he was so stressed that he sweat drops of blood. But Jesus was also committed to the mission and was courageous – he overcame his fears – in order to save his people, you and I, from our sins. This is leadership. Leaders may fear but they are courageous and are willing to pay the price to do what is right.
Leaders Recognize that Success Depends upon the Blessing of God
And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me. (Ne 2:8)
One of my favorite passages in the Bible is:
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! (Ps. 90:17)
Leaders are careful about what to communicate, with whom and when
Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem...And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work. (Ne 2:12,16)
Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.” And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” (Ne 2:17–18)
Another favorite passage Psalm 73. This is a passage about David nearly losing his faith.
Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked … Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
Application: David did eventually share his thoughts by writing Psalm 73 but not until he had wrestled with and resolved his doubts. Had he shared his struggle with the children of Israel as their king, as their leader, he could have at best discouraged or worried them, at worse—led them astray.
Both Nehemiah and David exercised leadership wisdom and discretion in determining what is shared, with whom it is shared and when it is shared. This is not about keeping secrets, it’s about being wise and careful with the leadership responsibilities that we have given recognizing that what we communicate, to whom we communicate, and when we communicate has an impact on people and our mission.
Leaders support, protect and encourage because the mission can seem overwhelming
In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” (Ne 4:10)
And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building on the wall. (Ne 4:16–17)
And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night ... Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other ... So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon at his right hand. (Ne 4:8-9, 16-17, 23)
Paul told the elders at Ephesus:
I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert … (Acts 20:29)
Application: Leaders care. Leaders recognizes the stress and discouragement that a hard mission entails and works to encourage, support, and help those that they lead. Leaders get down in the trenches. Leaders both encourage and are prepared to fight for what is right and to protect those that they lead.
Leaders will be falsely accused
Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together ... in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm ... And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner. In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports you wish to become their king ... Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.” For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” (Ne 6:1–9)
Application: Moses was falsely accused, Jesus was falsely accused, and Paul was falsely accused. As leaders, even when we are doing all of the right things, we also may be falsely accused. Expect it but always respond in a godly manner. Do not allow Satan to use false accusations to discourage you or to cause you to fear from that which God has asked you to do.
Leaders make God’s word central for those they lead and those they serve
And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month … And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law ... They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. (Ne 8:1–3)
Application: God’s word must be central to our leadership, to our families and with our staff and students. It is the word of God that separates us from other private schools. Without God‘s word we would merely be just another private school.
Our country does not need another private school. What our community, our country, our students and our families need is a high-quality, kingdom-class school founded upon and faithful to the word of God. Leadership must guard the centrality of God’s word vigorously and vigilantly. The world must never set the agenda for our schools.
Leaders lead in giving thanks to God
Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. (Ne 12:31, 43)
Application: This was a positive witness to the surrounding people. Being thankful and expressing gratitude both in private and public is honoring to the Lord, is good for our schools, and is a positive witness in our communities. In our world thankfulness is in short supply. When we demonstrate thankfulness we our wonderful witnesses to how the word of God and the Spirit of God make us different.
Leaders support the work financially
Now some of the heads of fathers’ houses gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury … And some of the heads of fathers’ houses gave into the treasury of the work … And what the rest of the people gave … (Ne 7:66–72)
Application: As leaders we set the pace for sacrificial giving and investing in the lives of our students and in the mission of the school.
Summary
As we saw in Nehemiah, leaders:
Assess the situation and the opportunities
Begin with prayer
Pray continuously – while acting
Are courageous
Recognize that success depends upon the blessings of God
Are careful about what to communicate, with whom and when
Support, protect and encourage others and those they lead
Will be falsely accused
Make God’s word central for those they lead and those they serve
Lead in giving thanks to God, privately and in public
Support the work financially
Leadership is a high and costly calling. It is hard and rewarding. Let us move forward with dependence on God, faithfulness to his word, courage, and wisdom!
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
1 Mohler, Conviction to Lead