How he led well, even when faced with the worst sort of problems
By Dean Collins
If you have coached a team, led a company, chaired a board, or been on a leadership team in any organization for very long, then you know that defeat rarely comes because of outside forces and opponents who have decided to attack you and bring your organization down. After Nehemiah organized an amazing strategy to deal with opposition from the outside, he discovered a bigger problem.
Internal problems
As Nehemiah 4 comes to an end, we see Nehemiah’s workforce alternating between laboring on the wall and standing guard against enemy attack. The alert system was in place, and it seemed that nothing would stop the progress; but then began the outcry of the people. It wasn’t a complaint about the enemy’s persistence. It was a cry about internal problems. Leadership problems on the inside. Big family problems. The kind where family enslaved family. There may have been unity about facing the external enemy, but the house was divided in how to take care of itself.
The result was that some with resources could pay their taxes while others had to borrow money from friends and family to pay taxes, leaving nothing for food. If that wasn’t hard enough, some with resources would then lend money for food but charge so much interest it required even selling family members into slavery to survive. When Nehemiah heard what was happening, he called out those who were being unjust for how they treated one another and he demanded that it stop. When Nehemiah spoke out, the people fell silent. Their sin was exposed.
Strong leader
But Nehemiah didn’t simply shame the people. He gave them a pathway to correct the problem. The enslaved were released. Charging interest to each other stopped. Fields, vineyards, orchards, and houses were given back. The priests called the people to make promises never to mistreat each other again. Nehemiah stood up and offered a prayer asking God to shake out every man from his house who did not keep his promise. There was nothing timid about Nehemiah’s leadership.
Jim Collins might call Nehemiah a level five leader. He had strong determination to do what he was called to do. But simply being strong enough to face the external enemy and correct the internal problems in the community does not make one a level five leader. To be a level five leader requires both strength and humility.
Humble generosity
As chapter 5 comes to an end, we see Nehemiah’s humility and generosity in action. In the 12 years Nehemiah had been leading, he didn’t take the food allowance he had been promised by the king. Everyone had seen the previous leaders take their allowance and then take others’ as well. But not Nehemiah. Neither did he take advantage of real estate opportunities all around him. What he did was out of his own savings feed 150 people daily. He made personal sacrifices in order to lead the mission God had given him. He did not flaunt his service so that others would notice. His prayer was that only God would see and remember his sacrifice.
When God shows you and me the walls we are to help restore this year, my prayer is that God will also give us the courage to be the kind of leader who is strong enough to call out injustice when we see it but also make us humble and generous in sharing our own resources to meet the needs of those around us.
Your time with God’s Word
Nehemiah 5:1-2, 6-19 ESV
Photo by Anaya Katlego on Unsplash
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