Leadership Lessons from Nehemiah

SCRIPTURE: Neh. 5:6,7; 14-16; Neh. 6:12-16
⁶ When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry. ⁷ I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them, “You are exacting usury from your own countrymen!” So I called together a large meeting to deal with them.

¹⁴ Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year—twelve years—neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. ¹⁵ But the earlier governors—those preceding me—placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that. ¹⁶ Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work; we did not acquire any land.

¹² I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. ¹³ He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.

¹⁴ Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who have been trying to intimidate me.

¹⁵ So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. ¹⁶ When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.

OBSERVATION: There are several important leadership qualities displayed by Nehemiah in these verses. 1) He was willing to stand up for the people who had no power and confront the other leaders who were oppressing them. This isn't easy to do, but Nehemiah was willing to take a stand based on principles in spite of what it might cost him. 2) He did not enrich himself at the cost of others. As a leader, he was entitled to have more than he took. No one would have blinked an eye if he had used what was allotted to him as governor, but because the people were hard pressed, he voluntarily limited his financial support. The welfare of the people was more important to him than his own welfare. 3) He worked alongside the people and did not have an attitude of superiority over those he led. 4) He recognized attacks from others, even when they were coming from within the community of the Jews. He refused to be stopped by these attacks. 5) He motivated the people to keep going until the task was finished.

APPLICATION: I need to make sure I continue to develop these qualities in my life. The humility demonstrated by Nehemiah was exemplary. He was obviously a man of prayer, which allowed him to recognize when the enemy was trying to intimidate him, even through people who he should have been able to trust. Paul warned in Acts that there would be people who would arise from church leadership that would behave as "wolves" to devour the sheep. It is so important for leaders to have discernment from God in these matters. My weakest area is the area of motivation. I need to work on developing that skill to a much greater degree.

PRAYER: Father, I am humbled that you have chosen me to lead others in the family of God. I know I fall short of my calling very often. I need your help so much! Give me a humble and discerning heart that is always looking out for the welfare of others above my own. And help me to do a much better job of being a person who motivates others to "finish the race" well. In Jesus' Name, Amen.