Few Bible books address modern concerns so strongly and directly or are so practical as Nehemiah. In today’s parlance one might title Nehemiah’s book, “Be a leader!” Learn how to:
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Gather information and form workable plans
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Get other people to do what you want them to do (and like doing it)
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Manage a difficult boss
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Motivate subordinates
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Master six great secrets for overcoming obstacles
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Succeed where others have failed
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Win without intimidation
Each of those items (and more) is taught in Nehemiah. However, the most important thing about Nehemiah is that he was a man of God, and because he was close to God in prayer and personal piety, he was able to draw from God the wisdom, patience, skill, and perseverance he needed to complete his great task.
What a task it was. Nehemiah went to the ancient Jewish capital of Jerusalem from the Persian capital of Susa in 445 BC in order to rebuild the city. It had been destroyed 141 years before (in 586 BC) when Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had attacked Judah and carried off most of its inhabitants.
Jerusalem had been burned, and the great stones that made up the one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half mile long wall of the city had been dislodged and tumbled into the steep valleys that surrounded it on all sides. Nothing of any value had been left. As the decades slipped by, grass and trees had grown up in the deserted streets and pathways, and garbage had covered the masses of the overthrown stones.
Moreover, the only people who were available to do the demanding work of reconstruction were exiles who had begun to return to Jerusalem nearly a century earlier. They had tried to build the wall then and on several later occasions, but they had failed each time and were thoroughly discouraged.
A difficult task? More like impossible. But Nehemiah so planned the work and so motivated the frustrated and disheartened refugees that the task was completed, in spite of fierce and mounting opposition, in just fifty-two days. Nehemiah began to rebuild the wall on the first of August, 445 BC, and finished it on the twenty-first of September.
How did he do it? Nehemiah’s testimony is that it was accomplished by God working through him and those others who assisted in the work. When he first asked the Persian king Artaxerxes for permission to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and Artaxerxes agreed, a small miracle in itself, Nehemiah did not boast of his skill in handling the emperor but said instead, “And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me” (Ne. 2:8).
When he was opposed by Sanballat and Tobiah, two formidable enemies of his project, Nehemiah declared, “The God of heaven will make us prosper.” When the wall was finished less than two months later, he testified strongly, “This work had been accomplished with the help of our God” (Ne. 6:16).
Nehemiah had the skills of a great leader. We can learn from him again and again in this area. But even more important was his deep dependence on God, and we need to learn from that too. Nehemiah believed in a great God.
Maranatha
(mar-uh-nath-uh “Our Lord Comes”)
Pastor Steve can be reached at
PastorSteve@MaranathaBibleChurch.org