Where We’ve Been

We are nearing the end of our evaluation of leadership lessons from the life of Nehemiah.  We have seen so many valuable insights from this man who committed himself to following God’s desires and leading God’s people towards growth and change!  Today I would like to focus on the opposition that Nehemiah faced.  Every great movement will encounter opposition!  Anytime a leader moves towards healthy change, people will be opposed.  Some simply do not like the idea of change, for others it might need to be slow and gradual, and others just need to get used to the idea.  But the fact remains, when a leader leads, he or she will almost always encounter opposition! 

A Familiar Example

We are familiar with the opposition that faced Nehemiah in the men Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem.  We have heard the story before but let us reflect on it again.  Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem were in opposition to the project from the very beginning.  Even in chapter 2 verse 19 we see their mockery.  The verse records their response to what Nehemiah and the people were trying to do: What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?  I find Nehemiah’s response in verse 20 to be quite interesting: The God of heaven will make us successful; therefore, we His servants will arise and build, but you have no part, right, or memorial in Jerusalem.  A few items stick out to me in his response.  First of all, notice how Nehemiah led by mission. There is a difference in leading by “mission” and leading by “permission”.  Sometimes people will follow a leader and give him or her “permission” to lead, but that is not the same as leading by mission.  The interesting thing about Nehemiah’s situation is that he had permission.  He could have told these men that he possessed the approval and blessing of the king, but that was not his main goal.  His goal, first and foremost, was to follow God.  Therefore, Nehemiah appealed to the higher authority of the King of the universe!  Based on that authority, he said we His servants will arise and build.  I also find the second half of Nehemiah’s response to these men to also be significant.  He told these men you have no part, right, or memorial in Jerusalem.  After all, these men were not Jews; it was “no skin off of their nose” whether the Jews were rebuilding their walls or not.  So, Nehemiah reminded them that this was not their fight, and that Nehemiah was going to follow God despite their opposition.

Opposition Continued

Continuing on in the story, we see the desire to oppose Nehemiah’s project completely consuming the three men who opposed him as they continue further in their ridicule of what they did not like.  Notice that Nehemiah had no problem with the men who mocked his work.  He was not trying to upset or oppose them; he was simply doing what he believed God had called him to do.  Yet they determined to destroy the work attempted by the people of Israel, and they made it their mission in life to do so.  This ridicule appeared again in chapter 4, as Sanballat heard that the Jews had started rebuilding the wall, and he became angry.  Notice how his fruit of bitterness spread to others, as we read in verse 2 that he spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy people of Samaria.  We see Tobiah eventually dragged into this as well, and they stood around mocking the efforts of the people.  It was not enough for Sanballat to just have an opinion against Nehemiah and the people, he had to gain a following of his own to create a movement against them.  These are often the tactics of those who oppose God’s work! 

As the people continue to build, we find in chapter 6 that things got desperately worse!  In chapter 6 verse 2 we find that the opponents of Nehemiah reached out to meet with him, but Nehemiah was wise to their plan and understood that they were plotting to harm me.  We see that the opposition tried to intimidate Nehemiah with false reports, deceive him with false prophets, and influence the nobles to turn against Nehemiah.  So much opposition, yet Nehemiah continued with the task God had for him! 

Life Lessons

What can we learn from this excerpt in the life of Nehemiah?  We learn a valuable lesson in leadership from Nehemiah.  Leaders who lead will experience opposition.  Someone will always oppose you; they will talk about you, try to stop you, perhaps even seek to destroy your reputation as they did for Nehemiah.  But leaders are still responsible to lead, and they are accountable to God for that leadership.  Nehemiah shows for us the example of a life that is totally committed to God’s mission and will follow Him no matter what!  We even see him face opposition, and he does not fight back.  He told them his mission and that it was from God, but he did not seek to engage or do battle with these men; he left that up to the Lord!

Final Thoughts

If you are going to stand up for God, do what is right, and even be a leader in our world and God’s church, you will face opposition.  Do not let that stop you!  Learn from the lesson of Nehemiah.  Humbly fulfill what God wants you to do, do not engage the opposition with fighting words, and commit to following God no matter what, recognizing that your rewards will not be in this life but the next!