Nehemiah – Confident in the Lord

     This is Chuck Rapp with Multiply, a podcast to provide a word of encouragement for village church

planters and leaders.

Today we continue our series on the leadership qualities of Nehemiah. There is so much we can learn –

and seek to follow – from this man.

A few weeks ago, we learned in chapter 2 how Nehemiah was a planful leader and how, upon his arrival

in Jerusalem, he assessed the condition of the walls. Shortly after his nightly inspection of the walls he

began to encounter opposition. At this point in the story Sanballat and Tobiah begin their meddling and

their attempts to disrupt the work and to discourage the workers.

In verses 19 and 20, we read “But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and

Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. What is this you are doing?; they

asked. Are you rebelling against the king?  I answered them by saying, The God of heaven will give us success.

I see two very important leadership lessons in these verses.

 Firstly, nearly every time we undertake an assignment from the Lord there will be opposition.

Sometimes that opposition will be from people external to our team such as in this case. But

sometimes the opposition will come from those whom we think are on our side. Personally,

that is the most challenging situation for me. I call this “friendly fire.” I recall our first missions

assignment nearly 30 years ago. Most of my co-workers sought to help us (my wife and me) find

our place, but a few seemed to want to put us in our place. That hurt deeply yet we knew that

God had called us. The point is, leaders must be ready for opposition; if the Lord has called us,

we must be obedient and continue on.

 Secondly, Nehemiah was a confident leader. However, his confidence did not lie in himself or

those around him. Rather, he responded, “The God of heaven will give us success.” Notice that

Nehemiah did not react to defend himself when ridiculed by critics. He did not show them his

credentials. He did not engage in a war of words; he avoided an angry response to those who

opposed him. May we follow this example!

David, in Psalm 20:7-8, had this to say, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the

name of the LORD our God.   They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.”

May we stand firm, stand confidently, because of our trust in the Lord!

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters and leaders.