(continued from 06-03-10 Blog)

Faced with unprecedented failure and complacency by the Jews in his former capital city of Jerusalem, Nehemiah emerged as God’s leader for his moment (5th century B.C.).  Taking on something nobody had ever done before, Nehemiah chose to be the first to believe both in God and people.  As I mentioned in the last blog, the first responsibility of any leader is not to cast vision, but to define reality.  And God has to be the biggest chunk of your reality.  He was there when the nation of Israel rebelled, and was now showing up when Israel needed restoration.  The first proof that God wills something to get done is the emergence of a determined leader.

So Nehemiah’s strategy for rebuilding unfolds from his finished tour of the disaster site (Neh. 2:13).  Nothing had been done for years.  The people were oppressed.  It was not God’s will to live in those conditions.  God wanted more for His people.  Yet, not a single person had stepped up to change things.  What is the best strategy when nobody else cares?  His first strategic decision?  

Step No. 1:  Speak out.  Talk about the elephant in the room.  Make people deal with issue, not to prove a point, but to move things forward.  Don’t forget about the opportunity cost.  Sometimes leaders hesitate to confront and solve problems because they fear being misunderstood, losing friends or a job, stirring up conflict, or becoming a target for criticism.  What’s rarely mentioned is the price tag of compromise.  Failing to speak up, face the real issues, and work through stuff actually costs you more in the long run.  It’s like hoping cancer goes away, or the oil light on your dashboard doesn’t really mean anything.  There is only one healthy option in each situation.  To pretend problems don’t exist in your workplace, church, classroom, team, marriage or with your kids is delusional and sets everybody up for failure.  Like if you are a fast-food restaurant manager and you know the cook consistently drops the burgers on the floor but picks them up and serves them anyway, you can’t let that go.  Overlooking it means somebody eventually gets sick, you lose customers, or the health inspector shuts you down.  Imagine a wife that knew her husband was consistently cheating on her and was willing to live with it.  Then, when a friend confronts her she says, “I don’t want a fight.  I just want my marriage.  I don’t want to lose him.”  Ridiculous?  Sure.  She has no marriage right now!  He’s already checked out.  Yet, that’s the insanity of trying to protect whatever you think “security” might be.  So, for Nehemiah to speak up naturally meant the comfort zone and lifestyle of the Jewish people would be challenged.  Why?  Because neither God nor any sane person should be living in bondage or oppression.

Speaking out generates some momentum in the right direction.  It forces people to talk about what’s involved and what’s at stake.  His initial statement to the depressed minority in Jerusalem consisted of 36 words that framed both the reality and the vision:  “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach” (Neh. 1: 17).

To finish the question from the last blog, let’s look at 7 things Nehemiah did to define reality for his crowd:

1.  He challenged them without blaming them.  It was a challenge to build, preceded by a raw description of the magnitude of the problem.  Medium-well done gates and a leveled city equals distress, because enemies have unhindered access to make life miserable.  Nehemiah avoided the obvious mistakes though.  There was no review of his resume to build credibility for leadership.  He chose not to review their past sins and incompetency.  His focus was not on the enemies.  There was no “victim” mentality here.  Nehemiah wasn’t a prosecutor looking for someone to blame.  Nobody gets inspired to change their life, surrender to Jesus, or chase their potential if they are being blamed.  Tell your mate, kid, employees, or team how bad they are and watch what happens.  They may be convicted, but rarely committed.  It’s hard for somebody to rise up after they’ve been beat up.  Neither were excuses offered for zero progress.  Leaders who focus on the past inevitably bind people to the past.  Leaders who are future-obsessed free people from the past.  Continuing the negative talk about your son’s bad grades doesn’t inspire him to perform better.  He knows he messed up.  He knows you know he messed up.  He wants help getting out of the hole.  Here, Nehemiah’s implication was that the motivation of the Jewish people was the greatest hindrance—not enemies, resource shortages, or vision.  Movements and ministries seem always to collapse because of internal compromise rather than external pressure (which seems to purify motives & refine beliefs). 

...to be continued