Page 64 - Principles of Leadership - Nehemiah

of heaven would make them prosper. Then, in 4:15, he said that God had frustrated the plans of the enemy. In
4:20, he told the people that God would fight for them. Now it had happened. The wall had been built. Our God
had accomplished all these things.

How then does leadership make spiritual application of the ancient text to today's culture? As never before, we
need a great commitment to the great commandment (John 13:34 – 35) and the great commission (Matthew
28:19 – 20), which will build a great church. Therefore, leadership must keep the main thing the main thing. If
leaders fail to do this, good things will become the enemy of the great. For example, one of the purposes of the
church is fellowship. Fellowship does not push us out of our comfort zone as evangelism does. Therefore, if
leaders are not careful, they will structure their programs around what is comfortable and allow good things,
such as fellowship, to push out another purpose of the church: evangelism. But to keep this great commitment
to the main thing, leaders will need great discernment, as Nehemiah demonstrated. He had this great
discernment because he had a great commitment to prayer. Praying James 1:5 will give us the wisdom to
discern the vision path we must stay on. Great discernment will not allow fear to cloud our judgment. Someone
once said that fear is defined as false evidence appearing real. 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of
fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment. (HCSB) Let’s beg God to allow us to discern which
walls need to be rebuilt in our sphere of influence today.

As we close out this section, Nehemiah includes a postscript to describe a conspiracy that was going on
between Tobiah and Meshullam. Remember that Tobiah has been mentioned many times as one of the main
leaders of the opposition. We have to go back to Nehemiah 3:4 to discover who Meshullam is; Beside them,
Meshullam, son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel, made repairs. From Nehemiah 3:4, we discover that
Meshullam was one of the family heads who participated in the construction process. However, in this
postscript, Nehemiah tells us that 17 During those days, behind the back of Nehemiah, these nobles of Judah
sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s [letters] came to them. 18 For many in Judah were bound by oath
to him since he was a son-in-law of Shecaniah, son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter
of Meshullam, son of Berechiah. 19 These nobles kept mentioning Tobiah’s good deeds to me, and they
reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me. It appears from Nehemiah 3:4 that
Meshullam fully participated in the building project while at the same time was in alliance with Tobiah. This
alliance occurred because it appears that Tobiah’s son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam.
Oh, the importance of marrying right, which will be discussed in a later chapter. Because of this marital alliance
(19), these nobles kept mentioning Tobiah’s good deeds to me. It also appears that they possibly served as
inside spies, and they reported my words to him, which allowed Tobiah to send more letters to intimidate
Nehemiah. We will never know all that went on, but Nehemiah was hurt deeply by this betrayal, and God
allowed him to mention it in this book.

From experience, I can tell you nothing hurts a leader more than people acting like your friend, and even
volunteering to help you out in the building processes, all the while going behind your back to try and destroy
what you are doing. Will this cause Nehemiah not to trust anyone anymore because of this deep betrayal? No,
but we will discover what he will look for in leaders that he will put in places of high responsibility in the next
chapter.

Let’s Practice…

1-2. What two characteristics did Hanani demonstrate that qualified him to become the mayor of Jerusalem?

62