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The
Leadership Challenge - Get Supporters
by Envoy Charles
Roberts
Nehemiah's first
position in leadership was on his knees: he wept, mourned,
fasted and prayed. Then God gave him the opportunity, means
and the strategy to go forward.
In Chapter 2 of his journey, Nehemiah travels to
Jerusalem.
"Three days after arriving in Jerusalem, I got up during the
night and left my house.
I took some men with me without telling anyone what I
thought God wanted me to do for the city." (Nehemiah 2:11-12)
As soon as was feasible, Nehemiah gathered himself to make a
survey of the city, and he took along men unaware of what God
had told him to do.
In this way, they could be independent witnesses of the
ruined condtion of city, and could make their own unbiased
assessment.
"I went through
Valley Gate on the west, then south past Dragon Spring, before
coming to Garbage Gate. As I rode along I took a good look at
the gates that had been torn down and burned.
On the east side of the city, headed north to Fountain
Gate and King's Pool, but then the trail was too narrow for my
donkey. So I went
down to Kidron Valley and looked at the wall from there.
Then before daylight I returned to the city through
Valley Gate." (2:13-15)
Nehemiah gave
exact coordinates as to where he rode, looked at the
conditions, and then took a vista-like view of the wall from
the Kidron Valley; in other words, he looked up to the city on
a hill, to assess its lack of defensive capability from an
outsider's view.
When he appeared in the early morning, he gave the people his
unbiased assessment; he told them just like it is.
"Jerusalem is
truly in a mess!
The gates have been torn down and burned, and everything is in
ruins. We must
rebuild the city wall so that we can again take pride in our
city." (2:17)
What did Nehemiah
do "here"? Kurt
Lewin, author of field theory, says to make change, there are
three things the change agent must do:
1 - Unfreeze at
the current level
2- Create a
picture of the preferred future
3 - Freeze at the
new level
In other words ,
in order to get from here to there, one must talk plainly
about what "here" is, and how miserable we are "here," paint a
new preferred future or how "there" is going to be better, and
then celebrate where we get "there," remember who and how we
got there along the way.
Nehemiah is not candy-coating the situation, nor is he
wearing rose-colored spectacles, but he calls it just like he
sees it; Jerusalem is in ruins.
Then he rallied the people, saying, "we MUST rebuild
the city wall..."
Why? "so that we can take pride in our city again."
The new future that is envisioned by Nehemiah, and now
by the people, was of a city that one could stand tall in, and
not be disgraced...but there's more.
He further reminded them of what God had done to get
him from his "here" - being a cupbearer, from "there" - the
leader of a revival movement!
After Nehemiah
rallied the troops, giving the sense of reality, recalling the
move of God in his life, they became bold and stouthearted,
and answered the call: " Immediately they replied, Let's start
building now!"
(2:18b.)
In the King James
Version, Nehemiah 2:18b. is rendered, "Let us arise and
build!" This
distinction is important to recognize, because this rendering
of the verse depicts the two-step process needed for the
people; they needed to arise and build.
"Arise" means to
become erect and turn about.
The people who had been repatriated to Jerusalem were a
downtrodden people, living in a slum, a war-torn city.
Think of living in Gaza, or London during the bombings.
In order for a people who have been laid low by
affliction to become builders, they must arise - they must
stand, become erect, and come about.
We live among a
people who are downtrodden: life has lain many low in these
days. But
Christ has come to give a spark to those who have been dead in
transgressions and sins.
He has brought new life, to a new creation, new hope to
an adopted people who had been cut off from life.
The prophet Isaiah has brought a relevant word to us:
"You will rebuild those houses left in ruins for years; you
will be known as a builder and repairer of city walls and
streets." (Isaiah 58:12)
In order to be
used as a builder, we must first arise , stand erect: God is
my glory and the lifter of my head.
Then we must come about, in confession and repentance:
"God we have been acting like downtrodden ones, and not
rejoicing in the finished work of Christ, and not acting like
our new identity in Him calls us to be.
For the New
Testament church, this building motif has less to do with the
physical structure and institutions, and more to do the
organic growth of individuals in community. "For we are God's
field, God's building." (1 Corinthians 3:9)
We are co-laborers with God, under divine orders, under
the loyalty oath, delivered to us by the blood of Jesus, and
His broken body and shed blood are two permanent witnesses of
God's unbreakable covenant.
Will you arise,
and build?
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