Leadership 101

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He was no wimp. Nehemiah had been cupbearer to King Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 2:1). To modern minds this makes him a royal waiter but in the context of the times, Nehemiah was the king's wine taster, a task that went far beyond checking the colour and bouquet! Nehemiah tasted the wine to make sure it wasn't poisoned. You have to have some serious nerve to do that job!

Heading out to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall around the city might have seemed a whole lot less dangerous than wine tasting. Nehemiah was not easily frightened.

So when the poor of the country complained about the "fat cats" who were ripping them off (5:12), Nehemiah didn't hesitate to take the risk of offending those of wealth and influence by rebuking them and demanding of them a whole lot more consideration for their fellow countrymen.

As a man of integrity, Nehemiah resisted becoming one of those "fat cats" (5:14-16) "…out of reverence for God." He was there to build a wall not to acquire things for himself. He was a man who had his priorities straight.

When his enemies sought to distract him, lie about him, and intimidate him, he resisted being sidetracked and kept at the task (6:1-15). He prayed, asking the Lord to "…strengthen his hands" (6:9b, NIV). Nehemiah knew the importance of staying focused long before the Olympians learned it.

Nehemiah's confidence was in God. He believed that God would meet his needs without the need to "play the game" that those around him were playing. to do what it seemed everyone else was doing, to bow to others' demands, or to lose sight of the goal and the God who had assigned the project to him.

He trusted God for himself ("Remember me with favor, my God, for all I have done for these people" 5:19, NIV) and he trusted God to take care of those who had tried to cause him so much grief ("Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophet Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophets have been trying to intimidate me" 6:14, 15, NIV).

In either case, Nehemiah didn't tell God what to do, he simply entrusted the situations to God to do what only God knew was best in each circumstance.

There are more than a few leadership principles here. Among these:
    1.    Confront wrong.
    2.    Stay focused on the task. Remember WHO you are working for.
    3.    Don't let the agenda of others derail God's agenda.
    4.    Be a leader of integrity.
    5.    Trust God to do the right thing by you and by others.

In the end, wine tasting for the king of Persia turned out to be less dangerous than the task of rebuilding the wall. But it was good training for the job. Nehemiah's faithfulness in the court of Artaxerxes provided the groundwork for his faithfulness when assigned a much bigger task.