Biblical Leadership Series, Part I: Committing to the Call
“He that thinks he is leading – and no one is following him – is only taking a walk.” ~ John Maxwell. Nehemiah was NOT just taking a walk!
In October of 2010, I was so blessed to be part of Precept Ministries International’s “Leadership Development” Conference. It was an incredible 3 days of examining leadership from a PURELY biblical perspective. I so admire Kay Arthur and her ministry because it is based on nothing other than God’s Word.
We started our study with George Barna’s definition of leadership from his book, A Fish Out of Water, p. 7:
“Leadership is the process of motivating, mobilizing, resourcing, and directing people to passionately and strategically pursue a vision from God that a group jointly embraces.”
This definition will come to life in the pages of Nehemiah’s story. First, a little background info about the life and times of the prophet. The book of Nehemiah begins in about 445 BC. It is set after the Children of Israel had been released from Babylonian captivity. Because of the captivity, the city of Jerusalem (capital of the southern Kingdom of Judah) had fallen into great disrepair. Some of the surviving captives returned to Jerusalem, while some remained in Persia.
When we open to Nehemiah 1, we find Nehemiah in the capital city of the Persian Empire, Susa. The month is Chislev, which is around November-December on our calendars. Nehemiah is going about his business of being a cupbearer for the king, when some of his home-folks show up for a visit. Nehemiah inquired about those who had survived the captivity and had returned to Jerusalem. What he heard next literally floored him.
His friends told him that their people were in “great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire” (Neh. 1:3). This absolutely broke Nehemiah’s heart because it was his own people and a city without walls in those times was wide open for attacks from the enemy. He responded by doing the following things: he sat down and wept, mourned for days, and he fasted and prayed. Whoa – now this is true broken-heartedness before God.
This pierces my heart! I wonder how often any of us get broken-hearted over the condition of our community, church, or family. The power of intercessory power is great. Do not underestimate the impact your prayers and brokenness before God can have.
You see, to be a true leader, you have to have a heart for the people you are attempting to lead. There is a true love and kinship between Nehemiah and those people in Jerusalem – they were his Jewish family members! Note that passion is a part of the definition of leadership that I cited earlier. If the passion is not there, the pursuit of the vision will be half-hearted.
Nehemiah continues with his prayer in chapter 1, asking for personal and national forgiveness of sins. But look how Nehemiah ends the prayer: “O LORD, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man. Now I was the cupbearer to the king.” From what man is Nehemiah asking success and compassion? He is referring to his boss, King Artaxerxes. It will take a divine intervention in the King’s mind to make him open to the vision that is forming in Nehemiah’s heart.
Already, God was establishing a vision in Nehemiah to do something about his homeland. From this prayer, we can see that he is COMMITTED to the call (or vision) before he even knows what lies ahead. This is a mark of a true leader. They get a burning passion about something and make a commitment to do whatever is necessary to accomplish it.
So what about you? Has God laid some call on your heart, but fear has gripped you because you keep thinking of all the obstacles or all the hard work that may lie ahead? In our service to God, we must keep our eyes on Him and trust that He will fight whatever battles we have ahead. He will give us our battle plan as we walk in faith.
If God is truly calling you to some work, you must commit to the call before you even know how hard it is going to be. Compare it to the 911 workers who stormed into the twin towers on that fateful day without fully knowing what was inside. They just knew the call was urgent and they responded. Had they paused and thought about the possibility of their own deaths, many others would have perished that day. Do you hear the urgent call God has on your life? Be obedient and commit to the call today!
What an awesome passage! I can’t wait to read the next one. Passion and committment without knowing ahead of time how much hard work is involved…great perspective. I have a hard time reading the Old Testament sometimes, but you make it easy to understand.
Thank you for this! I always need a dose of inspiration.
Well thanks for reading! Hope you have an awesome school year!