Dealing with Oppression

The oppression gets worse. This should come as no surprise the move when God moves the harder Satan will try to derail things. There is a classic pattern to the disunity of the three godless leaders, they mocked the Jewish people along with their leader, they mocked the quality of the work, and they mocked God. In the church mockers might not be so brash as to mock God but they will do the other two. Leaders who dare lead renewal can expect personal attack. These attacks will be based on some truth so it will sting. Things will be said about personal ambition, about lack of training, about being rebellious, about personal ego, and much more. Get ready. That is why you make sure that it is God not you who is leading renewal.. Even when you know that what you are leading is of God personal attacks will sting. We don’t know how Nehemiah handled all of this we just know he prayed to God and made a plan for families to protect families. Nehemiah had gotten to the place that he could not nor would not give up. The front to personal attack is to stay close to the truth of God’s call and to stay connected to others who share the call. Satan’s greatest tool is isolation. If he can make the leader believe that he is alone then he has won. Pride keeps leaders from reaching out. We think that we can handle the pressure but we can’t. The lie we believe is that true leaders need no one. Leaders must lead from a position where the biggest influence is God but they need others to keep the vision clear. We know that Nehemiah had a team; we know he pulled other leaders into the vision, so we would assume that he made others aware of the attacks.

Nehemiah asked God to deal with those who created disunity. This is not a kind prayer but a straight forward prayer asking God to bring their disunity “back on their heads.” This is a great leadership insight. Disunity is serious and should not be allowed to go on. Leaders who confront disunity must not shrink back from taking a hard stand. This prayer Nehemiah prayed was a public prayer! When leaders pray with that holy boldness those who follow see the seriousness of the calling. In Jewish tradition there was the belief that words had a life of their own. Once this prayer was prayed it had the power and authority of God to come about. This is big stuff.