The book of Nehemiah has a lot of leadership lessons to teach to church leaders.

Context

In the 5th century BC, the Jews were deported to Babylone (Irak). He served as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes in the Persian capital (some 1200 km away from Jerusalem). Judah was assieged and he was one of the few Jews (less than 50000) who was later released from captivity by the Persian King and allowed to return to Judah.

During the month of Kislev (November-December) while he was in the Persian Capital, he received the visit of some fellow Jews who came from Judah. He was concerned about his people and inquired on how it was going with the few Jewish remnant who were still in Jerusalem and Judah(not deported). For 4 months he mourned and fasted during the month Nisan i.e. till the month of April-May.

So about 444 BC, Nehemiah journeyed to Jerusalem and aroused the people there to the necessity of repopulating the city and rebuilding its walls. Nehemiah encountered hostility from the (non-Jewish) local officials in neighboring districts, but in the space of 52 days the Jews under his direction succeeded in rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls.

In 538 BCE, the Jews in Babylon were allowed to return to Judah following Cyrus’s decree after about 50 years after the deportation initiated by king Nebuchadrezzar. About 50,000 Jews returned to the Land of Judah following the decree of Cyrus but the majority of Jews stayed in Babylon.

Nehemiah reinstituted Jewish customs, laws and reforms.

The debut of Nehemiah

In view of the huge work that was before him, he probably sought God through earnest prayer for directions and confirmation on what he could do about this situation:

“Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire” Nehemiah 1:3

Similar to Nehemiah, if things are not going well for God’s people and the state of the church, how can we remain insensible?

So for 4 months, he mourned not because he was asked to do it but because he was deeply affected by this situation. Since Nehemiah was able to make spontaneous and precise requests to the king when he was offered help, I believe that during this time he worked on that project of rebuilding Jerusalem. He carefully thought about the materials he would need, the authorizations he would need from the Persian’s government, the speech he would make to his people to motivate them and achieve this prodigious work of rebuilding Jerusalem and its walls in 52 days. If he Nehemiah was granted what he asked for by a non Jew, how much more shall we Christians be granted what we ask for to Jesus for the advancement of His Kingdom?

Adam Clarke said this about Nehemiah:

“Every good work is not to be undertaken hastily; prayer and watchfulness are necessary to its completion. Many good works have been ruined by making haste.”

The king trusted Nehemiah because he guaranteed that no poison was in his cup. He had thus access to the king’s court often and he prayed that the king would be favorable to his request to rebuild Jerusalem.

A city without a wall gives access to wild animals and renders the place an unsecured one. The prestigious temple and walls of Jerusalem were destroyed which made it a desolate place.

Nehemiah started to confess his own sins and those of his own people who turned away from God. He was well aware that this deportation was due to their sins (Nehemiah 1:8-9). Nehemiah mentioned clearly his sins and those of his nation.

“Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned!  We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses” Neh. 1:7

Do you pray for your local church or the church in general that it may fulfil its purpose on earth? If we as a church has departed from God’s will, there’re reasons to mourn like Nehemiah. Very often our churches are self-centered on itself instead of seeking the lost. It is of utmost urgency that the churches refocus themselves on God’s will i.e. He wants all men to be saved.

In Chapter 2, the king and the queen saw the sadness of Nehemiah and inquired and it’s then he dared to ask the king a favor to allow him to return to Jerusalem.

“Then I was terrified, ³ but I replied, “Long live the king! How can I not be sad? For the city where my ancestors are buried is in ruins, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.”The king asked, “Well, how can I help you?”With a prayer to the God of heaven, ⁵ I replied, “If it please the king, and if you are pleased with me, your servant, send me to Judah to rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried.”

I can hardly explain what happened but the king responded positively to Nehemiah’s request. It was with a prayer to the God of heaven, a spontaneous faith, that he made clearly his request to the king. The king gave him the necessary authorization to governors and letters to travel to Jerusalem and purchase the necessary materials for rebuilding his city. The gracious hand of God was with him and he was given more than he asked by the king- an escort.

Instantly, when someone who wanted the good of God’s people came to Jerusalem, this started to stir up some concerns (Nehemiah 2:10)). Tobiah who had nothing to do with Jewish traditions, no ancestry was found for him and yet he was granted by the high priest Elishashib(Neh 3:1, 13:8) the store room for personal use when this should have been reserved for articles reserved for God’s Temple (grain offerings, frankincense).

The opponent’s profile

Sanballat (a Horonite), Tobiah (an Ammonite) and Geshem(an Arab) were regional governors under the reign of the Persian King.

Tobiah was related to the high priest’s family by the marriage of his daughter with one of the grandsons of Eliashib (13:9) the high priest. Tobiah had thus not only political influence but also spiritual one. This mixed relationship between Jewish customs and foreigners eventually caused the store room to be defiled. One of the reason the bible discouraged or has even forbidden marriage with foreigners was because of such reasons. This caused an erosion in biblical principles and opened doors to compromise.

Nehemiah clearly indicated that Tobiah and the opposing men who accompanied him had no part to the rebuilding of the temple.

“For many in Judah had sworn allegiance to him because his father-in-law was Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan was married to the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah. ¹⁹ They kept telling me about Tobiah’s good deeds, and then they told him everything I said. And Tobiah kept sending threatening letters to intimidate me.” Neh. 6:19

We should be careful of those people who are among us and who propose to help us to rebuild even if good things are said about them. Meshullam was a “false Jew” who later opposed Ezra(Ezra 10:15). Paul had to face such false brothers who were there to spy and stir up trouble.

“This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. ⁵ We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.” Gal. 2:4

This is what Jesus said in Mat. 7:15: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves“

John also mentioned that these people were within the church:

“These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.” 1 John 2:19

In fact Paul warned in Acts 20:29: “ I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock. ³⁰ Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following“

These trio of opponents fabricated stories that Nehemiah was rebuilding the walls to rebel against the king and also called upon a false prophet to lead Nehemiah to sin and discredit him.

“I realized that God had not spoken to him, but that he had uttered this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. ¹³ They were hoping to intimidate me and make me sin. Then they would be able to accuse and discredit me.

¹⁴ Remember, O my God, all the evil things that Tobiah and Sanballat have done. And remember Noadiah the prophet and all the prophets like her who have tried to intimidate me.” Neh. 6:14

I came across this verse in Matthew 17:21 and Mark 9:29 where Jesus emphasized coupling fasting and prayer

“However, this kind [of demon ]does not go out except by prayer and fasting“.

I don’t know about you but I’ve not been fasting many times in my life. Probably because I felt no sense of urgency, deep concern about an issue or understood its power. If we think about the demon possessed man who was particularly dangerous to himself and others, this may have caused the disciples to have goosebumps and doubt that they could cast out that demon.

Jesus’ diagnostic to their failure was clear-cut: They lacked faith.

Casting out a demon necessarily implied calling out in prayer to God to deliver that person. They casted out demons in Jesus’ name in the past but this time it just did not work. Some bible translation omit the word fasting but in my humble opinion, Jesus really meant this powerful combination of prayer and fasting because the disciples already prayed and but had little faith or some doubts cropped in. I do not know how much concerned or determined the disciples were to cast out that demon but one thing we can be sure about is that if they had enough faith, this man would have been delivered.

In my opinion, to remediate to their feebleness of faith, Jesus called them to fasting. Fasting implies a personal concern and grief about a particular difficult situation. When we decide to fast, it’s a very serious step of faith because we mourn about a situation and really want something to change or happen. There is no “light prayer”, it’s a determined action which involves not only words of prayers but also our physical body to be involved. Why would you deprive your body of food if you were not really concerned about a situation?

This is what happened to Nehemiah when he heard that the walls of Jerusalem were destroyed, his people scattered and the gates burnt.

“When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven” Neh. 1:4

Nehemiah called his people to fast and pray for 52 days to rebuild the walls. At the time of Nehemiah, a city without a wall was like a house without doors where thieves or any wild animals could get in to destroy and kill. Who would want to live in such a desolate place?

Think about how you would be praying if it was your child who was suffering, you would probably not be required to fast as this situation would have already caused you to lose appetite. Now if it was the son of a stranger, would you naturally mourn and have the same consideration? Fasting is therefore not something done lightly but because there’s a personal concern about a situation.

We read in the scripture that Jesus always had compassion, concerned and love for everyone. The disciples necessarily needed to couple fasting with prayer to be in the right disposition of faith before asking God to do a miracle, for without faith we should not expect anything from God (James 1:6-8). When you fast, your body constantly reminds why you’re not eating and brings your spirit back in prayer. Fasting is an evidence of having faith for who will be depriving his/her body of food if he/she has no conviction or expectation that God can change a situation? Fasting without mourning or concerns about a situation is not different from being on diet. I have met some ladies who wanted to lose some weight and were happily saying they were doing Daniel’s fast. Let’s not mix up a spiritual battle with a physical desire.

Fasting is calling to God in despair. I’m very concerned about the feebleness of churches in my country and this has led me to mourn for days and also led me to fast because what I saw deeply saddened me. The Gospel is not being preached as it should because Christians are more comfortable to stay within the 4 walls of the church and have fellowship despite Christ’s command to GO!

This is what the Nineveh said to his people when he heard the call to repentance from Jonah:

“No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.” Jonah 3:8

There was a deep concern about their sins which made them mourn. Sins must made us mourn and sad. From the oldest to the youngest, everyone recognized their sins and repented. They made use of ashes as was used by the Levites for the ceremonially uncleaned for purification.

If I were among the disciples and I heard the story of this demon possessed man, my faith would have immediately shattered and I would have had doubts. If I were not told about the stories of what this demon possessed man did my faith would have probably remained stronger. It’s the same in life, if we allow stories told about a particular situation to shatter our faith, our faith will indeed weaken.

We often read in the scripture about a measure of faith (Rom. 12:3). Jesus Himself used “faith like a mustard seed” to illustrate a measure of faith and the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith (Luke 17:5-10). There exists such a thing as small and greater faith like Abraham had. If you lack faith as the disciples did in a particular situation which you’re concerned about, consider adding fasting to your prayers.

Isaiah 58 talks about real fasting. The people of Israel said:

‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’

 God said to His people: “Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me.They act like a righteous nation” Is. 58:2

Then the Lord told them reasons what they were doing wrong and how to remediate. God told them:

1. Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors(malicious talks)!
2. Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you.
3. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless.
4. Give clothes to those who need them and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

The results would be:

1. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon
2. “Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.
3. The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.
4. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls (see Nehemiah),Restorer of Streets with Dwellings(rebuilder of homes).