Effective Leadership, Part 3: Dealing With Those Who Oppose

This is the third part of a series on leadership gleaned from a study of the book of Nehemiah. The book of Nehemiah is unique in that it reveals to us at every turn incredible lessons on leadership. Nehemiah led the Israelites to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem in just 52 days, which would be an incredible feat even in our day. There was continual opposition that Nehemiah faced during this entire project though, both from enemies outside of his group of Judeans, as well as conflicts that came from within the group. This article will discuss the first of these, the opposition from without. In the next article I will address the latter. Seeing how Nehemiah dealt with the opposition and conflicts he faced will prepare each of us for the struggles we will face as leaders, even if it is only a few that we lead.

The southern kingdom of Israel, Judea, had been taken captive to Babylon in 587 BC by the Babylonians. These conquerors destroyed their temple, their houses, and even tore down the wall around Jerusalem and burned its gates. However, when Cyrus the Persian later conquered Babylon, he immediately allowed the Israelites who had been taken captive by Babylon to return to Jerusalem. An Israelite named Zerubbabel first returned with a group in 538 BC to rebuild the temple. The Jewish temple was finally completed, but then the rest of the work of rebuilding the city and the city wall stalled for seventy years. Next, Ezra an Israelite priest returned to Jerusalem in 458-457 BC, and his purpose was to enforce the Jewish law and continue with the rebuilding of the city. His work on the wall and city eventually stalled as well.

Nehemiah, an Israelite, was a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes I of Persia, and in 445 BC he heard that his people in Israel were in great distress and reproach, and, even though their temple had been rebuilt, the city wall was still broken down and its gates burned. Nehemiah was so grieved by this news he wept and mourned for days. In fact, he ended up fasting and praying for four months straight for his people in Jerusalem and the work of God to be rebuilt there. Nehemiah prayed through this whole time for the Lord to put it in the heart of the king to allow him to leave to rebuild the wall around the city, and as he prayed he was also planning everything that he would need and what he would do in rebuilding the wall. The Lord finally opened the king’s heart to allow Nehemiah to return and rebuild the wall around the city, and Nehemiah left with a group of Israelites to rebuild the wall. We will talk now about what Nehemiah faced when he arrived in Jerusalem after the 800 mile journey.

Whenever we as God’s people attempt any work for God, we are going to face opposition. This happens because we have an enemy of our souls that we are always engaging. This is a world that is in the midst of a civil war in the spiritual realm. Satan and his demonic hordes are in rebellion against God, and they are also always seeking ways to hinder people from finding Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Satan also tries to hinder those who are God’s messengers and servants because these are the ones who can influence others towards Christ, and he often works through others to do this. In 1 Peter 5:8-9a, we read about the fact that we Christians have an adversary that is we must always be wary of: “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith.” In 1 Peter 4:12-13 we are told not to be surprised by fiery trials that come upon us to test us as we are serving the Lord: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”

In the case of Israel, the Devil wanted to hinder the rebuilding of the temple, the wall, the houses, and the peoples’ lives in Jerusalem because if he could keep the work of God from being rebuilt he knew he could also keep the Messiah from being born of the tribe of Judah and descent of David, as the scripture had prophesied He would come.

God allows spiritual warfare in the lives of His children, but the Devil cannot do whatever he wants to do in our lives. The Devil has to get permission to do the smallest things to God’s people, the first chapter of the book of Job proves this out. There we read that Satan appeared before the Lord and asked and obtained permission for him to cause harm to Job as Satan accused Job of only serving God because of the blessings he had received. Satan was given strict parameters in what he could do to Job, and Job was severely afflicted and tested. God will allow the Devil to test a Christian’s moral resolve, his perseverance, the purity of his motives, etc. So, expect that as you serve the Lord you are going to face continual opposition. In fact, if you are not facing spiritual opposition, then it is the case that you aren’t in the place where God wants you to be. If you are experiencing genuine spiritual warfare it is a good sign because it says that God is planning to use your life for His purposes.

Nehemiah faced opposition by powerful leaders and people groups that surrounded Judea, and this opposition increased in proportion to his progress in getting the wall rebuilt. In any endeavor that is worth undertaking there are going to be many obstacles as well as much opposition, and counting the cost ahead of time, as well as persevering, helps us to be successful. James Montgomery Boice has written about how that success itself, in any field, tends to breed opposition. He brings out several reasons why people oppose the success of someone else:

1. Some people are threatened by another person’s success.
2. Others are jealous.
3. Some oppose others or their projects because they have a different agenda than they do.
4. Some feel excluded.
5. People suspect the motivations of those they oppose.
6. Some people, especially leaders, lose face when others succeed.
7. Opposition comes from traditionalists—those who prefer the way things have been done in the past and do not want change.
8. Because it is opposed by Satan.

I see six principles of effective leadership working in the life of Nehemiah that helped him to deal with the opposition and conflicts that he continually faced.

First of all, Nehemiah took every difficulty immediately to prayer. Prayer was his first resource, not his last recourse (as is often the case with us), and thus we see that “the good hand of the Lord” was always blessing everything he did. Oh, how different our lives would be if we learned this lesson of seeking the Lord early in our trials and difficulties.

Secondly, Nehemiah always had discernment and wisdom needed to know how to handle each one who opposed and every difficulty, and, this was because of point number one, he prayed about everything. Discernment, specially of the spiritual kind, reveals the true nature of a problem as well as people’s true motives and intentions, and thus it is absolutely essential for any leader. Fortunately, God in His word has promised to give us wisdom and discernment whenever we ask Him in faith for it: James 1:5-6a, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting.” Nehemiah always saw people’s real motives and the real issues and problems before him because of the discernment that God gave him as he brought every need to prayer.

Third, Nehemiah was always optimistic and kept a positive mental attitude, and, he saw every trial as an opportunity to trust the Lord and see what He would do. Very few leaders are successful without these character qualities. Charles Swindoll includes in his Nehemiah commentary a story penned by Charles Edison about his father, Thomas Edison, and how that his father was an inventor with a contagious determination and optimism:

“I especially recall a freezing December night in 1914, at a time when still unfruitful experiments on the nickel-iron-alkaline storage battery, to which Father had devoted much of ten years, had put him on a financial tightrope. Only profits from movie and record production were supporting the laboratory. On that December evening the cry of “Fire!” echoed through the plant. Spontaneous combustion had broken out in the film room. Within moments all the packing compounds, celluloid for records, film and other flammable goods had gone up with a whoosh. Fire companies from eight towns arrived, but the heat was so intense, and the water pressure so low, that the fire hoses had no effect.

When I couldn’t find Father, I become concerned. Was he safe? With all his assets going up in smoke, would his spirit be broken? He was 67, no age to begin anew. Then I saw him in the plant yard, running toward me.

“Where’s Mom?” he shouted, “Go get her! Tell her to get her friends! They’ll never see a fire like this again!”

At 5:30 the next morning, with the fire barely under control, he called his employees together and announced, “We’re rebuilding.” One man was told to lease all the machine shops in the area. Another, to obtain a wrecking crane from the Erie Railroad Company. Then, almost as an afterthought he added, “Oh, by the way. Anybody know where we can get some money?”

Later on he explained, “You can always make capital out of disaster. We’ve just cleared out a bunch of old rubbish. We’ll build bigger and better on the ruins.” With that he rolled up his coat for a pillow, curled up on a table and immediately fell asleep.”

Swindoll continues, “…we enjoy the microphone, the stereo, the incandescent light, the storage battery, talking movies, and more than a thousand other inventions. In addition to being a technological genius, he refused to be discouraged.”

Before we leave this point about the importance of optimism in a leader and a positive mental attitude, I have to share with you this excellent quote by Charles Swindoll on attitude: "The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on my life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than what other people say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude that we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitude."

Fourth, Nehemiah was decisive and persevered in administering what he had been appointed to do.

Fifth, and this is a critical point, Nehemiah was always able to keep himself, and everyone else as well, focused upon the task at hand.

Sixth, Nehemiah recognized the importance of time management in achieving goals.

Let’s look at the opposition from without that Nehemiah encountered in the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem. When Nehemiah first got to Jerusalem, he discovered that he was surrounded by powerful governors and leaders who did not want to see Jerusalem rebuilt and become a financial and political force. Sanballat to the north was the governor of Samaria, Tobiah to the east was the governor of Moab, Geshem to the south was the leader of the Arabs, and the Ashdodites were located to the west.

These leaders first taunted Nehemiah and the Judeans and made fun of them. They laughed at Nehemiah and said that he would never be able to complete the wall’s rebuilding. Nehemiah’s response was that he just kept the people focused upon their task and ignored these idle threats: Nehemiah 2:19-20, “But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard it, they mocked us and despised us and said, “What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” So I answered them and said to them, “The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem.””

As work on the wall progressed, the enemys’ anger and threats increased in the same proportion. These men spread rumor after rumor that all of these enemy nations had become united and were planning an imminent attack against Jerusalem that would stop the work. Nehemiah determined that now all the Judeans would need to always have a weapon in one hand or strapped to their side as they worked on the wall. Also, around the clock a guard would now always be on the wall to spot any advancing attackers. Nehemiah didn’t give in to paranoia and foolishly spend his energies worrying about the attacks he feared he might face, he only dealt with the enemy that he knew about. Nehemiah 4:14 tells us what how that Nehemiah mustered the people to be ready to fight, telling them, ‘fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses.’ Most importantly, again Nehemiah kept the people focused upon their task at hand. The result was that when their enemies saw the Judean’s readiness to both fight and work, they gave up on following through with their plot.

Finally, when the wall was almost completely finished, Sanballat and Tobiah invited Nehemiah out to the plains of Ono ostensibly for the purpose of accepting that he had succeeded in his rebuilding of the wall and that Jerusalem would now be recognized as a legitimate political and financial capital with Nehemiah as the leader. However, after praying about what he should do the Lord gave Nehemiah discernment and he realized that these men were planning to assassinate him in the plains of Ono. Nehemiah refused three subsequent invitations to come, showing that he could not be persuaded by men to do otherwise when the Lord had shown him plainly what he should do. When Sanballat in desperation finally sent a public letter to Nehemiah accusing him of planning to rebel against Persia, proclaim himself as king, and then pull away of paying tribute to the king of Persia, Nehemiah responded immediately with a letter denying the accusations and telling Sanballat that he had made these things up in his own mind. Because Nehemiah realized also that he could not afford to take a three or more day journey away since there was still a little more to do to fully complete the wall, he also replied to Sanballat with this: Nehemiah 6:3b, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” Nehemiah was keenly focused upon good time management.

Nehemiah’s decisiveness and perseverance is perhaps best seen in the last chapter of the book. Nehemiah had led the Judeans to rebuild the wall in 52 days, and then he was appointed and ruled as governor for twelve years. After this, Nehemiah returned to Persia and the king he had served. It could have been up to fifteen years after this that Nehemiah, now believed to be an elderly man, returned to Jerusalem. But, when he came he discovered that all of the things that the people had made in an oath of obedience they had made in chapter 10, they were now breaking. Nehemiah could have given up on the Judeans at this point and just let them do whatever they wanted to do. But, instead chapter 13 sees him dealing decisively and perseveringly with the people who were being disobedient to the Lord. He persevered in his administration in rebuilding the work of God even after all of these years. He went straight to the top and confronted the rulers for disobeying the law and their oath they had made, as well as allowing the rest of the people do it. Then, in Neh. 13:23-25 we read about what Nehemiah did when he discovered that for at least the third time the Judeans had disobeyed the Lord’s commandments and inter-married with the people of the land, and he knew that the entire work of God in Judea could be torn down in just one generation by this, so he could not let it go on: “In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people. So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.” When Nehemiah said, “Come over here I want to lay hands on you,” he wasn’t talking about prayer!

So, in review this is what we need to apply from Nehemiah’s example in order to effectively handle opposition that we encounter as a leader: 1) Take everything problem and need immediately to prayer. 2) Pray continually for wisdom and discernment. 3) Remain optimistic and keep a positive mental attitude believing that trials are opportunities to trust the Lord. 4) Be decisive and persevere in administration of your appointment. 5) Keep yourself and everyone else focused upon the task at hand. 6) Be a good time manager.