6 Ways to Strengthen Your Servant LeadershipSample

How Nehemiah led past opposition and criticism

Nehemiah is one of the starkest examples of powerful leadership in the Bible. 

Nehemiah 4 describes how he faced down strong opposition. Let’s walk through a synopsis of this amazing story.

The initial threat emanated from a leader named Sanballat, a lifelong enemy of the Jews. He lashed out with bitter criticism as Nehemiah began rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem.

In response, Nehemiah asked God to humiliate his enemies. Immediately afterward, Nehemiah commanded his people to get to work on the wall. They reached the halfway point before Sanballat and his allies could do anything about it.

When they saw the progress, they planned to attack as a single, unified force. When Nehemiah heard of this, he responded with another prayer and more action: 

"But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat" (Neh 4:9).

Though his resistance was fierce, hope was quickly dissipating among Nehemiah’s people. They were afraid. 

He countered their fear by pointing to the power of the Lord, and commanded them to stand up and fight for their families and homes! They confidently went back to work. Nehemiah knew their confidence would falter again, so he stationed a visible defense force and made sure the people were always ready for battle.

After further intimidation, political pressure, assassination attempts, and lies, the climax to the story comes in Nehemiah 6:15-16 --

"So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.

When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God."

Do you see the interplay of prayer, faith, and action in this great leader? Nehemiah served his people by obeying God’s direction to build the wall. But he was no pushover servant. He resisted his enemies with strength and crafty strategy. 

I believe Christianity is an active faith. It is intensely practical in the “real” world. When we lead like the shrewd Nehemiah, we will understand servant leadership in a new light.

Pray and fight on!