Good leaders should not only talk but toil; not only toil but train; not only train but transfer.
How safe is a house without doors or a city without gates? The walls are as nothing without them. When a cupbearer can rebuild a broken-down city, under constant threat, with volunteer labor, in 52 days, don’t be surprised if he’s renowned for his understatements. When he seeks the resources for this herculean task, here are his prayer requests: “let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy” (Neh 1:11). That’s it! God knows what we need. When he asks the king for a leave of absence: “send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it” (2:5). I don’t think civil engineering was on his résumé. When the city was threatened with attack, he told his men: “Our God will fight for us” (4:20). A one-second sermon! Now back to work. Once the walls were finished, he adds, “Then it was, when the wall was built and I had hung the doors…” (7:1). Have you ever hung a door? And these were BIG doors. How refreshing, in a world full of gross exaggeration, to meet someone who just speaks the unadorned truth. But having accomplished what seemed to be impossible, he continued by appointing “the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites.” Gatekeepers to secure, singers to, well, sing, and Levites to serve. Then, as truly great men do, he passed on his responsibility for the newly-rebuilt city. “I gave the charge of Jerusalem to my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the leader of the citadel, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many” (v 2). Hanani proved his concern for the place and the people when he first brought the distressing news to his brother. And Hananiah, a faithful, God-fearing leader— we could use more of those! Maybe you could ask the Lord for His help in becoming one.