West Pines Community Church

In a chapter that would seem to contain little other than irrelevant details, there are two major lessons to be learned that can shape our understanding of God’s specific instructions for our lives and our leadership. Sometimes, we make the idea of seeking God’s direction more complicated than it has to be. Sometimes it is as simple as doing what is right in front of us, like the various inhabitants of the city who took it upon themselves to work on the section of the wall that was right in front of their homes instead of coming up with a more complicated construction plan. Another nugget that we find buried in this chapter is the idea that the nobles would not “stoop” to help with the construction even though the leader of the initiative, Nehemiah, was in there getting his hands dirty with everyone else. Leadership requires that we be willing to do what we are asking those we lead to do.