Issue 450
Have you noticed that the experiences you encounter outside of yourself are connected to the dramas inside of your mind?
Watch your team behave and you will see inner images reflected in outer actions. Listen to a woman tell you she is angry about injustice in the company, and she is also telling you about injustice in her soul. Observe a man passionate about changing the organization he works for, and you will see the structure of his life and mind.
These are not faults, they are simply facts. Inner and outer realities correspond. In fact if they do not, stress can result. If your inner values are in conflict with your outer working week you will need to adapt one or the other to survive.
Nehemiah was no exception. He is facing a crisis outside of himself, but it is also inside. That was not a weakness but part of his humanity. The aspect which will define him will be displayed in how he handles the crisis and solves the problems. Check out the previous two editions of WORKTALKweekly (448 & 449) to find the story so far on this crisis, but let’s observe how he continues to resolve it.
He tells you he pondered in his mind. When he looked into his mind he found it was the nobles and officials who were at fault. But he also found he was a noble and an official.
He found that the creditors were at fault, but he also found that he was a creditor. He discovered that so much time and effort was being spent on the wall building project that unintentionally had stopped people planting grain and feeding families. He also found he was the one who had focused on the wall and there was an imbalance in his own soul.
We left him in the last edition mad at himself for missing this and clear in his mind that he would identify with the solution. You should not be surprised. Nehemiah’s prayers show you a man who stands inside, not outside of, corporate problems. He confesses sin with the words “we” not “they” and “us” not “them”.
You might like to ponder for a moment on the power of accepting your role in your crises. They are not all your fault for sure, but they are a reflection of your inner drama and you are a player, not a spectator, in that drama.
You have seen that Nehemiah got angry at the right people- a vital principle – you can now see him deal with it at the right level.
Some sins are private. They are best confessed to God in the privacy of your own space. Some sins are personal and are best dealt with between you and the other person only. Some sins, however, are public and need public attention.
Nehemiah, as leader, brings together the creditors who have oppressed the debtors, but this problem cannot be dealt with behind closed doors. The injustice did not take place behind closed doors it affected everyone. So Nehemiah calls together a large meeting to deal with them and the problem.
This is a vital principle. Sometimes you can fear the public knowing something and attempt to cover it up, but in many cases the public already knows. Everyone knew there was an injustice going on here; it was not a private or personal sin that’s why the outcry occurred. So Nehemiah brings together as many as he can to sort it out. Those who didn’t make it to the meeting would for sure get a full report.
Now see how he does it. First (Neh. 5:8) he spells out the problem and the accusation. Because it was true, the accused could not, and did not, reply. Perhaps it is worth noting along the way, that, if you are the accused, and it is clear you are in the wrong, it is not a bad idea to say nothing at this point!
Next, Nehemiah simply states that “what you are doing is not right”. He does not spend a long time explaining why it is not right because it is blatantly obvious that making financial slaves of your own people is wrong.
Sometimes you can get locked into complex debates about procedures, terms and conditions, contracts or regulations when everyone knows there is something wrong.
Large multinationals can make billions in one country but pay almost no tax. It may be a legal loophole but everyone knows it’s wrong.
Companies can find cheap labour in oversees territories and turn a blind eye to their working conditions. It may not be illegal but everyone knows it’s wrong.
Teams can present half-truths about their performances, either in their sales or in their achievements, in order to satisfy their regulators. It may not be dishonest but it is wrong.
Nehemiah and the public knew that what was happening was wrong. So Nehemiah brings it out into the light, exposes it and then tells them how to fix it.
Now notice again he doesn’t say “let’s stop this from happening again” or “let’s correct this going forwards”. He tells them to give back what they’ve taken. Fast forward and you see Zacchaeus, the tax collector, doing the exact same thing. True fixing fixes what was wrong, not just stops it going forwards.
At the same public meeting the offenders agreed to give back and promised to stop the injustice going forwards. Job done?
Nehemiah was not so naïve to believe they would keep their word. He did not trust the words of those who had enslaved their own brothers. He now makes them swear a public oath and seals it with a threat of the consequences of breaking that oath. The threat applied to everyone who did not keep their promise. Everyone, of course, included Nehemiah and his brothers. Nehemiah is resolving his inner values and his outer actions.
Now you can see the arrival of joy. This joy had four components. The whole assembly. The amen.
The praise. The action. This four dimensional joy meant everyone became part of the solution. Everyone said “Amen” – this was their “make it so” or their “it is finished”. They praised the Lord together and, perhaps most important of all, they did what they promised.
Nehemiah had diagnosed a deep problem in his accusation. It had to do with the way they were walking. They had not been walking in the fear of their God and as a result they had lost respect of their surrounding neighbours.
Make no mistake, the way you handle crises, especially financial crises, will be observed by anyone outside of yourself or your group.
This problem arose because too many people stopped walking in the fear of their God, not just for a step or two, but for a long walk. Nehemiah shows you, not how to avoid mistakes, everyone who ever lived (apart from the Carpenter) makes mistakes, but how to fix things when they do go wrong.
You have now seen a difficult walk, consisting of seven steps from hearing to joy. For Nehemiah they were not just steps along his path but also inside his mind.
Walk well.
Nehemiah 5:1-14
5 Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their fellow Jews. 2 Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.”
3 Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.”
4 Still others were saying, “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. 5 Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our fellow Jews and though our children are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.”
6 When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry. 7 I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them, “You are charging your own people interest!” So I called together a large meeting to deal with them 8 and said: “As far as possible, we have bought back our fellow Jews who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your own people, only for them to be sold back to us!” They kept quiet, because they could find nothing to say.
9 So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies? 10 I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain. But let us stop charging interest! 11 Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the interest you are charging them—one percent of the money, grain, new wine and olive oil.”
12 “We will give it back,” they said. “And we will not demand anything more from them. We will do as you say.”
Then I summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials take an oath to do what they had promised. 13 I also shook out the folds of my robe and said, “In this way may God shake out of their house and possessions anyone who does not keep this promise. So may such a person be shaken out and emptied!”
At this the whole assembly said, “Amen,” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.
14 Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year—twelve years—neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor.
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Work well
Geoff Shattock
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