Issue 455
I would like to explore two ideas with you. One has to do with energy and the other to do with example. The fact that they begin with the same letter is irrelevant.
Have you noticed that everyone has a limited amount of energy? Tiredness eventually arrives and, not to be too macabre, death eventually arrives when your life energy expires.
My second question is this. Have you noticed that people in groups take on the characteristics of their leader? Leadership is always by example even if that is not the intention.
This week you will go to work again. You will spend energy. Work can be defined as the use of energy to achieve goals. So that is what you will do.
What I would like you to do is to spend a little bit of energy looking inside the mind of the Jerusalem Governor to understand how he used his energy.
We have reached a point in his journal when he has almost completed his first major task. Fifty two days of massive energy expenditure and the gaps are closing, the repairs and restoration are coming to completion.
Nehemiah is facing, however, stern and stiff opposition. It is opposition which will want to use his energy. The opposition came initially in the form of five invitations from his enemies to meet and discuss the project.
The enemy’s tactics were various. They used guile, slander, lies and deceptions. Nehemiah tells you, however, what is going on in his mind. It has to do with his energy. Each invitation was an invitation to be distracted, for his energy to be diverted from the wall building to the politics of jealousy and power struggle.
His question, in reply, was “why should the work stop while I leave it to go to you?”
Here is his first energy policy: I will not be distracted, lose focus or pour my energy into the agenda of an enemy.
It’s a powerful policy. How much time do you spend dealing with opposition, criticism, conflict or anger? It is your enemy’s agenda. Nehemiah will not be distracted.
His second policy is to do with intimidation. Through their schemes, his enemies were trying to intimidate him. To be intimidated would mean diverting energy to deal with fear. If energy goes into fear then work does not get done. Nehemiah is clear about that.
So you can see a focused mind that will not be distracted and a determined mind that will not be intimidated. He will not give in to diversions or fears.
I don’t know whether you are a leader or a team member. But your work will be shaped by the example of leaders who do not give in to intimidation or fear. It does not mean that Nehemiah did not feel afraid or distracted or disturbed, it is just that he would not give in to it. This was his mindset. It was also his example.
Your group will be distracted by whatever distracts its leader. Your group will be intimidated by whatever intimidates its leader.
Sometimes you can feel your hands weakening, you can lose grip, you can drop the ball. Sometimes you can feel your hands shaking with fear and your work suffers.
Nehemiah has a very short prayer in his mind. “Now strengthen my hands”. Don’t miss this turning point. He is showing you how to find extra energy, to tap into eternal energy. He is showing you where to find courage when you are terrified, when to find wisdom when you are incompetent, where to find strength and steadiness when you are shaking. “Now strengthen my hands”. As the wall was completed Nehemiah realised that his enemies were now losing their confidence because they were seeing that his work had been done with the help of God.
Nehemiah had learned in his mind that strong hands stay holding the plough not looking back. He had learned that strong hands get the job done. He had learned that strong hands don’t shake easily but hold within them the courage to complete the job. He had learned, through prayer, to connect his hands with the energy of the divine.
You see, it’s all about energy and example.
Nehemiah 6
When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates— 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.”
But they were scheming to harm me; 3 so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” 4 Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.
5 Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter 6 in which was written:
“It is reported among the nations—and Geshem says it is true—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king 7 and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.”
8 I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.”
9 They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”
But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”
10 One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, “Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you—by night they are coming to kill you.”
11 But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!” 12 I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against mebecause Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.
14 Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophet Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophets have been trying to intimidate me. 15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.
16 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.
17 Also, in those days the nobles of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and replies from Tobiah kept coming to them. 18 For many in Judah were under oath to him, since he was son-in-law to Shekaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah. 19 Moreover, they kept reporting to me his good deeds and then telling him what I said. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.
In preparation for the next GEOFFSHATTOCKweekly, do feel free to email us your thoughts to wtw@worktalk.gs or leave a comment on our Facebook or Twitter profile. You can also visit our YouTube channel - get inspired and share Worktalk's vision with others.
Work well
Geoff Shattock
© Copyright 2024 Geoff Shattock
All GEOFFSHATTOCKweekly archives are for personal use only. For permission to use for any other purposes please email using the address below thank you.
WORKTALK LEARNING
1 Washington Villas, Hythe Road, Marchwood, Southampton, Hampshire, SO40 4WT United Kingdom
T:+44 (0)23 8086 8543
http://www.geoffshattock.com
comms@worktalk.gs
