11 Sep 2010
Its about where you look
Hope or rubble?
Have you noticed that whether you have hope or not usually has very little to do with what is actually happening.
I enjoyed teaching Nehemiah this week.
Nehemiah helped a rag-tag bunch of misfits become one of the most remarkable building teams in the world.. constructing a massive wall around a whole city in 52 days!
Along the way there were plenty of setbacks, which could have caused them to lose hope.
There is one moment in the book that really speaks to me both personally and as a leader..
The wall had sprung up very quickly to the half way point:
So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart. (Nehemiah 4:6)
But then the people faced some opposition:
But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. (Nehemiah 4:7-9)
And despite the fact that they dealt with the threat, all of a sudden the people could only see what was wrong rather than seeing what was right:
Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.” (Nehemiah 4:10)
I know that for me there are times when I focus on the rubble rather than the wall and I quickly lose hope.
I know that as a leader my job is to help people have hope. The main way this this happens in my experience is when they can see what God is doing.
I love Proverbs 29:18:
If people can’t see what God is doing,
they stumble all over themselves;
But when they attend to what he reveals,
they are most blessed.
If I forget there is a God then the rubble becomes overwhelming, but when I remember who is actually in charge, then somehow things make sense.
Hope is about where you put your eyes.