Nehemiah’s Leadership Playbook: Dealing with Adversaries (3)

Dealing with Adversaries

And our adversaries said, “They will neither know nor see anything, till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease…” Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows…So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaders were behind all the house of Judah. Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon. Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me. – Nehemiah 4:11-18

Another important lesson we can learn from Nehemiah in handling adversaries are strategic thinking and proactiveness. In demonstrating proactiveness, he did not wait for the enemies to bring the battle to him before he started setting up to combat them. Rather, immediately he got a whiff of the adversaries’ intentions he changed his work operations and adapted his method to be combat ready, even while continuing with the construction project.

We have read that he was prayerful and alert in his response to threats of external aggressions. From the passage above, we also see how he demonstrated strategic thinking by redeploying the workforce at his disposal into hybrid personnel of warriors and builders to keep the work going as well as take on the enemies if and when they dared to come. Hear him, “Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows…So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor” (Nehemiah 4:13,16).

The attributes of proactiveness and strategic thinking further helped Nehemiah to put the opposition at bay while at the same time making progress with the important project they had going. And it worked so well because the scripture tells us that when the enemies saw the new formation of the men of Judah, they abandoned the thought of fighting them (verse 13). Thus, Nehemiah taught us another lesson in managing adversaries and hostile forces bent on frustrating our good plans.

To record the same level of success, or even more, in your calling as a leader, you ought to add these lessons to your own playbook as well.

You Will Succeed in Jesus Name!

Also read:

• Nehemiah’s Leadership Playbook: Dealing with Adversaries (2)
• When Daddy Prays
• Deceased Baby Revived