Nehemiah’s Leadership Playbook: Enforcing Standards

Enforcing Standards

In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions… Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, “What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” – Nehemiah 13:15-18

Enforcing standards and norms is another leadership lesson we can learn from Nehemiah; and this is the focus of our meditation today. Nehemiah demonstrated that he could take on anyone, high or low, influential or not, to please God and preserve the integrity of his nation.

The Sabbath is a day set aside by God to be kept holy by the Israelites in which they must not do any form of work. Otherwise, there would be dire consequences [Exodus 31:14-15]. So, when he saw that his compatriots were running afoul of this divine injunction, Nehemiah was very upset with them and sternly warned them to desist from this practice. He did not stop there; he also took the matter to the leaders of the people and chastised them for allowing this to happen under their watch without doing anything to stop it.

He admonished: “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath” (Neh 13:17-18, NLV).

This shows that Nehemiah was not a populist or people-pleasing leader. If he was, he would not have had the courage to confront both the nobles and the commons as we see him continued to do. He was faithful to his conviction as a man and a leader. He was loyal only to propriety. And this helped him to act with consistency all the time without having to think twice about what his reaction should be per development.

Any leader who must make an indelible mark must be similarly disposed. Leadership is not a popularity contest. Therefore, a leader must be willing to make difficult decisions and take unpopular stance in order to do good by her God and her people. When it comes to pursuing justice or enforcing sociocultural standards, a leader must be uncompromising in upholding the norms, even when that would make him look bad in the eyes of people of easy virtues.

A caveat here, however, it is important that a leader must be known and seen to be a stickler for standards. You cannot suddenly turn enforcer for a day so as to score a political point when you have been the one disregarding such before then. No one will take that kind of leader seriously. A look at the life of Nehemiah shows us that he was consistent in his values. That is integrity. We all should learn from him.

You Will Succeed in Jesus Name!

Also read:

• Nehemiah’s Leadership Playbook: Talent Acquisition
• How God Creates: Creating by Separation
• Saving the Man Who Saved My Life
• The Lord Jesus Christ Set Me Free