Something super cool happened last month at NewSpring. I was able to join Perry’s coaching network for an all-day trek through a couple of chapters of Nehemiah. A few days later, at our monthly staff meeting, Perry took us through the first chapter of Nehemiah. I learned enough to write a small (or maybe not-so-small) book, but there is one thing that stuck out both times I heard it.

Nehemiah is likely the best leadership tome every written. Modeling our leadership strategy after Nehemiah is seemingly simple and yet has such clear, powerful results. There is much to be said about Nehemiah’s willingness to ask the right questions, about his instant worshipful attitude towards God, and his ability to cast vision. But the one verse that has such massive impact is Nehemiah 1:11.

Nehemiah 1:11 — Now I was cupbearer to the king.

Amid the internal struggles Nehemiah had for Jerusalem itself and amid his frustration for the people who were abusing it, Nehemiah never forgot that he had a job to take care of. His current role was cupbearer to the king. He was clearly aware of his position. In my own dwellings on this concept I came across two main things we can emulate.

First, our position must take precedence. It seems a common mistake that we can change our own destiny if we try hard enough or if we want it bad enough. Let us not forget that God is sovereign and therefore in control. He has placed us in a role for a reason. Even if we are in a place we do not like, I believe we must do our jobs well. We must be good stewards of that position. We must be excellent at what we do.

Second, our dreams must not be dormant. Our position does not preclude us from discussing our dreams with God. It appears that about four months passed between the time Nehemiah found out about the problem and when he was able to begin doing something about it. But the Bible says in verse 4 that he “wept and mourned for days, and [he] continued fasting and praying.” We must have balance.

The key is this excellence in the current and balance in our thoughts about the future. May we bear our current cups excellently and honestly discuss our future with God.

Tags: Leadership, nehemiah, NewSpring, Perry Noble

This entry was posted by zac on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 9:19 am and is filed under Leadership, NewSpring. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.