Even though the primary season of choosing party candidates for our nation’s next president has been going on for a long time, watching the process has been fascinating. The purpose of all the campaigning, advertising, and debating is to help voters choose a leader. And whether we agree with him or not, the manner in which Senator Barack Obama has presented his vision is clearly what makes him so appealing.

Man of Vision
Although he wasn’t an elected politician, Nehemiah was a visionary leader who rallied the Jewish people to follow him. Born in captivity in Babylon after the destruction of Jerusalem, Nehemiah determined to go to that city and rebuild it.

His first task was to gain permission from King Artaxerxes to leave his job as the king’s cupbearer in order to pursue this vision. In Nehemiah 2:1-8, the title character tells how he requests and receives permission from Artaxerxes to go and rebuild Jerusalem. Getting the king’s OK, however, is only the first of a series of obstacles Nehemiah must overcome to fulfill his vision. After he arrives in Jerusalem he must convince the people to join him in turning his dream into reality. In Nehemiah 2:17 and 18, he challenges the people to join him, and they reply, “Let us start rebuilding.” The rest of the book recounts other obstacles Nehemiah encounters and overcomes.

In Nehemiah 2:3 and 4, Nehemiah tells the king he is sad because Jerusalem is in ruins and he wants to go there to rebuild it. But Nehemiah reveals the source of his vision in 2:12, when he says God put the idea of rebuilding the city in his heart. I don’t know if we can suggest a formula for gaining God’s vision, but if we are going to follow visionaries today, I think we can hope, pray, and expect our leaders in the body of Christ to get their visions from the Lord.

Prelude to Vision
Chapter 1 suggests how Nehemiah received his vision to rebuild Jerusalem. Verse 4 says Nehemiah mourned and fasted and prayed before God for some days. Perhaps the key to receiving God’s vision is in spending time with him in meditation and prayer. And Nehemiah’s reliance on God continues after he firms up his vision. In 2:4 he says he prayed on the spot as he answered the king’s question.

The biblical record also shows that Nehemiah clearly and convincingly expresses his vision to the king (2:2-5) as well as to those whom he must count on to help him carry it out (2:17, 18). As competent as he is in presenting his vision, Nehemiah never loses sight of God’s blessing upon him in moving forward with the task before him. In 2:8 he affirms that it is because God’s hand is upon him that the king agrees to his request; and in 2:18 he gives credit to God in recruiting workers.

Permeating everything Nehemiah says and does in sharing, beginning, and carrying out this vision is a commitment to see it fulfilled, no matter what challenges he encounters.

God desires visionary leaders and so should we. In reading Nehemiah we can learn the importance of spending time with God to gain vision, praying and trusting God in preparing and recruiting to begin the work, working hard to clarify the vision, and staying resolved in fulfilling the vision. And we can all pray for, encourage, and do our part in following others.

People with Vision
Few, if any, Christians in our day will receive a vision from God as big as Nehemiah’s. But God still gives his people visions to act on. God’s hand is still upon his people and on some leaders in a special way. Let’s pray he gives us a vision for what he wants to do in and through each of us, as well as wisdom and discernment to follow visionary leaders he brings into our lives. And may we be diligent to ensure all the glory and praise for success goes to him!

* All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version, unless otherwise indicated.