In the day and age of COVID-19, we must be empathetic, not just sympathetic to those who are affected by it.
When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry.
Nehemiah 5:6
The difference between empathetic people and sympathetic people is this: empathetic people actually do something about a situation like it impacts them. People who are empathetic are leaders because they become champions for those who are impacted. People who feel sorry aren’t leaders, they just sit on the sidelines watching.
In this story, Nehemiah is listening to people who couldn’t make ends meet because they were over-leveraged because there a famine that they just couldn’t recover their mortgages from. These people gave up their lands, sold their children to slavery, sold themselves into slavery, and worked tirelessly paying taxes and loans. There was only misery in sight. Nehemiah became angry at this outcry and he started to move and do something about the plight of his people like he was in their shoes.
Two things he did, that we can learn from in this day and age of crisis:
Gather the people who have the power to do (v7)
We need to rally people who need to care about the situation. Once you rally them, we need to enlighten them about the real issue at heart. For most of us this is the most difficult part, because we need to discern who actually has power and assess what they know or don’t know. As empathetic leaders, we need to pray hard about who we target and how we target them. As Jesus chased each of us individually and uniquely, so we must chase people individually and uniquely.
When we identify these people, we need to work with them and bring them to the table with the same understanding we have. More importantly, we must inspire them to the same empathy we have toward the situation. We cannot allow them just to feel sorry, they must be moved like we are.
Challenge the people you have gathered to do something (vv9-11)
Second, we have to challenge them. Nehemiah challenged the people he gathered by saying, “Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies? (v9b)” He said this because he knew that the people he gathered all knew better!
Each person you gathered has the power to something, it doesn’t quite matter WHAT that something is, as long as they do it. When people do what only they can do in love for other people, then God does something amazing through it– he blesses it.
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