In the book of Nehemiah we hear how this servant to the king in Persia returns to his home city to lead the people in the rebuilding of the wall. His return isn’t without controversy and we hear that Nehemiah and the people receive a lot of opposition for what they are trying to do. The earlier books detail other ways their opponents try to stop them but in chapter 6 we hear that Nehemiah’s opponents are trying to summon him out into the wilderness to meet them. Nehemiah is aware that their desire is to do harm to him so he resists them four times. On the fifth time they send him a message.

It is reported among the nations—and Geshem says it is true—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.” Nehemiah 6:6-7

They start with a classic line; ‘It is reported’. We may not use the same phrase today but if we substitute it for ‘some people are saying’ we can get the vibe here. Ultimately they have picked up gossip which supports a view that they hold or want to hold.

Over the years of leading anytime I have heard a phrase like that I know what it is happening. It means the person who is bringing you the info holds the same view, is sympathetic to it or somewhere wants it to be true because they don’t want what you are doing to succeed. Sometimes people disagree with the gossip they have heard and are letting you know… but that conversation normally starts with a different phrase.

From the gossip that Nehemiah’s enemies have heard, they have concocted a couple of stories that are far from truth. The first is that the people who are building the wall are planning a revolt and secondly that Nehemiah is to be their King. They have supported this by the apparent appointment of prophets!

This is genius.

Gossip always provides negative and untruthful conclusions. These things couldn’t be further from Nehemiah’s heart. That’s often is the case when we hear negative leadership gossip. The problem for us is that although we should know that truth we waste far too much time allowing gossip to consume us as leaders. We hear one persons view that ‘many support’ and we start to worry and question what we have been doing but 9 and a half times out of 10 there is little or no substance to what is being said and we should ignore what we have heard.

How should we respond? I’m not saying we shouldn’t examine negative feedback but once we realise how ridiculous it is we must leave it behind. Let’s look how Nehemiah deals with it.

I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.” Nehemiah 6:8

Brilliant!

Every vision will bring collision and people who don’t want you to succeed or are sad that they aren’t succeeding will try what they can to stop what is happening. In these moments let’s cling to the Father and remind ourselves of the truth in the midst of the crazy!