Lording it over the minions…….

Power changes people. We see it all the time. Give someone an extra responsibility for a shift and they will work diligently and with confidence. Put someone in charge of a project and they will take control and bring out the best in everyone. People take on a new swagger with a bit of power. A new found confidence. Sometimes it’s great. They grow into the role. They take everyone with them. They earn respect. Others are not so great. The power goes to their heads. Suddenly they’re bossing everyone around. They’re lording it over everyone. They’re treating everyone as their minions.

lord it over
To act in a domineering or superior manner toward; to dominate someone; to direct and control someone; domineer over, act arrogantly toward; to behave as if you are better than someone else and have the right to tell them what to do.

We all know people like that, don’t we? Maybe we have the tendency to be that way ourselves. Nehemiah could have been like that. He was governor. The governors before him had lorded it over the people. But that wasn’t his way. That wasn’t God’s way. Nehemiah knows where he stands before God. And where this places him among his people.

Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year—twelve years—neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. But the earlier governors—those preceding me—placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that. Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work; we did not acquire any land.

Furthermore, a hundred and fifty Jews and officials ate at my table, as well as those who came to us from the surrounding nations. Each day one ox, six choice sheep and some poultry were prepared for me, and every ten days an abundant supply of wine of all kinds. In spite of all this, I never demanded the food allotted to the governor, because the demands were heavy on these people.

Remember me with favour, my God, for all I have done for these people.   Nehemiah 5:14-19

For Nehemiah, it’s more of a ‘We’re all in this together’ kind of thing. A ‘I couldn’t do this without you’ attitude. He’s there to work. To work with devotion and diligence. To get his hands dirty. To not stand by and watch but to pitch in and get involved in the heavy work. Yes, as leader, he has plenty – but he could have demanded more. He had the right to acquire more land and demand extra food. But his first thought was for the people. He knew much was already expected from them. He would not ask more.

Why?

It all stems from his love and fear and respect and awe for God. He wants to stand in God’s mercy. He wants God to see what He has done and remember it. He uses this phrase a lot in the coming chapters –  ‘Remember me with favour, my God’. For what God thinks of him matters more to him than anything else in the world. More than what anyone else thinks.

That’s a great motivator right there. Worrying less about what other people think and more about what God thinks could revolutionise our lives today. Could revolutionise how we lead. How we treat other people.

Just have a look at Jesus if you need an example of how not to lord it over people (and he was the only one who ever lived who could legitimately lord it over anyone!).