Nehemiah's Formula

¹⁶ The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.
¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” ¹⁸ I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.
They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.  Nehemiah 2:16-18

Observant
We have been working our way through Nehemiah for our family devotions and came to this passage today.  It generated some good discussion for us about leadership and how to meet a challenge.  Did you see what he did?

• He prayed (That actually happened in Chapter 1)
• He planned
• He stated the problem
• He gave a challenge
• He gave a vision for what would be accomplished when the challenge was met
• He recognized God's work in the situation

Journey
What a great formula.  How often do I skip one of these steps?  How often do I get them out of order?  I'm embarrassed by how often I neglect to recognize God's work and seek my own praise.  Today I am thankful for family devotions, for Nehemiah, and for what God is teaching me.