When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
Nehemiah 1:4
Over a decade ago, Daniel Goleman began introducing the idea of "Emotional Intelligence" in leadership literature. At the top of his list of qualities, Goleman lists "Empathy". According to Goleman, effective leaders should "sense what others are feeling". In simpler terms, leaders must care about others. When Nehemiah heard about the condition of Jerusalem from some of his "brothers", he sat down, wept, fasted and prayed. Nehemiah's response provides a great lesson for us. "Prayer" and "Care" go together. If we do not care about our relationship with God and others, our prayer life will likely reflect apathy rather than empathy.
About Me
- Paul Metler, Ph.D.
- Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
- Hello. Thanks for stopping by. If you care to read about what's crossing my mind or sticking in my heart I welcome you to my latest post. So, I hope you enjoy my ramblings. More importantly, I hope I can encourage you to join me in my quest to be a faithful follower of my Lord Jesus Christ.
1 comment:
Jesus lives to ever intercede for us before our heavenly Father. And the greatest desire of our Father is to be like His Son. Have to believe that the prayers that our Father loves the most are those prayers interceding for others.
But I believe you are also right that God wants us to vent, cry out, question, repent, and find our answers in Him and only Him by praying and more importantly listening to His responses.
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