3 leadership challenges Answered

 Read Zechariah 4.

It had already been a night filled with wonder and the prophet had fallen asleep.  The angel woke him up to deliver Vision #5.  Chapter 3 was a message to Joshua, the High Priest.  Here, God delivered a word for Zerubbabel, the appointed governor of Judah.

Under the encouragement and resources of the Persian Empire, tens of thousands of the Jews in exile returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple.  The governor faced three leadership challenges and needed God's help in overcoming them.
1. Disappointment: The expectation of the people.
No leader wants to disappoint people.  When the foundation was laid and the altar erected, there were mixed reactions of great joy and great weeping.   It saddened a good portion of the people when they realized they would not be able to duplicate the beauty of Solomon's Temple.  See Ezra 3 and Haggai 2.  By comparison, the project seemed to be so much less that it disappointed them.

Their focus was on the physical building rather than the spiritual reasons for its existence.  It was the place to come, to offer their sacrifices and offerings, to be taught, and to worship the presence of the LORD.  What the people needed was hope for the project's completion and the full exercise of their faith.  Such re-casting of the vision would help turn their disappointment into hope-filled anticipation.  "For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice..." (v.10).

2.  Discouragement: The completion of the project.
Few things discourage a leader like delays with no resumption in sight.  Neighboring nations had stirred up opposition to the Jews' return and lodged official complaints, full of false accusations, with the Persian government.  This stopped the construction for some fourteen years.  Most people apparently quit thinking about the project and went to work on their own stuff (Haggai 1).  Would the Temple ever be rebuilt?  If so, when?

God provided promises to encourage him.  “The word of the LORD" was that Zerubbabel would indeed complete the work (v.9).  In fact, he would place the capstone on the Temple (v.7).

3. Development: The motivation of the process.
How will this leader be able to organize and inspire the people to get back to work and finish the job?  Some leaders will utilize force.  Some use the power of their personality.  But God's man doing God's work must depend upon God if anything is to truly honor Him.

Verse 6 is one of the most often quoted verses from Zechariah.
"Not by might (coercion, like the armed forces)
nor by power (personal strength or ability)
but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts."

Without dependence upon the Holy Spirit, the work will prove to only be a temporal accomplishment.  There is no greater power than His.  "Be filled with Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18b) is a command to be obeyed.