Nehemiah
Strength of Character - 7 questions to test yourself
Winged lion with ram's head and griffin's hind legs, enameled tile frieze from the palace of Darius I at Susa, c. 510 bce; in the Louvre, Paris.
Character/loyalty, long and short prayer, fasting, planning secretly, perseverance
but first, a couple comments…
you are what you read
Do you want to excel in any subject? Read an hour a day and you can’t help but become an expert.
Ukraine
News has finally leaked out that back in February, Russian hypersonic missiles destroyed a Ukrainian bunker that was over 100 feet deep. Apparently both Ukrainian generals and American officers were in that bunker. Ukraine is losing this war, despite the billions and billions of dollars America has spent to escalate it.
Tucker
So far, Tucker hasn’t commented on his leaving of Fox News. The nearly 800 million dollar settlement of Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox a few days ago may have had something to do with it, or was the timing just coincidence?
now, on to today’s topic…
Lessons From the Book of Nehemiah
Do you have an important project to tackle? Perhaps something in your life that needs to be changed or corrected? Or maybe something big, that you always wanted to do, but never quite got started? Here are some principles to go by and 7 questions to ask yourself.
artist’s conception of the palace at Susa, Persian Empire
are you trustworthy?
Nehemiah was a cupbearer to ArtaXerxes, the King of Persia, in Susa, the capital. Only the most loyal and trusted person known by the king would be chosen to be cupbearer, to protect the king from being poisoned by his enemies.
If people trust you, they’ll be much more apt to be a help to you. People will trust you if you keep your word and honor your commitments. We’ll see that Nehemiah had some very special requests, and the king granted them to him. Would your loyalty and trustworthiness be enough to persuade a king?
“ …and the king granted them to me…” Neh.2:8b
do you care passionately?
“2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. 3 They said to me, “The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.” 4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” Neh.1:2-4
When Nehemiah heard a bad report about the conditions in Jerusalem, how the walls were broken down, he wept and mourned and fasted and prayed for days.
Fasting and praying should be foundational to the beginning of any big undertaking – especially if you care enough to put your whole being into it.
are you seeking the Lord’s will?
“4 Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.” Neh.2:4
The king noticed Nehemiah’s sadness and asked about it. Before answering, Nehemiah said a very short, silent prayer in his heart – probably just a few seconds, because it would be rude not to answer the king right away.
This is a good example for us. When we have time, our prayers can be lengthy and detailed. But when we are put on the spot, God will hear our ‘spot’ prayer, too.
do you make detailed plans before taking action?
Nehemiah was not only praying; he was planning to act by asking the king for permission to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the city; the wall in particular, for starters. His planning was meticulous. He would need letters of passage, and supplies…
“6 Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time. 7 And I said to the king, “If it please the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.” Neh.2:6-8
are you thankful?
“And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.” Neh.2:8b
We need to always remember to thank God when our prayers are answered. Have you ever granted someone’s request or given them a gift and they never gave you thanks or showed their appreciation? If there was no thankfulness, would you be inclined to grant their next request? Probably not. Nehemiah gave credit where credit was due – to God.
will you wait for the right timing?
“11 So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12 And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding.” Neh.2:11-12
Sometimes it’s better to wait for the right timing to reveal your plans.
Nehemiah kept his plans to himself until he had thought them through. In Jerusalem, he surveyed the wall in order to see what needed to be done. He did this at night so he wouldn’t have to reveal his plans until they were completed in his mind. When he did reveal his plans, he announced them to the whole assembly, and presented them in a way to inspire the people to action.
As we read on, we can see a good reason for not revealing plans prematurely. There will be opposition.
Nehemiah inspects the wall at night
do you have perseverance?
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard it, they mocked us and despised us and said, “What is this thing you are doing?” Neh.2:19
“8 All of them conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it.” Neh.4:8
First the project was mocked; then met fierce opposition. Their enemies tried time and again to trick them, discourage them, turn the king against them, and even conspired to kill them. Nehemiah would not back down. He persevered.
a few more thoughts…
how do we know when to keep going and when to quit?
Nehemiah was confident that this was the Lord’s will, because of hours of prayer, fasting, planning and answered prayer when the king granted him his requests. But how did he know that all the opposition wasn’t a sign to stop?
One way is to analyze the negative feedback. Is it motivated by a sincere desire to protect you against making a mistake? Or by jealousy or fear of competition?
If sincere friends try to discourage you, are they aware of all the prayer and planning that you’ve done?
Are they well educated in the field you are going into? If they are, at least consider their advice. Otherwise, ignore it.
other types of negative feedback
Sometimes things just aren’t going well. Thomas Edison failed hundreds of times before getting a light bulb that was workable. Do you consider failure a stepping stone? He did.
Analyze your failures. What can you learn from them? What can you do differently? How can you improve?
how much risk are you willing to take?
Many great accomplishments have flown in the face of a great risk of failure. Nehemiah risked his life to rebuild Jerusalem. His enemies, which were many, conspired to kill him. But his heart was set to rebuilt the wall. He was determined to accomplish his goal, with God’s help, against all odds. He persevered.
next week - a comparison of the simple life of olden days with the frustrations of pc board failures, software glitches, internet hacks, and online accounts and passwords and user names for everything - are we really any better off? Why doesn’t somebody build a car that has no digital stuff or pc boards, just so we could have a choice?