Nehemiah 2:1-3 – Waiting for God’s critical moment

It is one thing to pray and quite another to wait for God’s moment. In chapter 1, we learned that Nehemiah prayed from the moment he heard of the plight of Jerusalem from Hanani in the month of Kislev. Four precious months had passed between Kislev, the ninth month in the Hebrew calendar, and Nisan, the first month. Here once again, we establish that while it is important to pray with urgency, we must also learn to wait on the Lord patiently as we offer our prayers. In prayer, we need to delight in the Lord, so that He will grant us the desires of our hearts. And between the time we bring our prayers to Him and the time He answers, we need to depend on Him. And in the meanwhile, we also allow Him to develop and get us ready for the movement to act. The duration varied with different ones. For Nehemiah, the moment came after four months.

The opportunity came four months later when he brought wine to the king. It is likely that this took place at a feast. Remember he was Artaxerxes cupbearer. For the past months when he was serving, he put up his best before the king. He did not appear sad. He did not allow his concern for Jerusalem to affect his duty to the king. In much the same way, our concern for God’s Kingdom should not affect our secular duties. If there is anything, we must give our best to our work to reflect the character of the kingdom's people. Disciples of Christ must always seek to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit. We must be seen to be people who are loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled.    

On that occasion, Nehemiah’s concern overwhelmed him. It was reflected on his face and the king noticed it.  It was a dangerous thing, that’s why he was afraid. It could be misread by the king as a plot or an impending coup. For that, he could have been taken to task. However, his usual disposition must have mitigated the situation. Instead of being suspicious, the king showed understanding. That presented an opportunity for him to explain his concern. His opening words, “Let the king live forever” were calculated to assure the king that there was no plot against him. Then having assured the king he then explain why he was sad. His reason was, “Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?” He answered the king with a rhetorical question. As a concerned Jew, it was logical for him to be affected by what was happening to his homeland, especially the beloved Jerusalem.  

God has a schedule and plan for His people. He will make all things beautiful in His time. God’s delay should not be interpreted as His denial. Remember the delight, dependent and developmental factors. We must delight ourselves in the Lord and He will grant us the desires of our hearts. We must depend on Him more and more to build trust in Him. And we must allow Him to develop in us the character and be ready for the moment. In the interim, we must continue to do and be our best for His glory.      

 

 

 

Nehemiah 1:7-11 – The challenge to participate in Kingdom building

In his prayer, Nehemiah began by invoking God and acknowledging Him as the great, awesome, and faithful God. He was confident that He, the preserver of covenant and lovingkindness to those who  would love and keep His commandments would hear HIs prayer. Nehemiah further invoked that He be attentive to the prayer that he was bro9nging before Him day and night. Turing from invocation to petition, Nehemiah first identified with the sin of the nation. He did not only confess the sin of his forefathers but also those he could identify with himself.  

In Nehemiah 1:7-11, he confessed on the behalf of the nation for their corruption.  He confessed that they did not keep the commandment or the ordinances that God had commanded through His servant Moses. He recalled that in the commandments, God had specified that if they, his people would become unfaithful, He would banish and scatter them from the land. And when they returned to Him and keep and obey His commandments, even if they scattered into the remotest parts of the world, He would gather and bring them back to Jerusalem. For this was the place that God Himself had chosen to make HIs name to dwell.  

In verse 10, Nehemiah called God’s attention to His people, the Jews in Jerusalem. He reminded God that they were His servants and people He had redeemed by His great power and mighty hand. Turning to pray for himself in verse 11, he voiced his personal and the people of Israel’s desire for God. Their one delight was to revere His name. Nehemiah asked for God to grant him, and His people favor with Artaxerxes whom he was serving as a cupbearer. And in his  position as cupbearer, he needed the king’s understanding and compassion so that he could do something for God’s beloved city.   Remember Artaxerxes in Ezra 4 was the king whom the opposers of Israel had written a letter to complain about their rebuilding program in Jerusalem. It was therefore needful that Nehemiah and his people receive his approval to restore the ruin of Jerusalem.  

From the life of Nehemiah, we learn that sin and disobedience against God will always bring dire consequences. However, we have a great, awesome, and faithful God who would hear the petition of His repentant people. We learn also that no matter our position in life, like Nehemiah we can decide to help in kingdom building.  All it takes is a heart of passion for God and a willingness to be involved. We also learn that prayer must be offered to God if we want to be effective participants in the Kingdom’s work. The urgency we bring to pray for the work of God may require us to fast as well.  Are we serious about advancing God’s Kingdom? Let’s adopt Nehemiah’s attitude and concern for God’s name and Kingdom.   

 

Nehemiah 1:5-6 – God is great, awesome, and faithful

On hearing the reports of the plight of Jerusalem, Nehemiah was greatly affected. He could not remain uninterested in what was happening back home. Immediately, we are told that he was overtaken by a deep emotion. He sat down and mourned and wept for days. His response to what he heard reveals how earnest and passionate he was for Jerusalem. He could not let the city that God had chosen to bear His name remain in ruin. He could no longer sit idly by and not do a thing. So he went before the God of heaven in fasting and prayer for days. Nehemiah 1:5-11 describe his earnest prayer.

Verses 5-6 describe his invocation to God. He said, “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned.”  

Firstly, Nehemiah describes the God of heaven as the great and awesome God. And truly He is. There is simply no one like Him. And there are simply not enough words to describe His greatness.  This God has no equal. He is the source of divine greatness and is simply awesome. Secondly, Nehemiah tells us that God is also faithful. He keeps His word and preserves the covenant He has made with His people. In other words, He never forgets His promise. Thirdly, He is also merciful, and He keeps His promises, especially to those who keep His word. From praise, Nehemiah then transited into a petition. He knew that God would hear his petition. So he asked the faithful God to be attentive to his prayer on the behalf of his people. Here Nehemiah also identified with the sin of the people and confessed them not only for the nation but also for himself.

God’s love must not be taken for granted. It must be reciprocated. His lovingkindness must elicit from us a willing response to the overtures of His love. No matter how trying the circumstances we face may be, we can always turn to God.  He is not only great and awesome but also faithful. He will hear the prayers we bring before Him in contrition. What Nehemiah did reminds us of what Paul tells us to do in Philippians 4:6. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” No matter what our struggles may be today, why don’t we turn to the great and awesome, and faithful God? He will hear the answer prayers of those who keep His Word.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nehemiah 1:4 – Seeking to make a difference in a broken world

None of us will ever be immune to crisis. The fallen world specializes in bad news. Anyone living in this world will encounter them. But what makes the difference between people is how they respond to crises. Some will morn and go into a state of depression and distress to a point of resignation. Some will be saddened by the circumstances, but they are not passive, they turn to God for solutions. Why? Because they know God has the whole world in His hand. Nothing can ever happen to the community of God without His permission. And for that matter, nothing can happen to us without God’s approval. So instead of being fretful, a person who trusts God will turn and seek Him. This was precisely what Nehemiah did.

Hence, Nehemiah explicitly said in verse 4 that “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.” He turned to God. He knew that the one that could make the change in the circumstances of his nation was the God of heaven, the God whom they as a nation had a covenant relationship with. He is the “God of heaven” because that's where His throne is and from there, He reigns over all the earth for time and eternity. Nehemiah said that he was before this Sovereign God. Who could better give a solution in times of crisis? Smart move!

Weighed down by the matter, all levity left Nehemiah. He could not live life flippantly nor sit idly by watching his beloved community languishing in desperation. Knowing that the answer was with God, Nehemiah turned to Him. He did not only seek Him for one day but for many days. We are not told exactly how many days he sought God, but we surmise that he persisted because he needed clear directions and steps to deal with the crisis. One critical lesson we need to take note of when seeking God is this: We must seek Him in urgency, but we must at the same time wait on Him patiently. It is His answer that we need and that requires time to discern. 

In this verse, we are told that he was fasting and praying. These are important spiritual disciplines. Notice they are put in the continuous tense. In other words, he did not just do it once and stop. He did it continuously and persistently. There was a sense of urgency. Jerusalem and her people were living far below what their covenant with God had promised. Nehemiah knew that unless God broke into their circumstance, they would continue in their desperation. His fasting shows us how important and urgent the matter was to him that he would sacrifice his meals to seek God. His Praying tells us that he knew that without God there would be no solution or positive outcome to the situation. Wisely, Nehemiah tarried before the Sovereign God.  

Are we facing a crisis? We live in times where divine intervention is more needed than ever. In the escalating crises in our world, without divine intervention, the church and the world will careen uncontrollably and helplessly down the nasty path. Like Nehemiah, we can no longer continue in our felicity and live in our wrongly perceive eutopia. It's time for us to rise and seriously seek the God of heaven in fasting and praying. We need a revival!                       

Nehemiah 1:1-3 – Are you concerned for Kingdom advancement?

Interestingly the meaning of Nehemiah is “the LORD comforts.”  How apt his name was for his time. For such a harrowing time, nothing was more needed than the LORD’s comfort for the Jews. It was at such a time that the spirit of the Jewish community that returned from exile needed reviving and focus. And the gracious God used Nehemiah in such a time to bring hope and comfort to a discouraged community. He was the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes and was serving him away from Jerusalem.

The first seven chapters as well as chapters 11 and 12 of this book are written in the first person, hence we can say that they are the memoirs of Nehemiah. Being personally involved in God’s renewing work for his community, he was suited to write this  historical account. He began the book by stating the time that he was informed of the condition of the Jews back home in Jerusalem. It was in the month of Kislev. According to the Hebrew calendar, Kislev was in the ninth month and would roughly be around November and December. The first month was Nissan. The place where Nehemiah was at that time was Susa. This was where the winter residence of the Persian King was located. While he was in Susa, some Jews came to him. Among them was Hanani. He was most likely a blood brother.

Nehemiah  was comfortable in his position and had prestige and power. It is easy for a person in his position to adopt a nonchalant attitude. Yet in such a position and far away from home, he showed concern for his people back home. He was keen and interested to know what was happening to the  Jewish community back home in Judah and Jerusalem. his people. In verse 3, we are told that “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.” Nehemiah was not an out-of-sight-out-of-mind person. In his position, it was easy to mind his own business. Yet he was genuinely interested in what was happening to God’s people and His community.  In other words, he had a heart for  God and His work.

Like him. we are also living in challenging times. What’s happening in the world signal that we are living in a difficult time.  The church is still recovering from the Covid pandemic. Sadly, many Christians have become both apathetic and lethargic. Being accustomed to the easy, passive lifestyle of staying home, even getting back to physical worship on Sunday has become a struggle. People who were once actively involved had chosen to take a backseat in ministry. It is times like this that we need more people like Nehemiah. Can God and the church count on us to be one? May God stir in us a spirit for His Kingdom and His kingdom. Let us arise from our spiritual slumber and return to kingdom business!     

 

 

Introduction to Nehemiah

We will continue our reflection in the Book of Nehemiah. This is a post-exilic book that complements the book of Ezra. While Ezra deals with the rebuilding of the temple and the initial reformation of Jerusalem after the Jews returned from captivity, Nehemiah deals with rebuilding the broken walls and gates of Jerusalem.

Nehemiah was Artaxerxes’ cupbearer. To be chosen as the king’s cupbearer, he must be a trustworthy man. Why? Being so close to the most powerful man, he would obviously have the best opportunity to assassinate the king. He would be the one to taste the king’s wine and food before the latter drinks or eats them. This was to ensure that the king would not fall prey to any attempt to take his life by poisoning him.

But in his position, Nehemiah would also be the best to influence the king to be sympathetic and show favor toward his people. This book was a challenge for God’s people to restore the broken walls of Jerusalem. For us, it’s a call for us to strengthen the walls and gates of our spiritual life. As we explore this book as will be gleaning strategic principles that will help us to build them. We are living in days where the call to strengthen our spiritual life is more needed than ever. So let’s brace up for an exciting journey!

Lessons we will be discovering from this book includes the attitude we need to adopt in servicing God, the resilience we need to overcome opposition, the diligence we need to complete our God’s entrusted assignments, and the necessity to rely on God totally through prayer in all undertakings.

Ezra 10:19-44 – Living responsibly

In these closing verses of Ezra 10, we find a list of offenders. In every segment of the returnees, from leaders to followers, from priests to Levites, singers to ordinary Israelites there were found among them those who had busted the warning not to marry foreign wives. These were said to have married foreign wives and some even had children from their marriages. Instead of making it to the hall of fame, these had made it to the hall of shame. The one positive thing we walk away from these verses is that they were all willing put away their foreign wives and offered sacrifices for their sins. It is here that they left us a lesson. Sin will surely be found in our walk with God, the important thing is that when the Holy Spirit reveals to us, we must deal with it immediately and swiftly.

Here are a few critical questions we need to ask so that we will be challenged to walk thoughtfully. Which hall would we rather be in, the hall of fame or the hall of shame? Would we rather be a hero of faith or a zero of faith? So many people committing the same offense could be a case of “monkey see monkey do” These verses underscore for us the necessity to be vigilant in our faith journey. We are each personally accountable to God. It’s important who we take as a model in our journey with God. It is good to make this a maxim in life, “others may but I cannot.” We must all make time to evaluate and appraise our spirituality frequently. Just because others are doing it, it does not mean that we must do it. Let’s be wise, seek to understand what the will of God is, and live to honor God!