Lessons from Nehemiah

A few months ago, some precious ladies (whom I really miss) from my home fellowship, sent me a box in the mail.  Amidst all the food goodies, jewelry, and cookie cutters, was a B.ble Study on the book of Nehemiah by Kelly Minter. 

I'd read through Nehemiah before and been taught multiple times in Sunday School clas  about how he was the cup-bearer for the king who returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall around the city.  I remembered he had faced some struggle and persecution from those living around Jerusalem and that he persevered in spite of it.  I would say I had the main idea of Nehemiah, but I'd never studied it in-depth. 

Let me tell you, the book of Nehemiah had much to teach me!  I was amazed how day after day what I was reading and studying in Nehemiah applied directly to my life.  These are some of the things G0d impressed upon my heart:

One of the central themes of the study was having a heart that can break.  Nehemiah's heart broke when he heard that his brothers and sisters in Jerusalem where living in danger because there was no wall of protection around the city.  He knew this was not G0d's plan for His people. 

The question was posed, "What breaks your heart?"  Living in South Asia, there were many things that could answer this question swirling around in my head and heart.  I see injustice daily, I know extremely few people know the grace, hope, and peace of JC, I watch children beg on the street, I see families living in the dirt.  Sometimes things such as this become commonplace for me.  Do they break my heart?  Or do I just see it and not let it affect me to the core of who I am?  Am I like Nehemiah who when he heard the news of his brothers and sisters in need stopped what he was doing, sat down, wept, pr@yed, and fasted?  Quite a challenge and example to follow!

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A week or so after I started the study, I found myself in Thailand for an indeterminable amount of time waiting for a visa back to my place of service.  I was being challenged to discover what the Father had put on my heart to do.  Problem being, I wasn't in the location where I could do what G0d had placed on my heart. 

Nehemiah provided another great example in the importance of pr@yer.  Nehemiah pr@yed for four months after he heard the people in Jerusalem were in need before he approached the king asking for permission to go to Jerusalem.  FOUR MONTHS!  That is a long time, but it was an important time. 

The Father really impressed upon me the importance of pr@yer.  I am a doer.  If I'm not actively doing something, I think I'm not making any difference.  G0d changed my thinking on this.  Pr@yer is actively doing something.--something that is vitally important.  My time in Thailand was not a waste.  Perhaps it was just what I needed so that I would spend a couple weeks in pr@yer over what G0d had placed on my heart to do.

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Nehemiah taught me a lot about the importance of pr@yer.  When he encountered opposition, which he did often, his first response was to pr@y.  Before he acted, he always pr@yed. 

The same cannot be said of me.  I am often a spill my guts, wallow in my worry or anger, formulate a plan, start implementing the plan, and then pr@y.  I seek the face of fellow people to commiserate with my problems before I seek the face of the L0rd.  Nehemiah provided a good example for me to follow, "God was always His first stop; action always followed, it never led" (Minter, p.53).

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The topic of the poor and oppressed, something I encounter daily, was also addressed in the book of Nehemiah.  Nehemiah 5 speaks of several different groups of people who were being oppressed.  They were powerless in their situation and were being taken advantage of by their fellow Hebrew brothers. 

I can relate with those who often feel powerless--not because I am materially poor or necessarily being actively oppressed by another person, but because I often feel powerless to change the situations I see around me.  I wrote this in response to the prompt, "As you consider your own frailty, spend a few minutes writing the ways God has shown His power in your powerlessness."  Much of my time overseas has displayed itself in a form of me being powerless.  Most recently, my stolen purse, passport, and visa and the replacing of them all put me in a powerless position--one that only G0d could work out.  The people I see daily--the poor, the sex trafficked, the bonded slave--all leave me feeling powerless.  The millions of lost also give me that feeling.  However, where I am powerless, G0d is not.  He has raised up people to help the poor and the enslaved and His Spirit is moving here bringing others to Himself.  My powerlessness is not a reason to become discouraged but an opportunity for G0d to show His power!

In this situation, Nehemiah did not just pr@y, but he also acted.  He spoke against the injustices happening and then implemented things so the poor and oppressed would be better cared for.  As a person in leadership, Nehemiah had responsibility to the poor and oppressed around him.  Although I'm not exactly in leadership, I also have a responsibility to the poor and oppressed around me.  I must both pr@y and then act.

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All the time Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, it was not about the task of rebuilding the wall.  It was about the people that they wall would protect.  He never lost sight of the people. 

As a person who loved administration tasks and sometimes has trouble interacting with people, this was an important distinction for me to make.  In the midst of the tasks that need accomplished, I cannot forget that it is the people that are the most important.  I can't forget to love people before I love the task. 

Practically speaking, I have time to stop in the slum on the way to school and give a loving touch to a toddler and a smile to a woman to show them I love them.  When I am teaching, it is not just about the lesson I am teaching or that the children learn to read.  It is about loving them for who they are and pointing them to the One who loves them infinitely more.  As I leave the slum, I have time to stop and pray with a woman who is sick and love her before I hurry on to my next item on the agenda.

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After the people had returned to Jerusalem, Nehemiah gathered them for the reading of G0d's law.  The people saw their sin, wept, and repented before the L0rd.  This is a proper response to sin.  However, on this particular day, it was a day set aside for celebration remembering what the L0rd had done for the people and their ancestors.  It was not a day of mourning, but rather of jubilee.  Nehemiah reminded the people that although there is a time for mourning, there is also a time for celebration and the two do not go well together. 

I am a mourner over my sin.  I also tend to spend a lot of time in mourning.  I will have asked forgiveness, but I can't seem to move on.  I was reminded that while there are times to weep over sin, there is also time to rejoice in being forgiven and freed from that sin, a time to live in the joy that He has given us.

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So, I obviously learned quite a bit from Nehemiah, as can be seen by this obnoxiously long blog.  I have one more lesson to write about, and I am saving one lesson for a later blog.

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G0d placed the safety and well-being of his people on Nehemiah's heart.  The task He sent Nehemiah to do was rebuild the wall around Jerusalem and bring G0d's people back into the city with a renewed heart of obedience to G0d.  This was G0d's will for Nehemiah.  But, that did not mean that doing G0d's will was easy for Nehemiah.  At almost every point along the journey, Nehemiah met opposition, struggle, and persecution.  That did not stop Nehemiah.  It did not make him question his calling.  If anything, it strengthened his resolve to complete what G0d had laid on His heart to do. 

When I think of my time doing what G0d has placed on my heart to do, Nehemiah's story is encouraging to me.  It has been far from easy doing G0d's will.  In fact, it is probably the hardest thing that I have ever done and am continuing to do.  But, I must be like Nehemiah.  I must not stop.  I must not question my calling.  If anything, I must allow the struggles to strengthen my resolve to complete what G0d has laid on my heart to do.