Hey everyone.
The school year ended and we went immediately went on vacation. We had great time and now we are settling in to our summer routine.
Any way, I wanted to continue to story of Nehemiah. Nehemiah and the citizens of Jerusalem finished the wall and then in chapters 12 and 13 they have a dedication of the walls. In other words, they celebrate what God has done. If you read 12:31 and following you see that Nehemiah, all the leaders and two large choirs stood on top of this wall. (It is an interesting side note to remember that Tobiah, one of Nehemiah's detractors had said that a single fox could knock these walls down, now a great number of men were standing on it and it was in tact. The work of God was far greater than whatever negative buss was going on around it.)
So Nehemiah bought the people together and they celebrated. 12:43 says that they rejoiced "because God had given them great joy." It is important to celebrate accomplishment and victory. they had worked hard and deserved this celebration, but they were not celebrating themselves and what they had done, they were worshiping and celebrating what He had done. And apparently it was quite a party. 12:43 further says, "The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away."
We began a while back looking at Nehemiah, and how in 52 days he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem that had lain in ruin for over 100 years. My hope was to learn some things to help me in "building" my own spiritual life and ministry. For those who have come along on the journey we have seen Nehemiah, a man who cared deeply about God and his people, who prayed intently, whose trust in God led him to great boldness in dealing with the king and with his enemies. He would not be discouraged or dissuaded for the great work God had placed on his heart and he worked to get everyone involved. He had some things to say about parenting too. Then he celebrated what God had done.
This finishes my study of Nehemiah. I learned a great deal from it, I hope that something has benefited you as well. I have started studying the book of John and will start sharing thoughts on it soon.
Tom
Monday, July 15, 2013
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Everyone does their part (well, amost)
Hey everyone.
If you remember back when I started writing about Nehemiah, I started with the idea that Nehemiah accomplished something in 52 days that had not been done in over 100 years. He rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem that had lain in ruins for over a century. The idea we were thinking about was this, "What did Nehemiah do, that I can do as I build my own ministry?"
This next post comes out of Nehemiah 3 and at first glance can seem rather dull. It is a long list of men and the section of the wall that they repaired. But if we dig a little deeper we realize a few things here. First, we see that Nehemiah did not have to rebuild the walls all by himself. It would be too much work for any one man. He inspired the city with his own faith and hard work to rebuild the walls, and they did it together.
We can see that people from all walks of life came and did their part. The priests rebuilt the Sheep Gate. (3:1) Men came from Jericho, Tekoa and the surrounding region to help. Levites helped, as did goldsmiths and perfume-makers. (3:8) Men who were not carpenters, never-the-less came and build a section of the wall. Many other men are mentioned by name here without their profession being given, maybe they were just ordinary farmers. Who knows? (Whatever their profession, they got their name in the Bible as a reward for their efforts.) The lesson here: one does not have to be an evangelist to do his part in building a ministry, one only needs faith and a willingness to work hard.
It would be wonderful to stop right there, but unfortunately there is a sad lesson in this chapter as well. Neh. 3:5 says "The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors." The Bible doesn't really say the motivation behind their refusal. It just says that they would not work under their supervisors. Perhaps they thought their nobility entitled them to be supervisors. Many they were just lazy. We can only speculate. The sad lesson is that there were people who refused to be a part of this great work of God. Sadder still, there always will be. Let's hope, though, that like the rebuilding of the walls, that number will be small.
To end on a more positive note, the nobles of Tekoa may have refused to work, but the ordinary men of Tekoa were actually more "noble." They rebuilt two sections of the wall, the only group mentioned to do so. (3:5 and 3:27)
Tom
If you remember back when I started writing about Nehemiah, I started with the idea that Nehemiah accomplished something in 52 days that had not been done in over 100 years. He rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem that had lain in ruins for over a century. The idea we were thinking about was this, "What did Nehemiah do, that I can do as I build my own ministry?"
This next post comes out of Nehemiah 3 and at first glance can seem rather dull. It is a long list of men and the section of the wall that they repaired. But if we dig a little deeper we realize a few things here. First, we see that Nehemiah did not have to rebuild the walls all by himself. It would be too much work for any one man. He inspired the city with his own faith and hard work to rebuild the walls, and they did it together.
We can see that people from all walks of life came and did their part. The priests rebuilt the Sheep Gate. (3:1) Men came from Jericho, Tekoa and the surrounding region to help. Levites helped, as did goldsmiths and perfume-makers. (3:8) Men who were not carpenters, never-the-less came and build a section of the wall. Many other men are mentioned by name here without their profession being given, maybe they were just ordinary farmers. Who knows? (Whatever their profession, they got their name in the Bible as a reward for their efforts.) The lesson here: one does not have to be an evangelist to do his part in building a ministry, one only needs faith and a willingness to work hard.
It would be wonderful to stop right there, but unfortunately there is a sad lesson in this chapter as well. Neh. 3:5 says "The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors." The Bible doesn't really say the motivation behind their refusal. It just says that they would not work under their supervisors. Perhaps they thought their nobility entitled them to be supervisors. Many they were just lazy. We can only speculate. The sad lesson is that there were people who refused to be a part of this great work of God. Sadder still, there always will be. Let's hope, though, that like the rebuilding of the walls, that number will be small.
To end on a more positive note, the nobles of Tekoa may have refused to work, but the ordinary men of Tekoa were actually more "noble." They rebuilt two sections of the wall, the only group mentioned to do so. (3:5 and 3:27)
Tom
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Nehemiah's Mesage to Dads Part II
Hello everyone.
With Father's Day rapidly approaching, I thought that i would go ahead and tell you about the rest of Nehemiah's message to fathers. Here is what happens:
At some point after Nehemiah has successfully rebuilt the wall, he returns to King Artaxerxes in Susa. The Bible does not say how long he is away from Jerusalem, but when he returns he finds that in his absence, Jerusalem has a whole new batch of problems that he needs to deal with. One of the enemies of the people of God, Tobiah, who had created much of the opposition to their work, was now living in a room in the temple. The people had stopped paying the Levites and musicians of the temple, so they had left the their work in the temple to work in the fields in order to survive. People were not keeping the Sabbath.
Nehemiah returns and he starts fixing these problems. But there is one more issue that finds, one related to fathers, and this one makes him really angry. This is the issue: Back in chapter 10, the men of Israel vow that they will not give their sons or daughters in marriage to the people around them. By chapter 13, in Nehemiah's absence this vow has been broken many times over. Many men of Jerusalem had wives from among the Ammonites, Moabites or from the people of Ashdod. Naturally, they have children. What Nehemiah finds is a number of these children in Jerusalem who don't even speak Hebrew. They speak only the language of their mothers. This makes Nehemiah so angry that he starts calling curses down on them, beating them and pulling out their hair.
Warren Wiersbe, in his commentary on Nehemiah, explains it like this: The men most likely worked in the fields, while their wives stayed at home with the children speaking in their native language. The children were growing up not knowing Hebrew. this meant that they could not read the law or participate in the temple worship. These men were making decisions that were detrimental to their children's spiritual well-being, and it made made Nehemiah hair-pulling mad. Now, I don't endorse in any way pulling out hair as a means of correcting someone. (Especially if you've seen my hairline.) We should recognize, however, that with all of the bad things going on in Jerusalem, the one that made Nehemiah the most angry was the fathers who were looking after their children.
We have ask ourselves then, "if Nehemiah were around today, would he be reaching for my hair?" This is serious stuff. Nehemiah's message to dads is that we have to take the long-term spiritual well-being of our children very seriously. We are fortunate today, in that it doesn't matter what language we speak, God's word has most likely been translated into it. Our challenges are different. Dads, we have to ask ourselves if we are doing all that we can for the spiritual well-being of our children. These guys in Nehemiah's time were just living their lives, working hard to provide for their family and not really giving thought to those little decisions that they made every day that were keeping their children from knowing God, and before they knew they had children who spoke a different language, couldn't read God's word or participate in the worship. We can't make the same mistake, where we are busy to get our children into good spiritual situations. Nobody is going to come pull your hair out, but your children will still suffer. Better that we make every effort for our children's long term spiritual well-being. God will bless that.
Tom
With Father's Day rapidly approaching, I thought that i would go ahead and tell you about the rest of Nehemiah's message to fathers. Here is what happens:
At some point after Nehemiah has successfully rebuilt the wall, he returns to King Artaxerxes in Susa. The Bible does not say how long he is away from Jerusalem, but when he returns he finds that in his absence, Jerusalem has a whole new batch of problems that he needs to deal with. One of the enemies of the people of God, Tobiah, who had created much of the opposition to their work, was now living in a room in the temple. The people had stopped paying the Levites and musicians of the temple, so they had left the their work in the temple to work in the fields in order to survive. People were not keeping the Sabbath.
Nehemiah returns and he starts fixing these problems. But there is one more issue that finds, one related to fathers, and this one makes him really angry. This is the issue: Back in chapter 10, the men of Israel vow that they will not give their sons or daughters in marriage to the people around them. By chapter 13, in Nehemiah's absence this vow has been broken many times over. Many men of Jerusalem had wives from among the Ammonites, Moabites or from the people of Ashdod. Naturally, they have children. What Nehemiah finds is a number of these children in Jerusalem who don't even speak Hebrew. They speak only the language of their mothers. This makes Nehemiah so angry that he starts calling curses down on them, beating them and pulling out their hair.
Warren Wiersbe, in his commentary on Nehemiah, explains it like this: The men most likely worked in the fields, while their wives stayed at home with the children speaking in their native language. The children were growing up not knowing Hebrew. this meant that they could not read the law or participate in the temple worship. These men were making decisions that were detrimental to their children's spiritual well-being, and it made made Nehemiah hair-pulling mad. Now, I don't endorse in any way pulling out hair as a means of correcting someone. (Especially if you've seen my hairline.) We should recognize, however, that with all of the bad things going on in Jerusalem, the one that made Nehemiah the most angry was the fathers who were looking after their children.
We have ask ourselves then, "if Nehemiah were around today, would he be reaching for my hair?" This is serious stuff. Nehemiah's message to dads is that we have to take the long-term spiritual well-being of our children very seriously. We are fortunate today, in that it doesn't matter what language we speak, God's word has most likely been translated into it. Our challenges are different. Dads, we have to ask ourselves if we are doing all that we can for the spiritual well-being of our children. These guys in Nehemiah's time were just living their lives, working hard to provide for their family and not really giving thought to those little decisions that they made every day that were keeping their children from knowing God, and before they knew they had children who spoke a different language, couldn't read God's word or participate in the worship. We can't make the same mistake, where we are busy to get our children into good spiritual situations. Nobody is going to come pull your hair out, but your children will still suffer. Better that we make every effort for our children's long term spiritual well-being. God will bless that.
Tom
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Nehemiah's Message to Dads
Hey everyone.
Here in the New Jersey ministry, we have been going through Good Enough parenting by John and Karen Louis. It has been tremendous and I have learned a great deal. I am working really hard to be a better father to my two sons. Perhaps it is because of this focus that I am seeing a very clear message from Nehemiah for fathers. Let's have a look:
In Nehemiah 4 the Israelites are facing much opposition for those who do not want the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt. Nehemiah posted guards with swords, spears and bows to insure that the important work continued. He called out to the men of the city in 4:14 and said, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes." He said this because he understood that they were in a battle to accomplish something great. This great work would benefit these men and their families (and future generations) and the men of Jerusalem needed to take up this cause and be willing to fight for the benefit of their families. We, likewise, are trying to build something great, whether it is a great ministry or a great family. We must be involved and in the fight if it is to be great. Obviously, my battle is different. As I fight for my children, I will not be taking up a sword or a spear. My fight will more likely be with myself.
I fight for time. It is easy to just drift along from day to day, caught up in the busyness of life, and not make the needed time for my sons. I fight for humility. (If I don't win this fight, I end up fighting with them and not for them.)
I have to fight for self-control. Without good organizational skills I don't make the time my boys need. Perhaps we are not getting the one-on-one time they need, or we are not getting into the word as a family. When this happens, I am losing the battle. If I have no self-control over my emotions, the fights get louder and louder, and my boys get hurt. I am losing the fight again. I may not be facing Sanballat and Tobiah, but the fight I face for my family is just as real, and these are battles I can't lose.
The good news here is that Nehemiah gives good advice. We fight for our families within the context of remembering the greatness and awesomeness of God. As a father, I need to remember Nehemiah's clear focus on God and on prayer.
Tom
Here in the New Jersey ministry, we have been going through Good Enough parenting by John and Karen Louis. It has been tremendous and I have learned a great deal. I am working really hard to be a better father to my two sons. Perhaps it is because of this focus that I am seeing a very clear message from Nehemiah for fathers. Let's have a look:
In Nehemiah 4 the Israelites are facing much opposition for those who do not want the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt. Nehemiah posted guards with swords, spears and bows to insure that the important work continued. He called out to the men of the city in 4:14 and said, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes." He said this because he understood that they were in a battle to accomplish something great. This great work would benefit these men and their families (and future generations) and the men of Jerusalem needed to take up this cause and be willing to fight for the benefit of their families. We, likewise, are trying to build something great, whether it is a great ministry or a great family. We must be involved and in the fight if it is to be great. Obviously, my battle is different. As I fight for my children, I will not be taking up a sword or a spear. My fight will more likely be with myself.
I fight for time. It is easy to just drift along from day to day, caught up in the busyness of life, and not make the needed time for my sons. I fight for humility. (If I don't win this fight, I end up fighting with them and not for them.)
I have to fight for self-control. Without good organizational skills I don't make the time my boys need. Perhaps we are not getting the one-on-one time they need, or we are not getting into the word as a family. When this happens, I am losing the battle. If I have no self-control over my emotions, the fights get louder and louder, and my boys get hurt. I am losing the fight again. I may not be facing Sanballat and Tobiah, but the fight I face for my family is just as real, and these are battles I can't lose.
The good news here is that Nehemiah gives good advice. We fight for our families within the context of remembering the greatness and awesomeness of God. As a father, I need to remember Nehemiah's clear focus on God and on prayer.
Tom
Monday, May 13, 2013
Dealing with Opposition (or "A No-Show at Ono")
Hey everyone.
I have looking at Nehemiah and sharing what I have learned from it. I began by talking about how Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in just 52 days a while back. In my last post I talked about how Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem and examined the walls and the gates to determine exactly what needed to be done to build these walls. Today I will look at how Nehemiah dealt with the opposition that came his way once he started his great work. Any great work for God that we may undertake is bound to face opposition. So how do we do? What would Nehemiah do?
The book of Nehemiah mentions three men who opposed his work: Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab. They take different approaches to discourage the work, but Nehemiah keeps the work going. Their first appearance comes in Neh. 2:19-20. Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem start speaking against Nehemiah and his work, suggesting that they are in rebellion to the king. Nehemiah's responds; "The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it." He points toward God and let's these men know that they are are going to dissuade them from rebuilding these walls. Interestingly, he does not even comment on the whole rebellion against the king issue, even though he was not in rebellion, but rather had the total support of the king.
The opposition returns in chapter 4:1-4. Sanballat and Tobiah return with insults. Tobiah saying that something as small as a fox could knock the wall down. Nehemiah's response. He prays and keeps working. Then when their insults doesn't work, they get all get together to plan a fight against Jerusalem (4:7-8). Nehemiah's response to this threat is recorded in 4:8-9. They prayed, posted guards and kept working. I love what he says about this in v. 14. "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes." There is a whole other lesson in that statement alone, but it tells us here that Nehemiah strategy for dealing with this opposition is to constantly point the people back to God, pray a lot but don't let the work stop.
Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem return in chapter 6. This time they are scheming to harm Nehemiah. They sent him a message, "Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono." They send this message four times. (6:4) Four times he responds, "I am carrying on a great work. Why should I stop this work to meet with you?" (Hughes paraphrase) He basically tries to ignore them. The are persistent and on the fifth request they accuse Nehemiah of trying to establish himself as a king in Jerusalem. Of course, this is a complete lie. Nehemiah responds, "Nothing like what you are saying is happening: You are making this up out of your head." Nehemiah was taking any non-sense. However, immediately after this in 6:9, Nehemiah says, "But i prayed, "Now strengthen my hands." I think that these men who had constantly opposed him were started to get him. Eventually opposition and discouragement will wear us down. But Nehemiah did what always did, He took it to God.
I see an obvious pattern for Nehemiah. He looks to God, prays and keeps working. If we want his type of success, we should follow the pattern.
Tom
I have looking at Nehemiah and sharing what I have learned from it. I began by talking about how Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in just 52 days a while back. In my last post I talked about how Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem and examined the walls and the gates to determine exactly what needed to be done to build these walls. Today I will look at how Nehemiah dealt with the opposition that came his way once he started his great work. Any great work for God that we may undertake is bound to face opposition. So how do we do? What would Nehemiah do?
The book of Nehemiah mentions three men who opposed his work: Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab. They take different approaches to discourage the work, but Nehemiah keeps the work going. Their first appearance comes in Neh. 2:19-20. Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem start speaking against Nehemiah and his work, suggesting that they are in rebellion to the king. Nehemiah's responds; "The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it." He points toward God and let's these men know that they are are going to dissuade them from rebuilding these walls. Interestingly, he does not even comment on the whole rebellion against the king issue, even though he was not in rebellion, but rather had the total support of the king.
The opposition returns in chapter 4:1-4. Sanballat and Tobiah return with insults. Tobiah saying that something as small as a fox could knock the wall down. Nehemiah's response. He prays and keeps working. Then when their insults doesn't work, they get all get together to plan a fight against Jerusalem (4:7-8). Nehemiah's response to this threat is recorded in 4:8-9. They prayed, posted guards and kept working. I love what he says about this in v. 14. "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes." There is a whole other lesson in that statement alone, but it tells us here that Nehemiah strategy for dealing with this opposition is to constantly point the people back to God, pray a lot but don't let the work stop.
Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem return in chapter 6. This time they are scheming to harm Nehemiah. They sent him a message, "Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono." They send this message four times. (6:4) Four times he responds, "I am carrying on a great work. Why should I stop this work to meet with you?" (Hughes paraphrase) He basically tries to ignore them. The are persistent and on the fifth request they accuse Nehemiah of trying to establish himself as a king in Jerusalem. Of course, this is a complete lie. Nehemiah responds, "Nothing like what you are saying is happening: You are making this up out of your head." Nehemiah was taking any non-sense. However, immediately after this in 6:9, Nehemiah says, "But i prayed, "Now strengthen my hands." I think that these men who had constantly opposed him were started to get him. Eventually opposition and discouragement will wear us down. But Nehemiah did what always did, He took it to God.
I see an obvious pattern for Nehemiah. He looks to God, prays and keeps working. If we want his type of success, we should follow the pattern.
Tom
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Examining the Walls
Hey everyone.
In my first post about Nehemiah, I made reference to a Dave Pocta booklet on building the Youth and Family Ministry. The text I am going to talk about today was his starting point and it got me hooked on the study of Nehemiah and asking the questions needed to see this ministry grow. The text of the story is Nehemiah 2:11-18.
Nehemiah sets out to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. After arriving, he sets out during the night to assess the damage on the city. He examines the walls and the various gates that had lay in ruin for generations. After his examination, he pulls the leaders otgether and gives a no-nonsense assessment of their situation, saying "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruin, and its gates have been burned with fire." Then he lays out the challenge: "Come let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace." (Neh. 2:17) Finally, he shows them how God had already been at work. (Neh. 2:18)
Three things Nehemiah does here to get the building process going. First, he examines the situation. Likewise, if we are looking to build a ministry or are only looking to build on our own spiritual house, we need to take a good honest look at where we are. What do we have? What do we need? Second, we need to be honest about the situation. It would not have helped Nehemiah or the people of Jerusalem one bit if he had said the things were looking good, when they weren't. Being that brutally honest with ourselves is not always easy, but at times it is needed. Nehemiah used words like "in ruins." "burned by fire," and "disgrace." Finally, he called on the people to help him rebuild the city. He would not be able to complete such a project alone.
Wisely Nehemiah finishes his challenge by explaining to these leaders what God had already done. We need a good no-nonsense assessment of our own situation, but if we leave it there and don't bring God's power into the picture, it becomes depressing, because all we are doing is looking at how inadequate we are. The complete picture shows what can be done through God's strength.
Notice at the end of verse 18, how the leaders responded. ""Let us start rebuilding." So they began this good work. So whatever it is that you are building, look at the situation honestly, get the help needed, look to God for help and start building.
Tom
In my first post about Nehemiah, I made reference to a Dave Pocta booklet on building the Youth and Family Ministry. The text I am going to talk about today was his starting point and it got me hooked on the study of Nehemiah and asking the questions needed to see this ministry grow. The text of the story is Nehemiah 2:11-18.
Nehemiah sets out to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. After arriving, he sets out during the night to assess the damage on the city. He examines the walls and the various gates that had lay in ruin for generations. After his examination, he pulls the leaders otgether and gives a no-nonsense assessment of their situation, saying "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruin, and its gates have been burned with fire." Then he lays out the challenge: "Come let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace." (Neh. 2:17) Finally, he shows them how God had already been at work. (Neh. 2:18)
Three things Nehemiah does here to get the building process going. First, he examines the situation. Likewise, if we are looking to build a ministry or are only looking to build on our own spiritual house, we need to take a good honest look at where we are. What do we have? What do we need? Second, we need to be honest about the situation. It would not have helped Nehemiah or the people of Jerusalem one bit if he had said the things were looking good, when they weren't. Being that brutally honest with ourselves is not always easy, but at times it is needed. Nehemiah used words like "in ruins." "burned by fire," and "disgrace." Finally, he called on the people to help him rebuild the city. He would not be able to complete such a project alone.
Wisely Nehemiah finishes his challenge by explaining to these leaders what God had already done. We need a good no-nonsense assessment of our own situation, but if we leave it there and don't bring God's power into the picture, it becomes depressing, because all we are doing is looking at how inadequate we are. The complete picture shows what can be done through God's strength.
Notice at the end of verse 18, how the leaders responded. ""Let us start rebuilding." So they began this good work. So whatever it is that you are building, look at the situation honestly, get the help needed, look to God for help and start building.
Tom
Saturday, April 6, 2013
A Man who Dares
Hey everyone.
It has been a busy week for the Hugheses. Wendy has been directing the musical at my school and Caleb is in it. The show is this weekend, so we have been very busy. They are doing Guys and Dolls. I saw it last night. It was very good. It was very cool seeing how my son has grown as a performer.
Any way, back to Nehemiah. In my two previous posts, I talked about Nehemiah and his prayer in chapter 1. In chapter 2 we see Nehemiah appearing before the king. The king asked him why he is so sad. He explains what has happened in Jerusalem, and they king asks him what he wants. Nehemiah utters a quick prayer and then is very bold. He wants to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild it. It is a bold request by a servant to the king, but the king grants it. but I want to focus on what happens next. Most people would have just been happy to be allowed to go on this journey, thanked the king and not asked for anything else. Not Nehemiah. Since God had worked this out for him, Nehemiah then asks for letters to the governors guaranteeing their safe passage. Then he asks for lumber from the royal park. Not only does he ask to go, he asks for materials from the king with which to accomplish his task.
Nehemiah makes some very daring requests. But understand that prior to this conversation with the king, Nehemiah had spend considerable time in prayer and fasting before the Lord. This post could be called A Man of Prayers, Part 3. It was his consistent prayer and relationship with God that prompted Nehemiah into such bold action. If you look at Neh. 2:8, after his requests are granted, Nehemiah acknowledges that it was the gracious hand of God at work. Then verse 9 says that the king also sent along army officers and cavalry. So you never know. Pray then be bold. Nehemiah got even more then he asked for. The gracious hand of God was truly at work for this man of prayer.
It has been a busy week for the Hugheses. Wendy has been directing the musical at my school and Caleb is in it. The show is this weekend, so we have been very busy. They are doing Guys and Dolls. I saw it last night. It was very good. It was very cool seeing how my son has grown as a performer.
Any way, back to Nehemiah. In my two previous posts, I talked about Nehemiah and his prayer in chapter 1. In chapter 2 we see Nehemiah appearing before the king. The king asked him why he is so sad. He explains what has happened in Jerusalem, and they king asks him what he wants. Nehemiah utters a quick prayer and then is very bold. He wants to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild it. It is a bold request by a servant to the king, but the king grants it. but I want to focus on what happens next. Most people would have just been happy to be allowed to go on this journey, thanked the king and not asked for anything else. Not Nehemiah. Since God had worked this out for him, Nehemiah then asks for letters to the governors guaranteeing their safe passage. Then he asks for lumber from the royal park. Not only does he ask to go, he asks for materials from the king with which to accomplish his task.
Nehemiah makes some very daring requests. But understand that prior to this conversation with the king, Nehemiah had spend considerable time in prayer and fasting before the Lord. This post could be called A Man of Prayers, Part 3. It was his consistent prayer and relationship with God that prompted Nehemiah into such bold action. If you look at Neh. 2:8, after his requests are granted, Nehemiah acknowledges that it was the gracious hand of God at work. Then verse 9 says that the king also sent along army officers and cavalry. So you never know. Pray then be bold. Nehemiah got even more then he asked for. The gracious hand of God was truly at work for this man of prayer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)