What's The Point

It seems of late that I have been having several deep conversations with my wife.  To that end I thought that I would further delay the story of Nehemiah to share some of our thoughts and conversations.  For those who are unfamiliar with my wife and I please allow me to give you a little background before I get to the present.  We were married in California while serving in the military.  We spent most of the first six years of our marriage in Austin, TX.  We struggled to find a place where we fit in.  After years of struggle we decided to move to Park Hills, MO.  This was a good move because the cost of living and some great people's involvement allowed me to finish my engineering degree.  Still we didn't quite feel like we fit in.  Upon graduation I took a job with a good company in Dallas, TX.  We found an apartment in Plano, TX but felt even more alone and out of place.  Thus I began another job search and we are back in Park Hills.  This brings me to the present.  We once again feel as though we do not fit in.  I am most definitely an outcast at my job for many reasons which I will not discuss here.  My wife definitely feels like a fish out of water.  There have been many times of late that we have felt like giving in and conforming.  The problem is that Matthew 5:14 keeps coming to my mind.  "You are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden" (MKJV).  I keep trying to convince us both that this is the point.  A light by definition is different than its surroundings.  I have never tried to be a light but my guess is that the light is not comfortable.  The heat can't be comfortable.  I have tried to change a few bulbs without allowing them to cool.  We are supposed to be different.  We are supposed to be uncomfortable.  If you are perfectly comfortable with your life and those around you then are you really accomplishing anything?  Self growth is uncomfortable.  Change is painful.  Creating change in the world around you can sometimes feel like moving a mountain one spoonful at a time.  We are supposed to be different.  We are not supposed to fit in.  I guess that is the point and I am just trying to convince myself. 

Time Out

I must apologize.  I have been more than remiss in my blogging as of late.  I have been very preoccupied with coaching little league, working, building an office for our new business, and other odds and ends of things.  For those who were following Nehemiah's progress I apologize.  I also must apologize because this post is not what I had intended to use this blog for. 

For those of you who know anything about me you know that I do all that I can to avoid controversy, conflict, or anything adversarial.  However, recent events have my head spinning so I must take time to address some issues. 

I have to say that I have never in my life been more disillusioned, disheartened, and disappointed with the religious establishment.  I have been attending church since I was about 13 years old.  I have always questioned things.  When I was a teenager attending a baptist church and they taught that "Allah" was not the same God that we worship.  I questioned this.  I tended to believe that Allah was simply a different word/name for God.  The youth pastor and I had many debates about this but he did not change his attitude toward me.  When I attended a UPC church as an adult I questioned the rules about how people had to dress.  The pastors and I did not agree that how one dressed was vital to their salvation.  While we differed in our beliefs they did not kick me out of their church or shun me.  I have recently watched things unfold in a much more public forum in which people have questioned some religious beliefs.  Knowing what I know about the christian religion I would expect that these questions would be answered with love.  I would be wrong.  Instead I have seen people who call themselves christian leaders chastise the question and attack the character of the person asking.  Is that what Christianity has become?  We attack and belittle those who question what we believe?  If that is Christianity then I don't want to be a part of it.  I believe that the Bible tells us to ask, seek, and knock.  If those who are supposed to be advanced in the knowledge chastise us for asking and belittle us for seeking then what are we supposed to do?  If we are supposed to work out our salvation but do not have the trust that our questions will be answered without embarrassment and disgust then what chance do we have?  Where are the pastors like my youth pastor who welcome questions because it shows a seeking heart?  Where are the pastors like the ones from the UPC church who could see past the questions and love the person anyway?  I'm sure I will get many comments and some will probably "unfriend" me because I am rocking the boat.  That is fine because it will save me from future disappointments.  I guess my question is how do we help the lost get found when they see religion as nothing more than a bunch of rules that we are not allowed to question? 

Nehemiah Chapter 8

Okay, so I'll admit that I have really been struggling with this one.  I just couldn't make the leap.  In the first six chapters it was all about the building of the wall and the associated hardships.  In the seventh chapter the wall was done and Nehemiah made the transition to taking care of the city by placing people in charge of the wall and recording all of the names of the people.  I just could not see the connection between those first seven chapters and chapter eight.  In this chapter they gather the people and read the law of Moses.  I read it and re-read it.  I just couldn't get what I was missing.  Then something jumped off of the page at me.  In verse two it says that the law was read to "all who could hear with understanding."  That changed the entire chapter for me.  They weren't reading the law to everyone just for the sake of reading it.  They weren't just reading the law at all.  They were trying to ensure that they did not repeat past mistakes.  For those of you who have never read through the Mosaic law it is very difficult to understand.  If you would like a taste of some of the rules and regulations just read through a couple of chapters of Leviticus.  Nehemiah was also not going to try to teach everyone the law.  Some people would get it and some wouldn't.  The target audience was the ones who could grasp the information.  There are a few good life lessons in this chapter.

First, ignorance is no excuse.  Nehemiah understood that the reason that the walls and the city needed to be rebuilt is because the people had failed to follow the law.  It didn't matter if that failure was due to ignorance or rebellion.  Failure was failure and it resulted in destruction.  We need to understand that contrary to popular opinion ignorance is not bliss.  We must educate ourselves if we are to ACHIEVE and MAINTAIN success.

Second, we can't reach everyone.  I have often seen preachers, teachers, and good leaders become disheartened and frustrated because they weren't reaching the number that they thought they should.  That is enough to frustrate anyone.  We must remember that there are seasons to every one's life.  What we are trying to get through to them may not be appropriate for their current season.  If you plant seeds out of season you will not see immediate growth.  That doesn't mean that your time and efforts are wasted.  When the conditions are right then you will see growth.  My wife and I have struggled and struggled getting our yard to grow the way we want it since buying our house.  It was new construction and there were a lot of bare spots.  We have laid seed year after year only to see minimal results.  This year apparently the conditions were right because we are seeing growth in areas that we don't remember planting seed.  People are the same.

Finally, we must learn from the past.  It has been said that those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.  Nehemiah wanted to avoid the trouble of trying to rebuild the wall again.  Mistakes and failures are a part of life and, in my opinion, some of the most powerful teachers.  However, they only work if we pay attention and learn from them.

Nehemiah Chapter 7

In the last chapter the wall was completed.  This chapter should at the most be a celebration and that is it.  From our perspective the mission was complete.  Nehemiah set out to rebuild the wall.  The wall has been rebuilt.  Now it is time to party and move on.  The bad guys have lost and the good guys have won.  Now it is time for our hero to ride off into the sunset.  That is the Hollywood version.  So now is time for, in the words of the great Paul Harvey, “the rest of the story.” 

The first thing Nehemiah does in chapter seven is to appoint people to take care of his work.  It seems in our society that leaders fail at this point in one of two ways.  First, they fail to care for the work that has been created.  In the engineering world this is called maintenance.  If we fail to care for those things that we have worked so hard to create then we have wasted our time in creating them and soon we will be doing it all again.  The second way that they fail is by not empowering other people to care for the creation.  Notice I did not say that they fail to appoint people to care for the creation.  I said they fail to empower them.  I have seen many leaders appoint people to care for the creation only to cause extreme frustration and hurt by not empowering them.  They want a worker not a caretaker.  In short the leader goes from creator to micro-manager.  Nehemiah instead appoints two men.  He gives some simple rules and then he moves on.  At this point Nehemiah has every confidence that the men will do what they have been appointed to do.  Enough said; they are caring for his great work.

The second thing Nehemiah does in chapter seven is to take a record of the people.  I struggled with this.  Then again it seems that I always seem to struggle when there are very long lists of names in the Bible.  I get so bogged down with all of the names and pronunciations that I can miss the forest for the trees.  So what is the point of all of these names?  Well, my thought is that Nehemiah needed to know.  He needed to know how many people were in the area and where they lived.  Why is this important?  I will give a couple of reasons.  The first is because he needed to know for safety sake.  They had just finished rebuilding a wall that had been destroyed by war.  As a leader you need to know who your people are in case disaster strikes so that everyone can be accounted for.  The second reason is because it takes people to continue a work.  Nehemiah was called to rebuild a wall but in reality it was much more than that.  They were rebuilding their society and their culture.  In order to do this it takes people.  This will become more apparent in later chapters. 

There is one final thing to note.  Earlier I said that once Nehemiah put men in charge he “moved on”.  In verse 5 he talks about how God put it on his heart.  It is amazing to me how some people can achieve so much while others can do so little.  He had already built a wall.  He had done in 52 days what could not be done for hundreds of years.  Now he was taking a census?  He wasn’t a carpenter, a mason, or a census taker, but he was willing to do what needed to be done.

Nehemiah Chapter 6 part 2

In verse 10 Nehemiah was approached by someone that he trusted.  He must have had some trust in this guy because he went to his home.  This guy, Shemaiah, tried to convince Nehemiah that his enemies were going to kill him and that Nehemiah should go into hiding.  I find it interesting that they are trying to take out the leader, but I am getting ahead of myself.  When I first read verse 11, I kind of thought that Nehemiah was being arrogant.  Then I went back and reviewed chapter 4.  He wasn’t being arrogant he was being a consistent leader and example.  Remember in chapter 4 that the enemies were threatening the lives of all of Nehemiah’s people.  He didn’t allow them to hide.  Now his life was being threatened.  What kind of example would it have been had Nehemiah gone into hiding?  The word that comes to mind is “Hypocrite”.  Nehemiah wasn’t being arrogant.  He was being humble.  He was saying that he was no more important than any of the people.  If they didn’t hide then who is he that he should hide.  I recently heard a pastor ask what kind of life we were living.  Was our Christian walk one that made others want to be a part, or was it one that reinforced the negative opinion of church and Christianity.  I hope and pray that I may be as Nehemiah was so that others will know that I am not just a man of words but a man of consistency and integrity.  I hope that when others look at my walk they will want to be a part.

In the end of the chapter the wall is completed.  It took 52 days to complete the wall that had lain in ruins for hundreds of years.  I would say that 52 days would be impressive in today’s time but almost miraculous for back then.  There were obstacles as there are for all of us in life.  There were external problems and internal problems.  We all will face them if we haven’t already.  There were threats on those around Nehemiah.  We all have friends, family, and co-workers who are facing threats.  There was conflict from within.  We all face conflict in our families, our work teams, our schools.  As we have seen in the previous chapters it is not what or if something comes against us that makes the difference.  It is how we deal with it when it comes that makes the difference.  If we are leaders then we must understand that we are targets and that someone is always watching.  Leaders are not just leaders because they have a title.  It doesn’t matter if you are a supervisor or an employee, husband or wife, father or son you can be a leader.  Leaders must stay focused on the goal.  Leaders must always remember that the opposition understands that most of the time as the leader goes so goes the group.  Take a parent out and the whole family suffers.  Get a pastor to fall and the church suffers with him.  As leaders we must be vigilant until the goal is achieved.  Not when the goal is close but when it is done.

As a final note I would like to leave you with one of my favorite poems.  This has served as a source of inspiration for me quite often.  I hope that it may do the same for you.

                When things go wrong as they sometimes will,

                When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill

                When the funds are low and the debts are high,

                And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

                When care is pressing you down a bit –

                Rest if you must, but don’t quit

                Life is strange with its twists and turns,

                As every one of us sometimes learns,

                And many a fellow turns about

                When he might have won had he stuck it out.

                Don’t give up though the pace seems slow –

                You may succeed with another blow.

                Often the goal is nearer than

                It seems to a fair and faltering man,

                Often the struggler has given up

                When he might have captured the victor’s cup,

And he learned too late when night came down,

How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out –

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems afar,

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit, --

It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.

Author Unknown

Nehemiah Chapter 6 part 1

Here we go again.  In chapter 4 we saw the enemies of the work that Nehemiah was trying to accomplish come against the people.  Nehemiah responded brilliantly by arming his people and putting them back to work.  Sometimes we need to just go back to work when the fears and worries of this world come against us.  Now we find ourselves in chapter 6.  The wall is almost done.  Nehemiah had dealt with his enemies and in chapter 5 he dealt with internal problems.  Now that they had almost completed everything chapter 6 should be all about a celebration, right?  Wrong.  The opposition raised its ugly head once again.  This time they weren’t threatening the people.  They weren’t mocking the work.  This time they were coming directly at Nehemiah.  I have often heard it said that the most dangerous part of a trip is the last mile.  Maybe it is because of exhaustion or maybe it is because we become complacent thinking that we have already arrived.  Whatever the reason, it would seem that more problems arise when we are closest to achieving success than when we first began. It does not matter what our journey is.  It does not matter what we are trying to accomplish.  We need to pay special attention to how Nehemiah handles these distractions when he is almost done with the wall.

The chapter begins with the enemies’ realization that the wall has been rebuilt.  It wasn’t complete but it was close enough.  They send word to Nehemiah that they want to meet with him.  Nehemiah replied appropriately in verse 3 saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.  Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?”  My interpretation is he said, “We are about to achieve what you said we couldn’t do, and I do not have time for your nonsense.”  He was keeping his eye on the prize.  This wasn’t direct opposition they just wanted him to take some time away from his work to meet with them.  It was a distraction.  So often we fight through the obstacles and the opposition that when we have the finish line in sight we get distracted by simple things.  Nehemiah was determined to finish this wall.  He was not going to be distracted.  These guys were not about to stop.  They requested the meeting four times, and four times Nehemiah gave them the same answer.  That is focus. 

In verse 5 we see that these guys sent a fifth request.  They were smart about it this time because they sent it in an “open letter”.  It is believed that this was to increase the peer pressure on Nehemiah.  They sent this letter so that everyone would know what they were saying.  The letter made accusations of rebellion and stated that it was rumored that Nehemiah was trying to make himself king of Judah.  Best of all they said that these rumors were going to be reported to the king.  Now remember that this king is the one who gave Nehemiah permission to be in Jerusalem building the wall.  The king granted Nehemiah safe passage and provided an armed escort.  This was the king that Nehemiah served as cup bearer.  The problem that these outsiders overlooked was that Nehemiah had served the king well.  He was close enough to the king that when he was sad the king noticed.  While his enemies overlooked these facts Nehemiah knew them very well.  He also knew that there was no shred of truth to what these trouble makers were saying.  So, he told them that.  His response, thoughts and prayer are verses 8 – 9.  My interpretation is that he said something like, “liar, liar, pants on fire” or perhaps even, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”  However you interpret it, the outcome was that he still did not take the time to meet with these yahoos.  There are a couple of good take aways here.  First, do everything you do to the best of your ability because your reputation and your character can bring you comfort in the face of opposition.  Second, doing things with the utmost integrity will bring you peace of mind in the midst of any storm.

There is more to this chapter but I will post it later.  Be sure to check back when I post Chapter 6 part 2.

Nehemiah Chapter 5

If it isn’t one thing then it is another.  In chapter four it was one thing, dealing with criticism and threats from outside the city.  In chapter five it was another thing, dealing with contention and strife within the city.  The chapter begins with the people crying out about the things they were facing.  Their complaints reveal three specific problems that the people were facing at the same time that they were trying to build the wall.  The first problem was that the people had large families that they had to feed.  The second problem, which compounds the first, was that there was a famine.  The third problem was that the people could not afford to pay their taxes.  It is difficult to feed a large family but it is very difficult to feed a large family during a famine.  Then they had to bear the tax burden.  This sounds like a major issue but the real problem is revealed in verses six and seven.  The people were being charged usury by the nobles and rulers within.  When the people couldn’t afford to feed their families then they borrowed money from the nobles.  As a result the nobles were collecting on these debts plus interest by taking the people’s property and forcing them to sell their children into slavery.  Remember from chapter three that these nobles were also not supporting the work.  Also, remember from chapter three that Nehemiah did not take any action toward the nobles for not helping out.  He just seemed to ignore the fact that they were not supportive.  Now we see a very different response.  It was okay for them to not be supportive but now they were being destructive.  Nehemiah got angry and he took action.  He confronted the issues with the nobles in front of the people.  The nobles agreed to return the property.  There are a couple of lessons to learn from this. 

The first thing that I notice is that when the threats were coming from the outside that Nehemiah armed the people and sent them back to work.  When the threats came from the inside he stopped the work to have an assembly.  As I read and re-read this I asked myself why he would stop the work for this issue.  He didn’t stop the work when the people’s lives were in danger but now that they have a financial issue from inside the camp he stops the work?  Then a couple of things occurred to me.  First and foremost the problem was internal.  External problems have a way of uniting members.  I don’t care how dysfunctional your family may have been.  When someone from outside the family starts to make threats the family comes together.  Our bodies are the same way.  When something from the outside attacks our body all of our internal systems start working together to defend us.  It is the internal problems that destroy us.  Families are torn apart from the inside.  I know that some would argue that their family was torn apart by people or problems from the outside and a few may be correct.  For most, though, I would argue that if you looked closely enough you would see that it was an internal problem that ultimately allowed the external problem to become the straw that broke the camel’s back.  Our bodies suffer the most damage when we have internal problems because of a disease, deficiency, or system failure.  Nehemiah understood that the people could face the external problems with minimal discomfort but an internal problem had the potential to destroy everything that they were working for.  If you are facing any kind of internal problem I encourage you to take care of it post haste.  The second thing that I see is that there is a difference between the external threat and the financial problem.  I think it is safe to say that if you have any life experience then you have experienced external problems and financial problems.  I think it is also safe to say that external problems are much easier to get through than financial problems.  Financial problems are always there in the back of your mind.  You can’t shut them out when you go home.  You can’t just forget about them when you go to bed.  They nag at you.  People will do crazy things when it comes to financial problems.  Nehemiah understood this so he took action.  If you are having financial problems then please seek out some help.  I have a degree in finance and I am always researching and studying ways to deal with finances.  Money is a lot like relationships.  There is no clear cut way to do things.  If you have financial problems then I urge you to sit down with someone who is smarter than you in that area and get their advice.  You have to take care of the financial problems as quickly as you can because they will just grow out of control until you are driven to do something radical to escape the pressure.  People can become irrational when the financial pressures get too great.  They may go to payday loan places and pay 300% interest.  They might turn to crime.  They could choose to find ways of escaping reality through drugs, alcohol, or even suicide.  The people in Nehemiah’s time were selling their children into slavery.  Don't let it get this far.  I am an engineer so I know that there is a solution to every problem.  The solution may not be pretty but it is a solution. 

The second lesson is revealed later in the chapter.  Nehemiah points out that at some point he was made governor and because of that he was entitled to a posh life with choice foods.  What did he do with this?  He shared it.  Freely he received and freely he gave.  He fed hundreds of people with what was rightfully his.  How could the nobles argue with his example?  Besides the fact that they were in front of an assembly of very upset people they were faced with Nehemiah’s example.  The food was rightfully his yet he shared it with hundreds of people.  The interest that the nobles were charging was in reality against the Jewish law of the time.  Nehemiah saw a need and did what he could to meet it.  The nobles saw a need and did what they could to exploit it.  We have all come across people with a legitimate need.  These people were hungry.  That is legitimate.  How do we respond?  Do we give freely?  Do we exploit?  Do we give just because we can?  Do we give expecting something in return?  Do we give at all?  I am not just talking about money.  Does your wife need you to show her that you still love her?  Does your husband need to know that you still see him as the stud that you dated?  Does your child need to have some time with you?  Does someone at school need to feel understood and accepted?  Does someone at work need to know that they are valued as a person and not just an employee?  These are all legitimate needs.  Will you meet them?  Will you meet just one?  Nehemiah changed the lives of the people with his actions.  Will you change someone’s life with yours?