Nehemiah Chapter 2

The second chapter of Nehemiah began four months after the first chapter.  That’s right four months.  Nehemiah prayed and planned for four months before finally taking action.  He finally asked the king for permission to go to Jerusalem.  He was granted leave as well as letters to the governors granting him safe passage and provisions.  He was also given an armed escort.  When he arrived in Jerusalem he surveyed the damage for three days.  He didn’t tell anyone why he was there.  Finally at the end of the chapter Nehemiah took action to get the people on board with the upcoming project.

Wow!  There are so many things here to pull out of the text.  The first thing that I see is Nehemiah’s patience.  He prayed and planned for four months.  It seems that we lack this ability far too often.  We see a problem or concern and we just dive in.  We fail to pray.  We fail to plan.  We fail to prepare ourselves.  One of the best phrases that I have learned in my profession is “If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.”  We jump in without looking and soon thereafter we are questioning the mess that we have gotten into.  I believe that not only was he praying and planning but he was waiting.  I have often heard it said that timing is everything and I think that Nehemiah knew this.  He was waiting till the time was right to approach the king.  He was waiting until he had a plan.  That is another thing that I have learned in my profession.  It is easy to present a problem.  Anyone can do that.  It is another thing to present a problem and have a solution ready.  He had his plan, the time was right, the king was asking questions and Nehemiah made his request.

The second thing that I see is that Nehemiah asked.  Many years later Jesus would tell his disciples “Ask and you shall receive.”  I have also heard it said, “You have not because you ask not.”  My wife is a little more direct (I can be hard headed sometimes).  She is always asking, “What is the worst they could do?  Say no.”  In this case the answer was no.  The king could do whatever he wanted.  Nehemiah was the cupbearer.  That is a trusted position.  It is an important position.  In this case the worst that could happen is that the king could kill Nehemiah.  When the time was right and with a little prodding by the king Nehemiah makes his request known.  Again he prayed before he made his request to the king.  Not only did the king grant the request, but he also sent an armed escort.  One thing to note is that Nehemiah was prepared for the conversation.  Too often we come to people with a problem but have not thought about a solution.  That is called whining.  Had Nehemiah came to the king whining the outcome could have been very different.  Instead he had already worked out a solution.  The only question given by the king in the text was asking how long Nehemiah would be gone.  Apparently Nehemiah had already prepared a time table that satisfied the king.  This will come in to play in a later chapter.

The third thing that I see is that Nehemiah was wise and humble.  He has a directive from God.  He has orders from the king.  He has an armed escort.  He is a man on a mission.  He could have come in to the city with trumpets blaring.  He had orders from the king.  He could have come in and demanded the people to get to work.  He could have, but he didn’t.  He was in the city three days.  He went out at night to survey the wall.  He didn’t tell anyone why he was there.  When he finally approached the people he didn’t come and tell them that he was there to build their wall and that the king said he could, so they had to help.  He didn’t boast.  He didn’t brag.  He didn’t berate.  He didn’t demand.  He related.  When he spoke to them he used words to help them understand that he felt their pain.  He used words like “distress we are in,” “let us build,” and “prosper us”.  Speaking as a man I know that I am guilty of this far too often.  My wife or kids will be struggling with something and here I come.  Superdad to the rescue.  I know the answer what you need to do is....I have not taken time to understand.  I have not partnered with them.  I have deprived them of a learning and growing experience.  I understand the problem but I have failed to understand the person.  We need to seek first to understand before we try to be understood. 

Nehemiah Chapter 1

Nehemiah is not only a character in the old testament he is also the writer of the book that bears his name.    The book begins with Nehemiah still serving King Artaxerxes as a cupbearer after a period of captivity for Israel.  The cupbearer would guard against poison in the king’s cup.  He was sometimes expected to swallow some of the wine before serving it to ensure that it was safe for the king to drink.  Nehemiah is in the Shushan Palace when some men from Judah came.  Nehemiah took this opportunity to ask about the Jews that had escaped the captivity.  The men informed him that the people who had escaped and returned were living in “great distress and reproach”.  Then almost as if it were an afterthought they added “The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”  It is not clear from the text how emotional these men were when they delivered the news but it is very clear that Nehemiah became emotional.  He sat down and wept.  Then he fasted and prayed for days.  Now I see some interesting things in this part of the story.  First of all it strikes me that the people who were living in great distress and reproach were either okay with it, didn’t know what to do about it, or were scared to do anything about it.  These people were in the place to be able to make a change.  They lived in the place.  They were familiar with it.  They looked at the walls every day.  They felt the distress all of the time.  That is a lot like many of us.  We live in discomfort and turmoil.  We struggle day to day.  The mess surrounds us all of the time.  Yet we continue to do nothing to change it.  Then you have Nehemiah.  Nehemiah was a cupbearer.  He was serving at the pleasure of the king.  He was in Persia not Israel.  He was not free to go where he wanted when he wanted.  He was not a mason or a carpenter.  Unlike the people who were in the city Nehemiah felt an urgency and passion to rebuild the wall and reclaim some peace of mind and he took action.  He was in the wrong place but he felt the call.  He had the wrong skill set but he felt the call.  He didn’t have the freedom but he felt the call.  So Nehemiah prayed and began to plan.    All of us, at one time or another, feel a call or pull to do something.  Maybe it is something that you are not qualified for.  Maybe it is something that you are in the wrong place for.  Whatever it may be you know it.  Nehemiah fasted and prayed for days about this.  He planned for months.  It wasn’t just some fleeting thought.  Whatever that thing is that you feel called to do if you can do nothing else pray and plan. 

First Things First

Welcome to Faith Changes.  First of all I would like to introduce myself.  I work as a licensed professional engineer.  More importantly I am the father of three boys and the husband to the perfect wife.  Well, she is mostly perfect.  Okay, she is perfect when she is sleeping.  I do not claim to know it all, in fact if you have ever spoken with me I would tell you that I know less than most.  I did not grow up in church nor did I attend seminary.  I am not a bible scholar.  I first started attending church when I was a teenager because of a girl that I was dating.  As is the case with most teen boys I was more interested in the opposite sex than I was in the teaching that was going on.  Needless to say I didn’t learn a whole lot about the bible.  As an adult I have continued to attend church.  I have noticed over the years that adult services are slanted toward those who have grown up in church and have a solid understanding of the basic bible stories that are taught to children.  I have found this experience to be extremely frustrating.  I have always been a very intelligent person.  In school if the teachers had a question then I had the answer.  I have a bachelors in engineering and a masters in business and yet I had to sit through these services and pretend like I knew what the message was about because I did not have the background necessary to connect the dots.  That frustration is why I have decided to create this blog.  I am going to take it upon myself to go back and learn the stories that I should have learned as a child.  I want to learn the stories that my children know and I do not.  I want to learn the stories so that I don’t have to feel frustrated the next time I hear a message about David, Elijah, Elisha, or any other important character in the bible.  I am inviting you to share in my learning adventure.