{"id":2749,"date":"2019-02-23T19:38:48","date_gmt":"2019-02-24T03:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=2749"},"modified":"2019-02-23T19:39:40","modified_gmt":"2019-02-24T03:39:40","slug":"nehemiah-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hobart-community-church.org\/?p=2749","title":{"rendered":"Nehemiah 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nehemiah Two<\/strong><\/p>\n

And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 So the king said to me, \u201cWhy is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.\u201d Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, \u201cLet the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers\u2019 tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?\u201d 4 Then the king said to me, \u201cWhat would you request?\u201d So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 I said to the king, \u201cIf it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers\u2019 tombs, that I may rebuild it.\u201d 6 Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, \u201cHow long will your journey be, and when will you return?\u201d So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time. 7 And I said to the king, \u201cIf it please the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king\u2019s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.\u201d And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

9 Then I came to the governors of the provinces beyond the River and gave them the king\u2019s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. 10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem\u2019s Walls<\/p>\n

11 So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12 And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding. 13 So I went out at night by the Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon\u2019s Well and on to the Refuse Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were consumed by fire. 14 Then I passed on to the Fountain Gate and the King\u2019s Pool, but there was no place for my mount to pass. 15 So I went up at night by the ravine and inspected the wall. Then I entered the Valley Gate again and returned. 16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials or the rest who did the work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

17 Then I said to them, \u201cYou see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach.\u201d 18 I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king\u2019s words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, \u201cLet us arise and build.\u201d So they put their hands to the good work. 19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard it, they mocked us and despised us and said, \u201cWhat is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?\u201d 20 So I answered them and said to them, \u201cThe God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Setting<\/u>:
\nRemember that we are reading Nehemiah\u2019s journal, so this all started in Dec, now we are in the month of Nisan, which is more like March \/ April on the Jewish calendar.\u00a0 So we are looking at four months of patience while he waits on God in prayer.\u00a0 This chapter begins on a normal working day for Nehemiah.\u00a0 His job is to be the wine tester for the King.\u00a0 He gets the answer to his prayers not while he\u2019s on his knees but while he\u2019s at his work.\u00a0 If that doesn\u2019t make sense to you, well, read the passage again. \u00a0We like to believe that really spiritual people get a revelation from God while they are on their knees, but that was rare even in the Bible.<\/p>\n

The Opportunity<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Nehemiah is at work, and the King looks over at him.\u00a0 Remember what he does for a living.\u00a0 The king is pretty concerned with the good health of Nehemiah.\u00a0 Nehemiah is the canary in the mineshaft as far as the condition of the wine the King is about to drink.\u00a0 So the King inquires when he sees something is not quite right with his right hand man.\u00a0 So the king said to me, \u201cWhy is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Danger<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Do you think the King might be suspicious of a plot?\u00a0 Certainly Nehemiah didn\u2019t want the King to pursue that thought, so his response is appropriate.\u00a0 \u201cLet the king live forever.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 Another way of saying, it\u2019s not the wine, and on the heels of that, he follows up quickly with – Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers\u2019 tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 One thing that is not possible is to hide your countenance from someone who knows you.\u00a0 The surprise at the King\u2019s response surely caught Nehemiah off balance.\u00a0 This is one of the lessons from prayer that I think is so important to know \u2013 God doesn\u2019t usually answer your prayer requests according to your solution.\u00a0 Oswald Chambers puts it like this:\u00a0 \u201cNever make the blunder of trying to forecast the way God is going to answer your prayer.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

His Approach to Opportunity<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

The King makes the offer – \u201cWhat would you request?\u201d <\/strong>This seems to come from nowhere but never forget that God has often used people who have no concern for Him to accomplish His purposes.\u00a0 So Nehemiah shoots off a very quick prayer.\u00a0\u00a0 He could have just thought to himself, this is what I want, access to the King\u2019s riches, but instead Nehemiah shows his total reliance on the Lord and prays a quick prayer.\u00a0 Nothing should ever look so good that you don\u2019t need to pray about it before taking that next step.\u00a0 We are quick to pray for when things go sour, but we need to teach ourselves to be just as quick to pray when things are looking really positive, that we don\u2019t take missteps even while it appears to so obvious that it is God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n

His Appeal to the King<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Nehemiah doesn\u2019t get into the details, and maybe that is because of his prayers, God gave him the wisdom to skip over that part.\u00a0 He asks humbly and very straightforwardly for the longing of his heart \u2013 but notice first his humility.\u00a0 If <\/strong>, then the request:\u00a0 send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers\u2019 tombs, that I may rebuild it.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 Interesting that Nehemiah is sure that God is control but he asks the King to send him to Judah.\u00a0 Nehemiah sees clearly that the hand of God works through the authority of the King.\u00a0 But there appears to be another person in the room when Nehemiah makes his request.\u00a0 Notice that what happens next? Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, \u201cHow long will your journey be, and when will you return?\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 Remember the epoch is such that it is very likely that this is the Queen Mother, and the King\u2019s stepmother could<\/u> have been Esther. Some sources say she was his stepson, others, his grandson.\u00a0 But it is amazing that this small note is inserted. The books of Esther, Ezra and Nehemiah were considered a collection of this time frame in Israel\u2019s history.\u00a0 Upon the King\u2019s questioning, Nehemiah provides more details.\u00a0\u00a0 And then gives the plan that God has given to him which involve two things:
\n1) A signed Note from the King that gives him the authority<\/u> to act.
\n2) The means to do something \u2013 money<\/u>. (In this case, supplies)
\nI think we feel close to the same way when we hear that King County wants to give us money to buy a new, top of the line freezer for the Monday night dinner.\u00a0 Seems almost unreal, especially with our King County. Because we know the animosity of this King County government against anything dealing with the work of the churches.\u00a0 However it is worth noting that this is the same King who stopped the work of Ezra while he was rebuilding the temple.<\/p>\n

Nehemiah\u2019s Response to the King\u2019s offer<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

I want you to see clearly who Nehemiah credits the offer to and his response.\u00a0 And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me<\/strong>.\u00a0 Who did the praying?\u00a0 Who did the asking?\u00a0 Who deserves the credit?\u00a0 God does.\u00a0 It is not the force of your prayers but the power of the One to Whom you pray that brings the change you pray for.<\/p>\n

Getting to the Work<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Gather the Scope<\/u> – First, Nehemiah tries to gather the scope<\/u> of the project.\u00a0 This is very much a Project Manager handbook on how to accomplish huge things in a short amount of time.\u00a0 Before beginning anything, you need to know present state and future state, or where you are going.\u00a0 There are few things as frustrating in life as trying to hit an undefined target.\u00a0\u00a0 Verses 13-16 tells about the moonlight ride of Nehemiah.\u00a0 While others sleep, he is trying to understand where things are now and what will we do to get them to the right place?\u00a0 The rest of town sleeps while a few key leaders overlook the city.\u00a0 Leaders and Parents often lose sleep over their charges.<\/p>\n

Find Your Workforce<\/u> \u2013 This is a speech from Nehemiah that will bring the people of Jerusalem together under the same banner called \u201cPurpose\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 He begins with
\n1) Honesty – You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. <\/strong>\u00a0Things are not good around here.\u00a0 This is obvious but needs to be stated.\u00a0 In the world of Project Management, this is identifying the present state.
\n2) Identification<\/u> \u2013 Nehemiah brings in himself into the problem by his use of the pronoun \u201cWe\u201d and \u201cUs\u201d.
\n3) Proposal<\/u> \u2013 Let\u2019s build a wall because it will glorify God – let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 In other words, we are a laughing stock and we represent God.\u00a0 By the way, that was the same motivation about the painting of the church, the getting the new sign.\u00a0 There are a lot of nicer, prettier buildings in the area, but we wanted the church to be glorifying to God.\u00a0 We were also that way about the putting in of the elevator.\u00a0 At the time, no one saw how it was possible.\u00a0 $20,000 dollars was not kept on our books back then.\u00a0 But in an act of kindness towards those who could not climb the stairs but still deserved the right to come to the worship service, we had this elevator installed.
\n4) Imparting Hope<\/u> \u2013 Nehemiah fills in some of the gaps about the story of God\u2019s leading him and with that, gives the Israelites an idea of what God has already done.\u00a0 They get to hear the rest of the story.\u00a0 What happens when he does this is the people begin to realize that there is more at stake than they thought and they know that God is in this project, which gives them great hope for the completion.\u00a0 I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king\u2019s words which he had spoken to me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Opposition<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

When God begins a work, be assured that there will be opposition to God\u2019s work.\u00a0 It is a packaged program.\u00a0 Some things you wonder how anyone could find a problem with, but things of good values seem to enrage them.\u00a0 I heard about a couple last week that was refused the permission to foster children because they attended church.\u00a0 Like church would corrupt the child?\u00a0 This opposition takes a few different forms but they are all intended to be in opposition to God\u2019s cause.\u00a0 You might come across some other form of opposition, but it might also look like this.\u00a0 They mocked (vs 19a) and the attempted to tried to intimidate (vs 19b-20) \u2013 you\u2019re in big trouble now buddy.<\/p>\n

Nehemiah was prepared to respond to this by letting them know that God is in this work. Verse 20 is his response.<\/p>\n

Davey tells this story about intimidation:\u00a0 A quote by Jack Handey, from his book entitled, Fuzzy Memories<\/u><\/strong>, was quoted in, Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching. He writes: There used to be this bully who would demand my lunch money every day at school. Since I was smaller than he was, I would give it to him. Then I decided to fight back. I started taking karate lessons. But then the karate instructor told me I owed him five dollars a lesson. So I just went back to paying the bully. Too many people feel it is easier just to pay the bully than it is to learn how to defeat him.<\/em><\/p>\n

God never assigns you a task and then abandons you to get it done alone.\u00a0 God will empower His children to accomplish His tasks.\u00a0 But we forget that.<\/p>\n

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  1. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Quotes on Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Pulled these from (https:\/\/www.preceptaustin.org\/prayer_quotes_devotionals_illustrations<\/a>).\u00a0 There are more.<\/p>\n