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hand of my God

November 24, 2010 in nehemiah with 1 Comment

Nehemiah 2:1-8

[2:1] In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. [2] And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. [3] I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” [4] Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. [5] And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.” [6] And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. [7] And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, [8] and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me. (ESV)

Nehemiah experienced something I have a few times in my life.  Before this he merely had a conviction that God was calling him to go and help his fellow Israelites.  Now God acknowledges that He has in fact called Nehemiah, and Nehemiah sees that God’s good hand is truly upon him.

This is a watershed moment, as the king Artaxerxes, the one who had declared that the rebuilding of Jerusalem stop, is now the one who allows Nehemiah to go rebuild the wall.  Not only that, but Artaxerxes also writes letters to allow him to pass through and helps provide supplies for the work!

What we forget is that sometimes we have to step into a dangerous situation to fulfill God’s call.

Nehemiah had no guarantee that Artaxerxes would allow him to leave, nor did he have any guarantee that Artaxerxes would not react violently.  He was, in effect, challenging the previous ruling that rebuilding stop, and thus was challenging the king’s own decision.

Kings don’t usually take well to those who question them, do they?

But Nehemiah knew WHO was calling him… and who was his king.

When you are following God’s call, he will open doors, and you will know that “the good hand of your God” is upon you.  Know, however, that God may place you in a dangerous situation, seemingly impossible, so that we can know that it is only by him that we will succeed.

How have you felt the hand of God today?

Have you been dangerous?

In Christ,

Isaiah

now I was …

November 23, 2010 in nehemiah with 0 Comments

Nehemiah 1:11

[11] O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”
Now I was cupbearer to the king. (ESV)
Nehemiah knew that God was calling him.  He saw a need and sought to fill it, but knew that he could only do it if God was with him.  So, as should be done, he calls out to God for help, praying that God gives him success in speaking to the king.

What are you praying that God will give you success in?

Who are you praying that God will allow you to speak to?

“Now I was cupbearer to the king.”

Nehemiah had a great job.  He had personal, material success, safety and everything a man could ever want.  But he realized that God was calling him to something else, to danger, toil, hard work and persecution.  Nehemiah was praying that God would give him success when talking to the king, so that he could leave his life of luxury to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

Sometimes we’re called to make tough decisions, to leave luxury for toil.  If God calls you, though, His plan is much greater than your own.

So, what is God calling you to do today?

Who do you need to speak to, today?

in Christ,

Isaiah

own it

November 22, 2010 in nehemiah with 0 Comments

Nehemiah 1:4-7

[4] As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. [5] And I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, [6] let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. [7] We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. (ESV)

Bad news.  That’s what Nehemiah had heard just before he says this prayer (which continues on and the end of which we’ll talk about tomorrow.)  The remnant of the people of Israel has been ashamed, and the wall of Jerusalem has been broken down and its gates have been destroyed by fire.

We hear bad news all of the time.  Turn on the radio, tv or even within news on the internet or Facebook, and we see bad news.  TSA patdowns, economic struggles, scapegoats and those who’ve been victimized.

But rarely do we own the bad news, and our own part in it.

Nehemiah, in verse 6, says, “Even I and my father’s house has sinned.”

Nehemiah knows that he and his father’s house have contributed to the problems of whole of Israel.

no man is an island.

What we do affects those around us, spritually, mentally, physically.

Nehemiah knew this, and knew that he, also, was a cause of the problem.  Israel’s idolatry was a nation-wide problem, and Nehemiah claimed his part, his idolatry.

What about you?

Do you struggle with idolatry?

A good definition of an idol would be, “anything that comes between you and God,” right?

Do you place time with God as a priority in your life?

Do you seek to put other people’s needs ahead of your own?

why not?

Are you selfish or self-less?

Are you the cause of bad news in other people’s lives, or an encouragement to them?

Before you can move on and be different, you have to own that you are part of the problem.

This post could be a huge downer, maybe even bad news, if it wasn’t for the truth of verse 5:

O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

Nehemiah knew that before he could do anything, he had to:

1) Praise God

2) Confess (own) his own part in the problem.

What do you need to confess, or own, today?

in Christ,

Isaiah

Isaiah-sized dreams

November 18, 2010 in nehemiah with 2 Comments

Nehemiah 6:15-16

[15] So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. [16] And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. (ESV)

Nehemiah and the Israelites finished the wall around Jerusalem in 52 days.  I had trouble getting a fence up around my own backyard in 2.

Sure there were areas where the wall was still up and standing, but the people were under constant threat of attack from their enemies.  They literally worked with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other.  I merely had the threat of soaking my t-shirt in my own sweat.

This made me wonder:

Would people watching me, and my life, be able to perceive that what I’ve done can only have been done with the help of the Lord?

Can what I’m doing show that God is in it?

Are my dreams so small that they can appear to have been finished by people? or Are my dreams so big that it becomes obvious to everyone who sees it, that God must have been with the project?

Are you dreaming big enough?

Mark Batterson talks about having God-sized ideas, rather than man-sized…

Why do I keep having Isaiah-sized ideas? Why do I settle for such wimpy goals?

What about you?  Are you settling for your own ____-sized ideas?

in Christ,

Isaiah

a man such as I

November 17, 2010 in nehemiah with 4 Comments

Nehemiah 6:10-13
[10] Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.” [11] But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.” [12] And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. [13] For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. (ESV)

Nehemaiah knew who he was, but he also knew WHO had called him.  Just before these verses, he prays, saying, “But now, O God, strengthen my hands.”  He knew that God was in control, and that God would not tell him to run away and hide.

“A man such as I” would never run, for that would be cowardly, fearful and faithless.  He even states in verse 12, that God had not sent Shemaiah, and understood that these false prophet’s words were sent to make him afraid.  They wanted the building of the walls to stop, for Nehemiah to run, appear weak.

Nehemiah knew that he was God’s, and he knew that God would not ask him to run and hide.

Sometimes we have our own Shemaiah, our own false prophets who say, “You cannot do this, let us come together and hide.”  or “You should just quit, its not working.” or “Are you kidding?  You can’t do that, you’re just ____.”

And we listen.

We hear other people’s criticism, complaints and doubts, and come to believe them.  How could I do this?  I’m just a sinner, I’m not as holy as that other guy.  It really isn’t working, so I should just quit.  So we do.

Why? Because we listen more to those around us than the one who created us.  God is saying, “You can do this!”  ”I told you to do this!”  ”I made you for this purpose!”  ”You are mine!”

But we don’t listen, because we forget that we are God’s, that we are His… and listen to those around us.

Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes friends have godly advice, and sometimes we need to hear we have to give up on something… especially when its our dream, and not God’s.  But I think we quit too easily, we’re too eager to listen to the doubters, the complainers and the people who want you to stop because they’re not living their dream, and don’t want you to either.

Let go of those comments, let go of those criticisms and remember WHOSE you are.  Remember WHO has called you.

in Christ,

Isaiah

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