NEHEMIAH 1:1-11
INTRODUCTION
François
Fénelon, a seventeenth century Roman Catholic Frenchman said this about prayer:
Tell God all that is in your heart, as
one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend. Tell
Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may
sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may purify them; tell Him your
dislikes, that He may help you to conquer them; talk to Him of your
temptations, that He may shield you from them; show Him the wounds of your
heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved
taste for evil, your instability. Tell Him how self-love makes you unjust to
others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to
yourself and others.
If you thus pour all your weaknesses,
needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust
the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from
each other never want for subject of conversation. They do not weigh their
words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something
to say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration they
say just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar,
unreserved intercourse with God.
I. THE PLIGHT OF THE NATION VV. 1-3
In our terms the date of
this conversation, which set in motion the great events in the leadership of
Nehemiah, was between mid November and mid-December, 446BC. Nehemiah approached
the king as recorded in chapter 2 in the following March/April, 445. Both are
reckoned here to fall within the twentieth year of the rule of king Artaxerxes,
who reigned from 464 to 423BC.
Like
most people in leadership position, Nehemiah continually faced impossible
circumstances. You will remember that he was eight hundred miles from the
concern of his heart: his people who lived in the midst of the destruction in
Jerusalem. To live fifteen or twenty miles from where you work is one thing,
but Nehemiah was faced with a sixteen-hundred-mile round trip!
To
complicate matters, Nehemiah answered to an unbeliever—King Artaxerxes. Before
Nehemiah could leave his post to go to Jerusalem to build the walls that lay in
ruin, something had to be done in the heart of Artaxerxes. Nehemiah should be
able to persuade him. The King’s heart must be changed but who and what could
change his heart? When Nehemiah received the distressing news about the broken
walls of Jerusalem and the vulnerability of his people, he did not rush into
the king’s oval office and give him the mandate, “Three years’ leave of absence
or I quit!” Instead, he went before God in prayer and trusted Him to open the
doors and change the heart of his boss.
Nehemiah
describes himself simply as the son of Hacaliah, a man whose name does not
appear elsewhere in the pages of Scriptures. Nehemiah gave his occupation in
verse 11 of the opening chapter: “I was the cupbearer to the king.” That
is all that we know about Nehemiah’s earthly credentials. He was the cupbearer
to the king, and he was the son of Hacaliah. The position of a cupbearer was an
important one in those days. A king was discrete, used wisdom and discernment
in appointing a cupbearer. The cupbearer was the food and wine taster. He had
to taste the food and the wine before the king ate or drank. He was the screen
between the public and the king. It was a position of intimacy and trust.
Nehemiah
lived in Susa, the capital city of the Medo-Persian Empire—the Washington,
D.C., of the day. The Jews recognized Susa as the capital city of the then
known world. It was a center of activity, the place of ultimate
decision-making; often late-breaking news of the empire came to King
Artaxerxes’s attention through the mouth of the cupbearer. Nehemiah was the
king’s right hand man.
In
verse 2, Hanani, one of Nehemiah’s brothers and some men from Judah came. Note
the rest of the verse: “and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped
and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem.” It has been said that
a true Jew never completely forgets Jerusalem. This was certainly true of
Nehemiah. He wanted to know about the people; he wanted to know the condition
of the beloved city. Nehemiah puts many of us to shame. How many of us are
concerned about our respective countries in Africa? How many of us care for our
people back home? Some of you do not remit your poor parents and siblings back
home. Some of you are living the American dream while your people back home are
living in misery and poverty. Some of you do not even call home once a while to
find out how your parents are doing. Nehemiah was living in a city of
prosperity. Nevertheless, he did not forget his heritage. He did not forget
where he came from. Some of you in time of affluence and opportunity soon
forget the backdrop from which the Lord has brought you.
The
people returning from Judah told Nehemiah: “The remnant there in the
province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the
wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.” The
Hebrew word translated great distress means “misery and calamity.” This
was bad news and shattering blow to Nehemiah. It was a shattering blow because
the remnant that was trying to put the piece back together was open to hostile
neighboring attacks and foreign invasion. The city wall and its gates were
destroyed; therefore, there was no protection for residents of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem was not only disarmed; it was also on its own. The men added, they
were under reproach. The Hebrew word means, “sharp, cutting,
penetrating, or piercing.” The idea is one of withstanding the worst of cutting
words. The Jews were being criticized and slandered by people who were enemies
of the faith. When Nehemiah heard the news, he was brokenhearted.
II. THE PRAYER OF NEHEMIAH VV. 4-11
Verses
4 through 11 contain the reaction of Nehemiah, and it is here that we begin to
see his gift of leadership unfold. By nature, Nehemiah had a bent for swift and
decisive action. Therefore, his behavior here is quite remarkable because he
did not rush to action. Another remarkable thing about Nehemiah is that he was
in a high-ranking position in the world, and yet he had a heart that was tender
toward God. It is always a tough and rare combination to find a person who
holds a high position in the sight of the world, who has a heart for God.
Perhaps some of you are in a position of great importance. It is a vulnerable
place to live. Each promotion further endangers your spiritual life; your
position threatens your walk with God. It does not have to cripple your walk,
but it can be, and often it is damaging. All through Scripture there are
accounts of people who were promoted from one level to the next and suffered
from “promotion erosion”—they slowly became lost in pride. Some of you earn
substantial income in the corporate world and because of that pride can set in,
and by the time you come back to yourself the bottom has fallen out.
Touched
by the need of his people, Nehemiah “sat down and wept and mourned for days;
and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven” (v. 4). Four important
things we need to learn from Nehemiah’s experience that should mark the life of
a competent spiritual leader.
1. A
Leader Has a Clear Recognition of the Needs.
The
beginning of verse 4 reads: “When I heard these words.” Nehemiah was not
preoccupied; he did not live in a dream world, opposed to reality. He asked,
“What is the condition?” They replied, “It is a miserable situation.” He heard
what they said. He recognized there was a great need to be met back home in
Israel. Are you concerned about the pressing needs of your people, your
country? We are to have a clear recognition of the needs but we must also be
cautious. A person can be so problem-oriented that problems are all he/she can
think about—and that is not good either. You have to maintain a balance. Are
you aware of needs? How about needs in your own family?
2. A
Leader Is Personally Concerned with the Need.
Nehemiah
moved a step beyond recognition of the problem. He not only heard these
matters, but he also sat down and identified with them.
Alan
Redpath once wrote:
Let us learn this lesson from Nehemiah:
you never lighten the load unless first you have felt the pressure in your own
soul. You are never used of God to bring blessing until God has opened your
eyes and made you see things as they are.
There
is no better preparation for Christian service than that. Nehemiah was called
to build the wall, but first he wept over the ruins. Men are
desensitized from shedding tears today. People say, “Men do not cry.” Jesus was
man’s man and yet He wept at the tomb of Lazarus; He wept over the city of
Jerusalem. The apostle Paul shed tears when he ministered to the Ephesians
(Acts 20:19). In his weeping, Nehemiah was saying, “The walls are down. Oh,
God! How can these walls be down and these people continue in safety?” Nehemiah
identified himself with the plight of his people. You all know the story of Eli
who refused to recognize a specific family need. The story is recorded in 1
Samuel 3. God could not speak to Eli about the way his children were behaving,
so he spoke to the boy Samuel and this is what God said: And the Lord said
to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of
everyone who hears it will tingle. In that day I will carry out against Eli all
that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end” (1 Sam.
3:11-12). Why was God going to do this. Find God’s answer in verse 13.
Fathers,
God has appointed us to one of the most difficult leadership positions in the
entire world: to lead our home. We are to motivate, set pace, give guidance and
encouragement, and handle discipline. Eli knew all these but he would not
rebuke his sons when they disobeyed God. Maybe he thought that the leaders in
the temple would straighten out the kids. It is tragic how many people leave
the job of child rearing to the church, and therefore the church lives under
the constant indictment, “The worst kids in the world are church kids.” The
church gets the blame. However, it is not a church problem; it is a home
problem. The church can seldom resurrect what the home has put to death.
See
that in Nehemiah 1:4, Nehemiah was “fasting and praying.” What does it mean to
fast? It means to miss a meal for one purpose: focusing on your walk with God.
Some people fast one day a week. Some people fast a day a month. Some never
fast. Fasting is mentioned frequently in Scripture. When your motive is right
fasting can reap spiritual dividends that nothing else can. Give a suggestion
on fasting and public appearance. Nehemiah was a man of prayer. The primary
foundation for spiritual leadership is prayer.
3. A
Serious Leader Goes First to God with the Problem.
In
verse 5, Nehemiah prayed. What is your first response when a need comes to your
attention? Nehemiah took his need to God in prayer. Whatever problem you are
going through would not be solved until you take it to God in prayer. Nehemiah
began his prayer with praise as Jesus has taught us in the Model prayer
(v. 5). Nehemiah’s prayer immediately mounts to heaven, where the perspective
will be right, and it reflects on the character of God—first of all for His
majesty which puts man, whether friend or foe, in his place. Nehemiah knew that
he was not coming to just another man, but rather to the God of heaven.
Nehemiah worked for the king. Was the king great and mighty on earth? He was
mightiest then! But compared to God, King Artaxerxes was nothing. Therefore, it
stands to reason that when you go to God in prayer put things into proper
perspective. Whatever problem or burden you are bearing, take them to the
throne of God. Time does not permit me to deal exhaustively with this passage.
Therefore, I will highlight the gist of Nehemiah’s prayer. Nehemiah begins with
praise and continues with confession, he claims God’s promise,
and he concludes with his petition before God.
4. A
Leader Is Available to Meet the Need Himself.
“Make
me successful. Grant me compassion in his eyes.” Nehemiah recognized the need
clearly. He got involved in it. He took it to God. Now he was available to meet
the need, if that was what God desired. Prayer that gets the job done include
the conviction, “I am available, Lord—ready and willing.”
Benefits
of Prayer
Prayer
makes me wait. I cannot pray and work at the same time. I have to wait to
act until I finish praying. Prayer forces me to leave the situation with God;
it makes me wait.
Prayer
clears my vision. When you first face a situation, is it foggy? Prayer will
cut through the fog. Your vision will clear so you can see through God’s eyes.
Prayer
quiets the heart. I cannot worry and pray at the same time. I am doing one
or the other. Prayer makes me quiet. It replaces anxiety with a quiet spirit.
Kneels do not knock when we kneel with them.
Prayer
activates faith. After praying, I am more prone to trust God.
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