Nehemiah

NEHEMIAH:

            Nehemiah’s story may not be one of the most familiar in the Bible, yet it is great story nonetheless. It is about a man who heartily loved his god and his country, who courageously spoke his mind, who fearlessly stood against opposition and who carried out a most incredible task. He did it without fanfare, all for the purpose of sustaining his beloved nation of Israel and especially the city of Jerusalem. His entire life impresses every reader. However, I wish to mention three incidents in his life through which we learn great lessons.

Lesson No.1 

            Nehemiah, like Ezra, was a child of captivity. He was serving as a cup-bearer in the palace of Babylonian King Artaxerxes. During the period, some people from his home country, Judah, visited him in the month of KISLEV in the twentieth year. (see Nehemiah 1/1-2). Kislev means the month of November in the modern calendar. I wish to draw your specific attention to the month of kislev mentioned here. They said about the horrible living conditions of those who survived the exile and those who were back in the province. They also said that the wall of Jerusalem had been broken at several places and its gates burnt down. This news disturbed the spirit of Nehemiah terribly. He began to pray immediately. He wanted to do something for his people. He wanted to rebuild the wall. He decided to meet the king in the month of NISAN, i.e., April. What does it mean? He was planning in his heart to perform a great job for his nation and his people. It was an uphill task. He required clearance and support from the king. Before asking the king to grant permission etc., he prayed over this for a period of 5 months (Nov – April). He knew that the prayer was the real force that would change situations in his favour. Even while walking in the corridors of the palace, he was praying in his heart. (Neh. 1/11). He had also been praying while talking to the king so that the king was convinced on the plea of Nehemia (Neh. 2/4). Prayers worked wonders. The king readily permitted Nehemiah to proceed to Jerusalem and carryout the repairs. Whenever we start a new project / work like this, we plan lot of things. We hold several round of discussions. We workout the budget. We raise funds. We enlist supporters / sponsors. But we pray very little. But Nehemiah prayed for 5 months. The prayers brought him victory. If we pray less, we have to work more. If we pray more, we have to work less. What do you prefer?

Lesson No.2

            Nehemia and his followers reached Jerusalem and started the work. Now the enemies of Jews who did not like the citadel to come up, started giving trouble. Sanballat and Geshem, some prominent persons in the opposite group sent messages to Nehemiah to come to one of the villages for a discussion over the “Wall” issue. (Neh 6/2). That apart, on several occasions ,the enemies ridiculed their project (Neh.4/3), discouraged their efforts, (Neh. 4/5), raised legal issues concerning the construction (Neh. 4/8), sent letters threatening the jews (Neh.6/19) and set up false prophets to utter wrong prophecies (Neh. 6/12) against the project itself. Their ultimate aim was to divert and distract the attention of Nehemiah and his Team so that the work did not proceed. But Nehemiah rejected their remarks by saying emphatically, “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” (Neh. 6/3). Nehemiah never allowed the project to suffer from these irritating moves of the enemies.  Satan’s very big weapon today is to divert, distract and disturb us from our march towards God over trivial and irrelevant things. Nehemiah teaches us to reject outrightly those forces that tend to divert our attention towards God and his ministries. Be careful that even a trivial / insignificant matter robs our attention and derails our course.

Lesson No.3

            Nehemiah was acting as a governor for over a period of 12 years in Judha. But “he did not claim any allowance”, which he was normally entitled to (Neh. 5/14). Even if he would have accepted the government’s pay and allowances, no one could have found fault with him. He did not compel the people living in the province to pay him. The previous governors and their servants were collecting money from the people (Neh. 5/15). But he spent his personal funds for all these 12 years. This shows he was dependent on God for everything and not the government, or the people. He was a model government / public authority. The present authorities all over the world need to learn from Nehemiah, the way he served the people.

            Lord was pleased with the excellent behaviour of Nehemiah. He blessed his efforts. He completed the construction of the wall of Jerusalem within just 52 days, a record time. Even a house construction takes several months in modern times. When our ways are right with God, he makes our tasks easy. The Lord fights for us. Let us try to emulate Nehemiah’s model and achieve great things for God.

(JOSEPH STEPHEN)

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