Service for God (part 2)

Nehemiah 2:9-20

Introduction

Last time we saw the first three aspects of work for God that are illustrated in the story of Nehemiah – (i) that he had a call and a burden for the work, (ii) that the initiative was God’s and Nehemiah had to wait for God’s timing, and (iii) that the work was begun and maintained by prayer. In the second half of chapter 2, three more aspects of work for God are evident.

With God’s call comes God’s supplies

God does not call us and then leave it up to us to get on with it, telling us to just do our best. No, He will supply us with what we need for the task, spiritually and physically. The king gave Nehemiah his favour, letters to governors of Trans Euphrates to ensure his safe passage, letters to Asaph to give him the timbers to make the beams for the gates of the citadel, for the walls and for his house. The king also gave him an escort of soldiers and cavalry to protect him (Nehemiah 2:7-9). He was also given the position of governor of Jerusalem (C.f. “the residence I will occupy” v8), as made plain later, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah (Nehemiah 5:14). Nehemiah’s requests were granted because the gracious hand of God was on him, and things came together.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33). Nehemiah had sought God first. God, His people and His cause were uppermost in his life. He was willing to give up a comfortable and prestigious position as the king’s cupbearer to do the hard, difficult and laborious work of rebuilding Jerusalem.

Yet the promises of God to His servants to supply their needs does not absolve them from making an effort themselves. It is so often through His servants that God makes the provision. Other servants are there to support and pray, to be at our side, to give ear to our problems, to be a shoulder to cry on, to give words of encouragement, to enter into our situation and empathize, to give substance and material possessions. Hence the need to pray and financially support our missionaries: It is through us that God seeks to supply their needs.

God promises grace for everything within His will for you, but not for things that are outside His will for you. “Let us keep God before our eyes, walk in his ways, please and glorify him in everything, great and small. Depend upon it, God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supplies” (Hudson Taylor).

Facing the facts of the situation

So Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem. After three days he went on an inspection of the situation. He set out at night with a few others. Only he had a horse. They started at the west, turned south, and then up the eastern side. He was not about to rush into action. He took time to find out all the facts. He thoroughly briefed himself, so that he could not be charged with being a newcomer, and not understanding the situation.

So often we do not know the facts of a situation, or we live in a fool’s paradise, or pretend things are better than they are. It can be too uncomfortable to face the facts. The world population, the tiny proportion being reached by the Gospel, the declining attendances in church, the church becoming marginalized and seen as irrelevant, the erosion of Christian values in our schools, public life, parliament, and many more things we could point to, make us feel very uncomfortable, and that the task of evangelism is just too great. The truth is that Christians have lost so much ground over the last 150 years. We are struggling in a sea of paganism for the tide of faith has ebbed. The flood of unbelief is here to stay.

Nothing will happen till we face these facts. Mission work in our own country will not get the support it needs till people accept the state of play, and are moved and challenged. We need to be praying for unbelievers, putting ourselves out to be in God’s hands to help the situation – not burying our heads in the sand. Nehemiah made it his business to find out what the true situation was, and to face the facts. Then he could act appropriately.

If we faced the facts of the state of our world today, it would change our values. Too often we major in minors. If we got our perspective right, if we saw trivialities for what they really are, our attitude would change, the focus of our prayer life would change, and our whole outlook would be different.

Expect opposition

Opposition to Nehemiah was soon apparent. Three men, Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem, were very disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites. This newcomer challenged their position and vested interests and plans, so they determined to stop him. They were filled with jealousy and resentment. It is a revelation of the human heart – the spite and malice and ill-will that can fill some people, so much so that they do not want to see good entering a situation.

The supreme example is what happened when the Lord Jesus was on earth. Peter summarized it in the house of Cornelius: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree (Acts 10:38,39). The good He went around doing did not earn Him universal approval. Rather, it led to accusations, lies, misrepresentations, opposition, ill treatment and death.We need to reach out, and go where people are, with the Gospel message. We must not change the message in order to make ourselves popular, but preach the message where people are. Immediately we will find huge obstacles. Some opposition comes from outsiders, as Nehemiah found. When he said, “Let us arise and build”, there were plenty to say, “Let us arise and stop him.”

But sadly opposition is not necessarily from outsiders, from the atheists and humanists, but sometimes from fellow Christians who object to our methods. Even D.L.Moody was challenged about his methods of evangelism, and he had the perfect answer: “I prefer the way I evangelise badly to the way you don’t evangelise at all.” Many Christian leaders have to face this challenge – do they deprive the world of the Gospel in order to keep the peace among the believers? Friendly fire can do a lot of damage. Sometimes missionaries are turned into casualties because of the frustrations, discouragement and spiritual intimidation they face from other Christians.

No matter how much we long to do good, to bring the Gospel to people, to aim at God’s glory, to be conscientious and courteous, to have no motive of doing anything for ourselves, but are simply concerned for God an others – still we shall be opposed, have our motives questioned, be criticized, mocked and ridiculed, become discouraged and marked men and women.

What should our response be? Firstly we need to be sure that there is nothing wrong with our motives and plans, nothing we can rightly be criticized for. Then, just go forward with the confidence of Nehemiah. The God of heaven will give us success. We are his servants and will start building (Nehemiah 2:20).

We are able to go forward into an unknown future if we are sure of God’s call, if we have obeyed His guidance and are aware of His gracious hand on us. We may not know success immediately, and we may have to go through dark tunnel before we see light at the end of it. However, if we remain faithful and confident in God and His purposes, we will see glorious sunshine at the end. The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me (Psalm 138:8).

“His love in time past forbids me to think

He’ll leave me at last in trouble to sink.

Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review

Confirms His good pleasure to help me quite through”

(John Newton)