(Nehemiah 1-6)
Nehemiah is a Jew who was serving as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes of Persia. Some men from Judah bring back a report from Jerusalem that the Jewish remnant living there is in distress and greatly disgraced because of the ruin of the city walls. Nehemiah responds by weeping before the Lord, mourning, fasting and praying. His heartfelt prayer shows us that Nehemiah was not only familiar with the Torah and the history of God’s people, but that he had a heart of humility and repentance, that he loved and feared the Lord, and desired to honor Him. Nehemiah is moved with compassion for his people and wants to help them. He asks for God to give him favor with the king, and he receives permission from Artaxerxes to return to Jerusalem and help to rebuild it.
Anticipating that there may be opposition from the governors of Trans-Euphrates, Nehemiah requests that the king send him with letters for the provincial governors so that they will not give him any trouble on his journey back to Judah. He also requests a letter that will allow him to obtain the timber needed to help with the building project. God grants Nehemiah favor with the king, and Artaxerxes sends him on his way, with not only the requested letters, but also with officers and cavalry to escort him safely back to Jerusalem.
When Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem, he starts by going out to survey the damage done to the walls, to get an idea of just how much work will be required. Then he talks with the Jewish priests, nobles and officials and rallies them to begin the work of rebuilding it. Considering that there were not a large number of people living in the city, and that they had faced so much desolation in the years previous, they probably had few laborers and very limited resources. Nehemiah divides the work up, delegating a section of the wall to each group of workers. We are told that the work was extensive and that they were pretty spread out along the wall. It surely wasn’t easy work, but they band together and each do their part.
They also experience opposition from the neighboring peoples. Leaders of the Amonites and the Horonites are not pleased that Nehemiah had come to promote the welfare of the Jews, and they begin ridiculing the rebuilding efforts before they had even started. “What do you think you’re doing?” they question, “are you trying to rebel against the king of Persia?” Nehemiah answers, “The God of heaven will give us success. We are His servants, but you have no business here.”
Later, when these same leaders hear that the Jews were in fact following through with the work on the city wall, they come back with more insults: “What are those weak Jews even doing? Do they really think they will restore their wall, and burn sacrifices to their God? They can’t make those heaps of rubble back into stone! What they’re building is so pathetic that even a fox climbing on it would make it crumble!”
I find it interesting that while we are given no record of Nehemiah replying to them, we are given his response in prayer. He pleads with God to turn their insults back on their own heads and to not cover up their sins. Which may not be the way Jesus teaches us to pray for our enemies, but I still think it’s honorable that Nehemiah turns to God in his pain rather than throwing harsh words back, or even defending himself.
And the people continue bravely on with the building project. It says that they work with all their heart, rebuilding until the wall reaches half its normal height. At which point their enemies become so furious that they begin plotting to fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But Nehemiah and the people pray to God, and post a guard day and night to meet the threat of oncoming attackers.
And yet, before long, the Jews start to experience problems from within. The people are growing weary and the strength of the laborers is giving out. They say, “There’s too much rubble, we can never rebuild the wall.” They also begin to live in fear of the attack of their enemies. “We heard that they’re planning to sneak up on us, kill us before we know what’s happening, and put an end to the work,” they worry.
So Nehemiah encourages the people, “Don’t be afraid of them!” he says, “Remember that the Lord is great and awesome, and fight for your families and for your homes.” He stations some of the people behind the lowest points in the wall with their swords, spears and bows. And we’re told that from then on, half the people work on the wall, while the other half stay stationed with their weapons. Moreover, even the builders keep their swords at their side while they work, and those carrying building supplies and materials do so with one hand, while holding a weapon in the other hand.
To make matters worse, we learn that the Jews are experiencing famine and that almost the entire population of the remnant are impoverished because of the corruption of leaders who were not following the guidelines God had established in His law to protect the welfare of the poor and ensure that they were treated fairly. Nehemiah rebukes the nobles and officials for treating their fellow Jews so harshly, and makes them return the property of their Jewish slaves and tells them to stop charging them interest and keeping them in servitude.
When the work on the walls is nearly finished, Nehemiah’s enemies again try to intimidate him by telling him that there’s a rumor going around the nations that the Jews are rebuilding the wall in order to revolt against the Persian empire and to try and set up their own king. “It might get back to the king if you don’t come meet with us,” they taunt him. But Nehemiah reminds them that he has work to do, and tells them that none of what they were saying is true, rather they are just making it up in their heads. Aware that they are just trying to frighten him, and make him feel like he is too weak for the work, he prays and asks the Lord to strengthen his hands.
And in spite of this and many other attempts of their enemies to intimidate them, thwart their efforts, and get them to quit, Nehemiah successfully leads the people in the completion of the wall of Jerusalem!! And in the later chapters of the book of Nehemiah, the Jews celebrate the dedication of the wall, and Nehemiah together with Ezra the priest, helps to lead a spiritual revival and a renewal of the Mosaic covenant.
I think there are several great lessons for us to learn from this story of Nehemiah.
First, I love Nehemiah’s example of compassion. When he hears that God’s people are in trouble and distress, it brings him to his knees with weeping and urgent prayer. And not only is he heartbroken to hear of their plight, but it motivates him to action and he goes to help them. Unfortunately, we don’t have to look very far in our world today to find people who are experiencing pain and distress. The world is full of broken and hurting people, and suffering is everywhere. And we are called to mourn with those who mourn. We need to have a heart of compassion that breaks for the things that break God’s heart. Then when we feel the pain of those who are hurting with them, it should lead us to do two things: to cry out to the Lord on their behalf, and to do whatever we are able to do to help them. Nehemiah could’ve easily said, “Wow, it’s so sad that the people of Judah are suffering. But I have an important job! I can’t just leave my responsibilities as cupbearer to the king.” When the brokenness in our world feels overwhelming, it can be tempting to distance ourselves from it and just shake our heads sadly, and then continue on with our own busy lives. But if we want to be people who love like Jesus does, we have to be willing to step out of our comfort zone and get our hands dirty. We have to be willing to be interrupted and to stop what we’re doing to extend compassion for the hurting and to help those in need.
I also love Nehemiah’s example of leadership. He was an intentional planner who thought things through before executing them. He took the time to investigate what needed to be done and what it would take before recruiting others to help him. And then when it came time to recruit others, Nehemiah was a leader who inspired others to take action, helped everyone to find the place where they could best serve, encouraged his people to find their strength in God, inspired them to keep going when they wanted to quit, rebuked them when they needed correction, and saw them through to the end of the project. He had vision, he had tenacity, he had godly character and he had steadfast faith in the Lord. Nehemiah was a leader who was wise, prudent, faithful, diligent, caring, discerning, and long-suffering. We may not all be in positions of leadership, but we all set examples to the people around us by the way that we live. And we should seek to be people who are intentional, who inspire others in the work of the Lord, who celebrate the strengths of others and give them ways to be a part of the team, who persevere when times are tough and encourage others to do the same, and who always look to and point others back to God and His greatness.
And finally, I love Nehemiah’s example of standing firm against the enemy’s schemes. Even before he made the trip back to Judah, he anticipated opposition and he was proactive in doing what he could to seek protection and help. Then he consistently encountered opposition in every stage of the rebuilding process. And when he did, he trusted in God to help him, praying to Him, and asking Him for renewed strength when he felt weak. He also took practical measures to be on guard, to protect the people under his care, and to help them be successful. We talk a lot about God giving us the victory, and He absolutely does. We can only experience victory through His overcoming power within us! And it was clearly God who helped Nehemiah to stay strong and to encourage the people to do the same. But Nehemiah was aware of the battle, and intentionally sought God’s help and armed himself to stand against the enemies’ schemes. Victory may belong to and come from the Lord, but it’s also not something that we are going to just stumble into haphazardly. We need to be vigilant to arm ourselves with God’s strength. As we go about the work of His kingdom, we should always have the Sword of the Spirit (which is the Word of God) in our hand (and heart!), in anticipation for whatever lies and discouragement that the enemy of our souls might use to attack us. If we are walking a path of obedience to God’s will, we can expect that Satan will be enraged, and he’s gonna stir up as much trouble for us as he can. And the more intentional we are to put on the armor of God and turn to Him in prayer, the more easily and readily we will find victory.
So my challenge to you is to be more intentional...with the way you respond to the hurting, with the way you lead and love by example, and with the way you stand firm in your faith. Let’s not be people who just sit back and let life happen. Let’s be people who go out of our way to help others, who encourage those who may want to give up, who challenge those who have strayed, who seek God humbly in prayer, who look to the Lord for strength and help, who point people back to Jesus, and who intentionally take hold of the victory we’ve been given in Christ. Let’s devote ourselves to seeking God and loving others with our whole hearts, no matter what opposition we might face, as we let Him be our strength.
Comentarios