September 20 / Nehemiah 1-4

Nehemiah 1-4

Today we meet Nehemiah, the cupbearer to Artaxerxes, the king of Persia. It’s now 445/444 BC, 13 years since Ezra’s journey to Jerusalem and nearly a century since the return of the first exiles under Cyrus. While living in the Persian capital of Susa, Nehemiah hears of the poor condition of Jerusalem, particularly that its wall is still in ruins, leaving the city defenseless. Nehemiah immediately turns to the LORD in humility and contrition, confessing Israel’s sin and seeking the LORD’s renewed favor upon His people. He also asks that the LORD would grant Nehemiah favor in the eyes of the king.

When Nehemiah first starts to pray, I rather doubt that he has any notion of how the LORD would use him to fulfil his own prayer. I doubt that he anticipates leaving his position in the palace as cupbearer to the king — not at first, at least. But as he continues to pray, he eventually sees that he could have a role and he asks the king for leave to go to Jerusalem to build its walls. The king grants his request, and Nehemiah’s life is changed forever.

Nehemiah gives us a tremendous example of the fusion of faith and action, of prayer and practice, of the spiritual and the physical working together. Nehemiah prays for the well-being of Jerusalem and then steps up to help rebuild its wall. He relies on the LORD’s blessing and also prudently plans and acts:

• He gets official approval from the king for travel and for supplies (Neh. 2:7-9)
• Upon arrival in Jerusalem he assesses the current situation (Neh. 2:11-16)
• He motivates the city’s leadership for the project (Neh. 2:17-18)
• He organizes the workforce (Neh. 3)
• In the face of opposition, he arms the workers (Neh. 4)

These are all very practical actions that go hand-in-hand with faith and reliance on God.

And so it is (or should be) with us. We must recognize that we cannot solve the world’s problems on our own, that we are utterly dependent on God and without Him we can do nothing. But we must also recognize that when God calls us to action, we are not to sit on our hands. Rely on God — and work accordingly.