What To Do When You Can’t See Footprints in the Sand
Introduction:
There are two types of people in the world. Those who see everything as clear cut, black and white, right and wrong and those who see in grey. And it can be hilarious to watch those two people in a conversation together. But the simple reality is even the most black and white person sees some issues as grey, and even the most grey person sees some issues as black and white.
Now let me ask, is the Bible a black and white or grey book? Overall, we can say it’s a pretty black and white, clear cut book. It’s hard to play loose with thou shalt and thou shalt not, right? So, the principles of the Bible are clear, but the world we live in, not so much. For example, is it ok for a Christian to use CBD for medicinal purposes? Can Christians read or watch Harry Potter? Is it ok for Christians to drink just a little bit of alcohol without getting drunk? Some of us are getting pretty uncomfortable right now. Because here’s what just happened. Some of you immediately thought of a Bible verse that answers each of those questions. And some of you went, “Wait a second. There are some Christians who don’t think that’s ok to do?” Grey areas. Do we believe that the Bible is clear in Its message? Yes or no? Yes, absolutely. Then how can good, Godly Christians end up on two totally different sides of an issue, even in the same church? And how do you know which one is right? You guys know what I’m talking about? Can you sympathize with the questions? Yeah, these are the real, down to earth, nitty gritty sort of questions you face everyday when you leave church and go out into the rest of the world.
What if I told you there is a book in the Bible about that sympathizes with your dilemma? What would you think it would be? Maybe Romans or Corinthians, something Paul wrote because he’s super deep with doctrinal stuff right? Maybe Proverbs because of the life principles in it. What if I told you the book was Nehemiah? Surprised? Yeah I was too when I started studying it out. But here’s the deal, Nehemiah is really a book about how to live a black and white gospel in a grey world. And we’re going to be taking apart Nehemiah in the next ten weeks here, and we’re going to learn some really down to earth practical ways this 2,400 year old book speaks into our lives today. You guys ready for that? I’m excited. Let’s look at chapter 1.
Nehemiah 1:1 KJV 1900
1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,
Ok, let’s break this down before we get any further. Who is Nehemiah? I know many of you know this story already, but let’s pretend like you don’t. You’re coming to it for the first time. Who is Nehemiah? Look through chapter 1. We know he’s the son of some guy named Hachaliah, but that doesn’t really tell us much. We know he’s living in a place called Shushan in the 20th year in the month Chisleu. And then in verse 2, some other guy named Hanani who is somehow related to him comes and tells him that Jerusalem is in bad shape. You guys confused yet? It’s ok.
There are actually some key clues to who Nehemiah is from these verses, but we need to play detective. You ready for that? Let’s put the detective hat on. We can assume from his questions about the Jews and then his response to those questions that he himself is Jewish. That makes sense. But is he living in Israel? No. Why not? Remember, you’ve never read this book before. Why is he not living in Israel? Well duh, it’s Chisleu in the 20th year. Isn’t that helpful? Actually it is, but right now you should have two questions. What in the world is Chisleu, and the 20th year of what?
Chisleu, also sometimes called Kislev, is the ninth month of the Jewish calendar. Jewish months tend to fall halfway between two of our months, and Chisleu is our November-December. It’s wintertime.
Now, 20th year of what? It doesn’t say. This is where the story of Nehemiah just explodes with color. It’s so awesome. You ready for this? We’re going to take a little trip around Nehemiah’s timeline. What book comes before Nehemiah in your Bible? Ezra. Does anyone have a note at the start of either of these books that tells you how they relate? Ezra and Nehemiah were once one book. We separate them in our English Bibles because they tell the story of two different men, but really they are one story of the restoration and re-creation of a new Israel after the Babylonian exile.
So, Nehemiah 1:1 is not actually the start of the story. Look back at Ezra chapter 1.
Ezra 1:1 KJV 1900
1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
The following verses give that proclamation. This is happening in the time of Persia under Cyrus the Great. So right now the book of Ezra-Nehemiah is overlapping with what other Bible book? Daniel. I know Daniel comes way later in our English Bibles, but his events are happening around the same time as the start of Ezra-Nehemiah.
Daniel 9:1-18 records this incredible prayer of Daniel. He had been in Babylon studying the writings of a prophet named Jeremiah. Recognize that name? Yeah, we have those same writings right here in a book named after him. Guess what that means. If we’re going to understand the context of Daniel properly, we need to go back to Jeremiah. Now, I realize Jeremiah is a big book and I want to respect your time tonight, so I’m going to let you cheat and tell you the passage Daniel was reading. Turn to Jeremiah 25:12.
Jeremiah 25:12 KJV 1900
12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
Daniel’s reading this, pulls out his calendar, and realizes they’ve been in Babylon for almost 70 years. That means something big is about to happen. The Jews are going to get to go home. Stop and think about this for a minute. You were carried away to a foreign nation when you were younger than I am. You were assimilated into that culture and haven’t seen your homeland in almost 70 years. You have a lot of friends who have had kids in that time, kids that have never seen their homeland before. You’re about to go back for the first time. What would you do? I’ll tell you what Daniel did. He started to pray long and hard for his people.
Those prayers work because we get back to Ezra 1 and see that God stirs up the heart of King Cyrus to make a proclamation. What does that proclamation say?
Ezra 1:3–7 KJV 1900
3 Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. 4 And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. 5 Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. 6 And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered. 7 Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;
Side note: Does this passage strike you as being at all familiar? Think back about a thousand years earlier in your Old Testament.
Exodus 12:35–37 KJV 1900
35 And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: 36 And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians. 37 And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children.
Anyone see the connection? What’s happening here in Ezra? The Israelites are being sent out of a foreign land to go to the Promised Land, and they’re given all kinds of riches from the empire they’re leaving. What’s happening in Exodus? The tenth plague just hit, and the Egyptians are so scared that they’re sending the Israelites out of their land into the Promised Land and giving them all kinds of riches on the way out. This is so cool. This is not some random similarity. The Biblical authors were way too talented for that. When there’s something like this, it’s in there purposefully. Ezra’s return is being painted as the new exodus. And who’s the new Moses leading the people out? Ezra! They knew they failed in the land the first time by seeking a king and going after their own way instead of God’s, so now they’re looking to have an entirely new fresh start. You see how cool this is?This is a new beginning for them. It’s like they’re getting to rewrite Exodus-Deuteronomy for a new generation. This will be the one! We’ll get things right this time, and God will bring His kingdom to earth!
That’s what they were hoping for. That’s what they were expecting so much so that they wrote it into the literary structure of the book. But is that what happens? Let’s keep reading.
Ezra chapter 3 verse 2 tells us the first course of action they took was to build the altar. They’re making a statement that this is a spiritual matter to them. They’re including God in everything they’re doing. They rebuild the temple which is awesome, but in all honesty, it’s kind of a let-down. The Bible tells us in chapter 3 verse 11 that the people were shouting and rejoicing. But then in verse 12, all the older generations that remembered what Jerusalem had once looked like started crying and weeping because no matter how nice it was to have a new temple, it could just never measure up to the old one.
Then we start running into serious trouble in chapter 4 verses 6 and 7. Some enemies of the Jews complain to Xerxes and then again to his son Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes believes their report and demands the immediate cessation of any work on Jerusalem. Now we’re back to Nehemiah. He’s living in the 20th year of Artaxerxes’ reign, and he’s in Shushan. Shushan, sometimes called Susa, was the winter retreat for the Persian kings. And what time of year does our story start? Winter! Somewhere between November and December. Coincidence? I don’t think so. But that’s not all.
Shushan was about 150 miles east of the city of Babylon. And this is not the first time in the Biblical story you have heard of Shushan. You should be thinking of two other stories in your head. It’s ok if you can’t remember them; I didn’t either at first. But the Biblical writers expected their audiences to catch these references. So, when you see a detail like “I was in Shushan the palace,” you should at least be thinking, “This is here for a reason. Why?” Then a quick google search or a good Bible encyclopedia can probably help you out.
Shushan is mentioned a handful of other times in two other Bible books. One of those is Daniel. He has that weird vision with the ram and the he-goat and all those crazy horns. In the vision, he’s in the palace at Shushan. But most of the occurrences of the city are in Esther. In fact, almost the entire story of Esther takes place in this same palace that Nehemiah is in right now. Pretty cool, huh? It’s about to get better. We remember from last week that Nehemiah got word from Hanani that Jerusalem was in sad shape. Why? Because the very king that is ruling right now gave an executive order to stop all work on the city. In verse 11 of chapter 1, Nehemiah prays that God would “grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” We’re left wondering, “Ok, what man are you talking about, Nehemiah?”
Then he goes, “Oh yeah, I was the king’s cupbearer.” Oh, minor detail, right? What was Nehemiah’s nationality? Jewish. What was Artaxerxes’ nationality? Persian. So, we’ve got a Jewish guy who would have been a captive just forty years ago serving in a pretty major position of honor. You should have at least two other Old Testament stories jumping in your mind right now. When’s the first time we heard about a Jewish man holding a high up position in the court of a pagan king? Genesis 41 with Joseph under Pharoah. What’s the last time we heard about a Jewish man holding a high up position in the court of a pagan king? Mordecai in Esther 6 and 10. He was promoted in the place of Haman. So, we’re supposed to have those stories in our minds of how God elevated one of His chosen people to a position of second in command in a pagan kingdom in order to bring about the salvation of His people. Can you see how cool that is? The Biblical writers are absolute geniuses in the way they weave these stories together. Our God is incredible in the way He works history together like this.
So, we have all this setup, and Nehemiah tells us he’s the cupbearer. Some of you have an idea what the word means; others probably have no clue. I always kind of thought of a cupbearer as expendable because he’s testing the food for poison. While he did have to test the food, he was not at all expendable. A cupbearer was a lot more like a personal butler. Think like Alfred to Bruce Wayne. He did it all. Nehemiah would have been a jack of all trades and probably in charge of the winter palace in Shushan. He was not just a nobody. He was an important guy under THE important guy in the world. But did you catch his prayer in verse 11. What does he call himself before God? A mere servant. What does he call the king of the world? Just a man. I don’t think Nehemiah is being disrespectful here. I think he understood how humanity relates in comparison to God. It’s not that God doesn’t care. He obviously does. He sent His only Son to die for us. It’s just that all are equal in God’s sight. A fancy title doesn’t make someone more important to God. A nationality doesn’t make someone more important before God. That’s why Nehemiah had no trouble asking God for help with what he was about to do.
Does anyone know the only book in the Bible not to mention God by name? It’s Esther. There is no mention of God in the book. But is there any other book that so clearly shows His working behind the scenes? Seriously, God is all throughout Esther if you’re looking for Him. Well, Nehemiah was living at that same time too. Nehemiah was not a prophet. He didn’t have special visions from God. In fact, right around the end of this book is the end of our Old Testament. Then we go into what scholars call the 400 silent years. God did not speak directly to man from the end of Nehemiah’s time until the angels appeared to Zacharias and Joseph and Mary.
Does that mean God was not working during that time? Not at all! The entire Jewish holiday of Hanukkah comes from that time period when God worked a pretty awesome miracle on the Jew’s behalf. Not to mention how He set the stage for Rome to be the dominant world power so that so many prophecies could be fulfilled. Nehemiah’s story is no different. There are no flashy miracles in this book. No walking on water, no dead people raised to life, just a wall being rebuilt. But man, was God ever at work! This excites me. This really excites me.
Have you guys ever heard the poem Footprints? There are a few different versions, but it goes something like this—
One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.
After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.
This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You'd walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."
He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."
1. You have to go to God.
We have a pretty diverse crowd with people from all walks and in all stages of life. So, prayer is going to mean something different to each of you. Some of you might think, yeah, I do that all the time. Others might be thinking prayer is what you do when you eat and need stuff really badly. Others maybe haven’t prayed in a long time or even ever, and you’re just not sure about prayer. Well, let’s demystify it.
Prayer is really just talking to God. That’s all it is. It’s nothing fancy or stuffy. It doesn’t have to be a bunch of thee’s and thou’s and our Father’s. It’s all the stuff we have in normal human conversation. It just has a different name because it is directed to God. It can include asking for stuff, and it can include praise. But in its simplest form, it’s just talking to God, something humans have been doing since the very beginning of time. In fact it’s one of the most natural behaviors for a human.
My grandfather is a very devout Catholic, and he loves to tell a joke about an atheist in a rowboat. He’s out in the middle of the lake when all of a sudden the Loch Ness Monster comes up and tries to swamp the boat. He’s paddling away as fast as he can, crying out to God to save him. God looks down from heaven and says, “But, sir, I didn’t think you believed in me.” The atheist shouts back, “Yeah, but until a minute ago, I didn’t believe in the Loch Ness Monster either!” I tell you that story because I think it highlights two common misconceptions about God. First is that He’s about as fanciful and useless to daily life as the Loch Ness Monster. Second is that prayer is just for last minute emergencies when there’s no other choice.
If you have any of that in your head, can I encourage you just to set that all aside? I don’t know what your previous experience with prayer or Christianity as a whole is. But I do know that there are a lot of bad examples out there, and they tend to get the most attention. I’m not trying to teach you what a Baptist says about prayer. I’m just showing you what the Bible says about prayer. Over and over again, God invites people where they are to come to Him. My favorite one is probably Matthew 11:28-30.
Matthew 11:28 KJV 1900
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
You notice what Jesus doesn’t say? He doesn’t say, “Clean yourself up and then come to me.” He doesn’t say, “Get your act together and then come to me.” He doesn’t qualify it. He says, “Come to me in spite of all the junk going on in your life. Come to me because of all the junk going on in your life. The cleaning up will come later. You just come now.” You have to be humble enough to go to God in the first place.
And part of that—
2. You have to be real.
Look at chapter 1 verses 6-7.
Nehemiah 1:6–7 KJV 1900
6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.
I don’t know where it came from, but somehow we got this idea in Christianity that prayer and Christianity as a whole is an act, that we’re required to pretend everything is perfect. That’s never what God intended at all. In fact, that’s not even in the Bible. If you prefer being real and open and honest to fake and shallow, you should read the psalms some time. It’s a book of songs and prayers to God. Some of them are pure raw emotion, the psalmist straight up saying, “God, sometimes I feel like you're not there for me.” That’s a legitimate part of prayer.
Jesus talked about this in Matthew 6.
Matthew 6:7–8 KJV 1900
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
“Use not vain repetitions” is a really funky Old English way of saying, “Stop talking aimlessly.” Prayer isn’t meant to be a bunch of rambled words. It’s purposeful and driven, just like a good conversation. And we look at verse 8 like “Ok, if God already knows my needs, why do I have to tell Him?” Let me suggest to you that our thinking about this verse is reversed of what it should be. We see it as “I’ve known about this problem. Now I need to let God in on it.” What if it’s actually God’s saying, “I’ve known about this problem. When you pray, you are finally telling me that you are aware of it.” Then He can do something about it because it will be meaningful in your life. Prayer isn’t letting God know the problem. It’s telling God that you now know the problem and are ready for His solution.
Prayer isn’t letting God know the problem. It’s telling God that you now know the problem and are ready for His solution.
And then, after you’ve prayed,
3. You have to live life.
Nehemiah 2 takes place in the Jewish month of Nisan. That’s about 4 months after chapter 1. That’s 4 months that Nehemiah went about his life as a cupbearer. We’re not told why he waited that long, but we know that he didn’t just sit around and do nothing. Just a quick reading of chapter 2 will show you that when Artaxerxes asked him what he wanted, he had a plan. This was something he had been thinking through. And he didn’t just wait for God to do all the work for him. He prayed and then he acted on it. When he was given a chance to get what he had been wanting, he jumped on it. He didn’t step back and say, “You know what, I need to pray about this for a little longer.” No! He offered up a quick prayer, presumably for wisdom, and then went with it.
In a message about prayer, of course I’m not saying prayer is wrong. What is wrong is letting prayer become an excuse for you not to make a decision. Here’s what we tend to do. We pray for wisdom in a decision for weeks or months or even years, and then when we’re faced with the decision, we clam up because we’re afraid of making the wrong choice and missing out on God’s will. It’s actually kind of a discouraging and burdening feeling. Can I maybe lift that burden a little bit here? That whole process of being fearful of making the wrong decision and missing out on God’s will—it’s not in the Bible. It’s not Biblical. Think about it. You just spent however long praying for wisdom for this decision. Then, when it comes, you don’t know which decision God wants you to make. Anyone know that feeling?
Here’s the problem with it. You’ve been asking God for wisdom. Don’t you think He’d give it to you? James 1:5 tells us He will. Your fear of making the wrong decision is not God-honoring. It’s a lack of trust that He answered your prayers for wisdom. The pattern God follows over and over again in Scripture is that He wants you to pray to Him for guidance and then live your life out in the belief that He is actually guiding you. God is not a helicopter parent. He does not require you to run every detail of every day by Him. “God, should I wear a blue shirt or a green shirt today?” When really He just cares that you’re wearing a shirt today and that it is modest. When you pray to God, don’t wait to live your life until He answers. He will answer as you live your life.
That concept has been really hard for me to wrap my mind around because of how I always thought about God while I was growing up. But I believe if you study out the Bible honestly, you will find He doesn’t want you to wait to live your life until He answers. He answers your prayers as you live your life. That understanding has really freed me recently from a burden of worry I didn’t even know I had.
Conclusion:
I think if we were honest, we’d all admit that we came here today with some burden, something we would change if we could but we feel like we can’t. No matter what it is, there is at least one course of action you can always take. It’s one size fits all. Whether your problem is big or small, public or private, your first course of action is the same. Pray. Take it to God. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, Hebrews tells us we no longer have a barrier separating between us and God. We can go directly to Him in prayer. In Nehemiah’s day, they still had priests they had to go through if they wanted to get right with God. You have a direct line to heaven’s throne room. Why not use it? What cares do you have in your life today? Is it a physical health problem that’s discouraging you? Is it finances that are stressing you out? Is it communication issues in your family? Problems with relatives? Covid? An addiction or sinful habit?
1 Peter 5 tells you exactly what to do. You gotta humble yourself. Everybody around you knows you can’t win on your own. So, stop trying today. Be man or woman enough to admit there is a problem and you need help getting through it. That’s what Peter calls humbling yourself under the mighty hand of God. Only then will you be willing to cast all your care upon Him. And you’ll find it to be worthwhile since He is always caring about you. There’s never a moment when God is not caring about you. No matter how many times you mess up. No matter how dirty or unspiritual you feel today, God cares about you. So today, I give you the invitation Jesus extended in Matthew 11.
Matthew 11:28 KJV 1900
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Let’s all examine ourselves right now, take whatever is bothering us, tear it from our shoulders, and throw it onto God’s. That’s what He’s inviting you to do right now. You’re not proving anything to anyone by trying to be the tough guy or girl who shoulders it all on his own. Let’s all take a lesson from Nehemiah and take our burdens of life to God right now.