Wisdom in Planning

D.A. Carson started his series of sermons on the book of Nehemiah with these words: “Lone-Ranger Christianity won’t make much sense of the book of Nehemiah. Lone-ranger Christianity is too individualistic. It talks a great deal about personal salvation, but it never thinks in terms of categories of the entire people of God. Even when it talks about leadership, it extends beyond the domain of personal piety.” A lot of Christians will look at the book of Nehemiah as one of the predominant books in Scripture that speaks on the topic of leadership. We see risk management, task management, middle management, all sorts of management and leadership opportunities but that isn’t the purpose of this book. The purpose of Nehemiah is not to give us as believers a blueprint on how to be Christian leaders, although it certainly talk on the subject. Nehemiah is a book that shows the believer how to listen, how to lead, how to live with, and how to love. How to listen to God, how to lead and live with God’s people and the world, and how to love God and love neighbor. I don’t want us to look at the book of Nehemiah like it is an ancient John Maxwell book on church leadership because I think that makes the application of this book too narrow. As a pastor, yes I can get application out of this book for pastoral ministry that may not be something that someone outside of pastoral ministry could apply and that’s ok. Now everyone in here is in a position of leadership. You are a leader at work, you are a leader at home, you are a leader at church, everyone is or has the potential to be a leader, but will we be a good one? As we are going to see in Nehemiah, if we want to be a good and godly leader, it does not begin with our strengths and abilities, it begins with total desperation on the Lord. Remember what Christ told His disciples in John 15:5, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” Nehemiah is a man that we will see who took that seriously. What we also are going to see today is that Nehemiah’s desperation did not cause him to be stagnant. He waited for the Lord while seeking out what he should do for the Lord and for the Lord’s people. To give us a little background information on the book, Howard may have mentioned this when he started Ezra but in Hebrew tradition, the book of Ezra and the book of Nehemiah were one book. The Jewish Talmud would refer to the book of Ezra but it wouldn’t refer to the book of Nehemiah so what we have is a continuation of the same story that begins in Ezra. In fact, many believe that Nehemiah was compiled from Nehemiah’s personal diary but Ezra was the author or editor of the book. The book was likely written sometime during or after Nehemiah’s second term as governor of Jerusalem so between 424-400 B.C. In order to really understand the vastness of Nehemiah, it helps to know the story of Ezra. What we are going to see is that there is a progression that takes place between these books and that God always works perfectly according to His schedule. To paraphrase a line from Gandalf, God is never late nor is He early, He arrives precisely when He means to and what this means is that God, who is sovereign over the hearts and actions of men, orchestrates things perfectly. Back in Ezra 4, we see Artaxerxes issue a decree calling for the work in Jerusalem to stop building the walls but we are going to see tonight that he experiences a change of heart which we can only attribute as a work of God on the heart of a foreign king that did not fear or know the Lord. But we don’t recognize that unless we first know that the king of Persia had earlier said that the work was to stop and it didn’t continue for several years. So I know Howard did a fantastic job taking you through Ezra and now I hope that I can do an ok job taking us through Nehemiah. With the time limitations that we have, I know that this isn’t going to be a comprehensive study but that almost works in our favor because in later chapters, we are going to get to a lot of Hebrew names that I have no idea how to pronounce so I’m thankful that they are remembered by God but not well-remembered by Brady and we can sort of cut some time out by now being weighed down by the names. Tonight we will just be looking at Nehemiah 1-2 and I know that we are going to spend more time in the first chapter than the second. So, I’ll read all of Nehemiah 1 and we will spend time there and we’ll see what we get through in chapter 2. Let’s pray and then we will read Nehemiah 1

Nehemiah 1 NASB95

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol, that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. They said to me, “The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.” When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. I said, “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. “We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. “Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’ “They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. “O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.” Now I was the cupbearer to the king.

Nehemiah’s Heart for the People

As we start this chapter, Nehemiah introduces himself as the son Hacaliah and he gives us the year and time of the event that is about to happen: It is in November or December of 446 B.C. and Nehemiah is living in the heart of the Persian empire at the capitol. While Nehemiah is there, Hanani, his brother, and some other men from Judah came to Nehemiah and we see very early on the heart and the concern that Nehemiah has for the Jewish people. At this point, we know that some of the Jews have returned to Jerusalem, that they survived and escaped from their time in exile and are living in the land but things aren’t great. Those that returned to Jerusalem didn’t find themselves returning to a life luxury. Many Jews at this point had gotten used to living in Babylon so really a minority position returned to Jerusalem. As we will see later in Nehemiah 7, just over 42,000 Jews returned at the time when Nehemiah would conduct a census. This is in no way a thriving, metropolitan area that is just packed to the gills. No, these are a small minority that are struggling to survive, struggling to reclaim and rebuild their homes. Hanani describes them in verse 3 as being in great distress and reproach. It is as if they are living in disgrace. It is a very bleak situation. We hear that the wall of Jerusalem has been destroyed and its gates have been burned. Now we don’t live in walled cities anymore but if you wanted to be a thriving city, a secure city, at the time of Nehemiah, you needed walls and you needed gates. These broken down walls were more than just a reminder to the Jewish people that the Babylonians had destroyed their city. It was in many ways a monument to their past sins and past failures. It was a daily reminder of their unfaithfulness and it was also a daily reminder to their enemies that the Jews were defenseless. It served as an opportunity to bring the Jews down further and say, “Your God can’t protect you, just look at these walls!” Was their God unloving, unable, unkind? As we know, not at all. But if you hear the same thing enough, it can push you. Nehemiah hears of the heartbreak, of the anxiety, of the pain of his fellow Jewish people and it hits him incredibly hard. In verse 4, we see him weeping and mourning for days. It’s as if he takes the emotional weight of his own kinsmen and lays it on himself, he feels the heartbreak that they were experiencing as if it was his own. What an important reminder for us as believers, that we are one body with many members and that when one part of the body feels pain, the other parts don’t act as if that pain isn’t real or doesn’t impact them. I remember in college there was a night at campus church and Johnnie Moore, who was the campus pastor for years, was talking about how his brother was in some country, maybe in the Middle East and had served the Lord faithfully but was killed for his beliefs and trust me he brought you into the story, you heard the pain in his voice, it was like hearing of someone grieving the lost of his brother and it crescendos with this reveal that it wasn’t his brother who died, it was a faithful Christian that was killed. It was this reminder that these believers right next to us and all around the world really are our brothers and sisters in the faith and our hearts need to go out to them. When they hurt, we hurt with them. Do we care about our people? Like truly and deeply care about them? Does the plight of the people of God push us to grieve? And what do we do when we have this information? Do we do anything with it? What does Nehemiah do first? He goes to the Lord in prayer.

Nehemiah’s Prayer

In verses 5-10, we see a great prayer, or one of Nehemiah’s many great prayers, that he makes throughout the book. I love how Mark Dever describes this prayer. He said, “It is a beautiful, compact prayer, beginning with praise, moving to confession, then citing God’s promises back to God. Nehemiah reminds God of how his name is tied up with his people’s name, and then asks God to move the king of Persia’s heart. Adoration, confession, scriptural promise, honoring of God, the request itself- this is not a bad model for a prayer!” Just sort of walking through it, we see Nehemiah not begin his prayer with a list of requests. I know that I’m guilty of it, I’m sure every person in this room has been guilty of it at some point, but prayer is not meant to be a wish list for our wants. Prayer should begin with praise. Nehemiah recognizes that the Lord is the great and awesome God, the One that preserves and fulfills His promises and loves His people. Even if we look at the Lord’s prayer, we see that it begins with praise, “hallowed be your name.” As we continue through Nehemiah’s prayer, we see him move to confession, day and night, Nehemiah cried out to the Lord in prayer on behalf of the people of Israel. Nehemiah’s grieved at the state of the people of God and he prays that God would be merciful to them. Does the sin of the church move us like this? Do we pray like this? That God would act in mercy and forgiveness towards those that don’t deserve it. Do we confess the sins of the people and do we confess our own sins? Nehemiah didn’t leave himself out. At the end of verse 6, he admits that he and his father’s house have sinned. Nehemiah needed forgiveness just as the people needed forgiveness. You and I are in the same boat, remember? You and I need a God rich in forgiveness and mercy just as the hardest hearted sinner needs a God who is rich in forgiveness and mercy. As Nehemiah continues to work through his prayer, he reminds God of His own promises that He has made. Now of course God didn’t forget his promises. As you may have heard me say before, God can’t remember anything because God has never forgotten anything. God is all-knowing and all-wise so nothing has ever escaped His notice. He doesn’t need to open His Bible and go back to the promises and then have it spring to His mind so that He’s saying, “Oh wait, I really did say that.” But why this reminder of God’s past promises? It’s not a prayer that God would suddenly regain information, it is a call that God would act decisively. That God would come quickly. When we pray Scripture, we can pray with confidence because we are believing that God will be faithful to His Word and to His promise. Nehemiah is praying with confidence that the God who was faithful to His word in the past will continue to be faithful to His word in the presence and into the future. Then in verse 11 we see Nehemiah present his request to the Lord that God would delight in His servants and that Nehemiah would be successful in what he plans to ask in chapter 2 and that God would change the heart of the king so that he would be compassionate to Nehemiah’s request. Like Dever said, this isn’t a bad model when it comes to prayer. I think that we also see a great reminder of the need for daily prayer. Nehemiah didn’t pray this once and then move on with his life. As we can tell in the timeline, Nehemiah didn’t pray this on one day and then the next day, everything was wrapped up with a nice little bow on top. As we will see in Nehemiah 2:1, it is 4 months later when Nehemiah makes his request known to King Artaxerxes. But before that time comes, Nehemiah does the only thing that he could possibly do and that was to pray. He wasn’t in a position to make a request so grand to the king, what he would be asking for is something impossible by human standards. It would be something that only God could bring about. He needed God to change the heart and mind of the one that was most likely the most powerful man in the world. But you know what, Nehemiah could pray and sometimes that is the only and best thing that you can do as you wait for God’s perfect timing. Derek Thomas writes:

Ezra & Nehemiah God Moves in a Mysterious Way

We may not be in the circumstances that Nehemiah found himself in, unable to do anything beyond prayer. But it is also possible that this is exactly where we find ourselves. And like Nehemiah, we must reckon on a power that is beyond us. We must reckon on God’s ability to change our circumstances and bring certain events to pass that baffle our imagination

Prayer is often trusting in God’s perfect timing. But the time will come, in God’s perfect plan, where Nehemiah will have the opportunity to act.

Nehemiah’s Approach

So how does Nehemiah get this opportunity to speak to the king. The detail that we see at the end of verse 11 is that Nehemiah is the cupbearer to the king. We don’t know how he rose to this position but this is a position that would require a lot of trust. This wasn’t necessarily a position that one just applied for out of the blue. This was a very unique position that did allow access to the king which most people wouldn’t have access to. To be the cupbearer was basically to be the poison checker for the king. It was Nehemiah’s responsibility to test all of the wine and beverages that came to the king. Now if a cup was poisoned and you were the cupbearer, you are in a pretty tough spot. Basically in order to have a good day at work, you have to survive the day at work and I don’t think that should be the bar that we aim for. Look at Nehemiah 2:1–2 “And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid.” Nehemiah is in a tough spot here. Sadness was not something that would have been accepted in the presence of the king. Sadness was reserved for the conquered, not the one that had the opportunity to be in the king’s presence and the king’s table. The king’s subjects were to be joyful in his presence to reinforce the gratitude of being able to stand in the kings presence and live in the king’s country. If Nehemiah is said, this could be interpreted as an insult to the king, it could give off the impression that something was poisoned in the cup, it could give the impression that Nehemiah could be plotting or know of a plot to take down the king, it could be a whole number of things. Just the appearance of sadness in the presence of the king was a risk for Nehemiah and we know this because at the end of verse 2, Nehemiah says that he was very much afraid. This isn’t just worry, this is terror. Practically anything, if interpreted incorrectly could lead to Nehemiah’s execution. If the king was angry at Nehemiah’s countenance or angry at how Nehemiah explained his situation or even angry at the request that Nehemiah would make, Nehemiah is putting his life in his hands. Nehemiah diffuses the potential situation by again expressing his support for the king and explaining why he’s feeling what he is feeling. Nehemiah 2:3 “I said to the king, “Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?” This isn’t a political request. I didn’t realize this but at this point, the name of Jerusalem isn’t even mentioned. Instead, Nehemiah wisely introduces the idea by making it personal. This isn’t the great city of David, that ruled the Middle East for years, this is the city where Nehemiah’s father is buried. Nehemiah presents his request in such a way that he is saying that an entire community of people have perished and his heart breaks over his people. The king asks him in verse 4 what his request is and in that moment, Nehemiah again sends a prayer to the Lord but it seems to be what some commentators refer to as shooting an arrow to the Lord kind of prayer. Nehemiah is an example of what Paul would refer to as one who prays without ceasing. We don’t know what exactly Nehemiah prayed for but I’m sure it could have been something like a boldness to ask exactly what needed to be asked and for the wisdom to ask in such a way that the request would be accepted. He probably was also praying that the king’s heart would move in favor towards his request. Nehemiah then asks that if it would please the king and if Nehemiah found favor in the king’s sight that he would be sent to Judah so that he could rebuild the city and the king responds positively. He only asks how long his journey will be and when he would return. Nehemiah then asks that the king would give letters to Nehemiah that would be given in Artaxerxes name that would allow Nehemiah to pass safely through the land and that Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest would give him timber in order to build the gates, walls, and the house that Nehemiah would live in. And he gets it all. How? Look at the end of verse 8: “Because the good hand of my God was on me.” Any success that you and I have in anything comes from the good hand of God being on us. James 1:17 reminds us that “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” It is God who changes hearts, it is God who goes before us, it is God who grants success and every good thing that anyone has ever gotten has been a gift of common grace from the Lord. Jesus says in Matthew 5:45b “For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Nehemiah reaches Judah and we see that the king had sent him with officers and horsemen and then in verse 10 we are introduced to 2 men that will be a thorn in the flesh of Nehemiah for practically the entire book. Nehemiah 2:10 “When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel.” These are men that clearly do not want to see the people of Israel to succeed and they are going to be a constant fly in the face of Nehemiah but spoiler alert for the end of the book, God will continue to be faithful to His promise despite the presence of worldly opposition. The same is true today. We live in a time where people are constantly trying to uproot and disrupt and are disapproving of God and the work of God’s people. But that doesn’t ultimately stop the work and God is not at the mercy of the opposition. As Shane and Shane would say, we know how the story ends. Let’s quickly read Nehemiahs 2:11-20

Nehemiah 2:11–20 NASB95

So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding. So I went out at night by the Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon’s Well and on to the Refuse Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were consumed by fire. Then I passed on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was no place for my mount to pass. So I went up at night by the ravine and inspected the wall. Then I entered the Valley Gate again and returned. The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials or the rest who did the work. Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach.” I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king’s words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let us arise and build.” So they put their hands to the good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard it, they mocked us and despised us and said, “What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” So I answered them and said to them, “The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem.”

What I want us to notice in these verses is that zeal for the Lord is not an excuse for lack of planning. Sometimes we can get to amped up for the work of the Lord that we don’t put any thought or planning into it. Good intentions are not an excuse for doing the hard work that is required to get the job done. Yes, God is sovereign over all things, God Himself will bring things to fruition but this is not an excuse for us to not do any of the hard work. James Montgomery Boice said, “Dependence on God does not eliminate planning any more than it eliminates hard work. But while Nehemiah was planning, he was also praying…Nehemiah acknowledged that in the final analysis his success was not due to his own careful planning but to God.” In order for the work to succeed, Nehemiah, as we have already seen up to this point, was entirely dependent upon God giving him success. Nehemiah goes out and sees what work needs to be done but he does it in secret. He doesn’t want to push the cart before the horse by assembling all the Jews and saying, “here’s what I want to do, let’s do it.” No, he goes and does his research, he puts a prayed over plan together, and builds support for the plan. And notice in verse 18 that he doesn’t just give the plan and then say, “Let’s get to work.” He tells the people that God has already shone favor to him, that God has already blessed the work, and that in the words of the Blues Brothers, “They’re on a mission from God.” And it is when they hear that God had already been favorable to Nehemiah that they say, “Let us arise and build.” When those who oppose God’s work come and try to dissuade us, we remind them that our success is not dependent upon our feeble means, it is dependent upon the God of Heaven and when God calls us to the work, whether it is right in the world’s eyes or not, we have the responsibility as the people of God to be faithful to the word of God. When Nehemiah tells Sanballat and Tobiah that they have no portion, right, or memorial in Jerusalem, he is saying, “You have no past, present, or future claims on this work.” We can say the same things to the world. They have nothing that will last and nothing that they can do that will truly set us back when it comes to eternity. All we must do is be faithful to what the Lord has given us and the time that we have. We should all attempt big things for God but don’t let that zeal be an excuse to not attempt those things with wisdom. Seek the Lord in prayer and seek the Lord in your planning. Let’s pray and then what questions do you all have.