Nehemiah 1-4

I think it’s healthy for any organization or church to ask from Time to time: Why do we exist? Why are we here? We cannot assume everyone knows. We cannot assume that everyone cares.

Set Context of Nehemiah — God’s people in Exile because they had disobeyed God and broken covenant. Babylonians conquered, after 70 years, Persians conquered Babylon, and God led Cyrus to let the Jewish people return to Jerusalem. Zerubbabel led them, but even though they finished the Temple, it wasn’t as glorious as the previous Temple and Jerusalem was in shambles.

Nehemiah 1 ESV

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.” As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that 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 your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king.

Nehemiah

Nehemiah was a man of vision

Nehemiah was a man of vision

Nehemiah was a man of vision

Nehemiah was a man of vision

Nehemiah was a man of vision

He saw and was broken by what everyone else saw, but just considered normal.

The wall had been down for 100+ years.

Vision often begins by seeing things that are broken that others have written off as normal.

Nehemiah was a man of prayer

He had times of focused, intense prayer.

He had quit hitting prayers in the midst of life. “Lord help me.”

Nehemiah was a man of great faith.

He not only asked for years off from his job, he asked his employer to pay for his vision.

Nehemiah was a man of Action

He wasn’t just bothered by the conditions of things, he left his comfortable, cushy job as cupbearer to the King, in order to lead God’s people in the rebuilding efforts.

Nehemiah was a leader. He didn’t try to do everything himself.

Nehemiah was able to lead a group of people to help him reconstruct the wall.

He brilliantly put people in charge of the part of the wall right by their own homes. They were far more vested in it being rebuilt well.

Nehemiah didn’t let opposition stop him.

Sanballit and Tobia began mocking him.

Things got dangerous when they actually made progress, then the taunting moved into actual opposition and attacks.

Nehemiah led the people to build the wall, while also protecting what they had built.

They employed the sword and the trowel.