To Trust God More Than You Do

INTRO

In sport, knowing a certain strategy or game plan, and actually trusting in it and having the will to execute it, are two very different things. So often, teams and individuals have come out after the game, typically after they've either struggled or lost that particular game and said something along these lines, “We knew what the game plan was. We knew what the strategy was. We knew what we had to do, but for some reason we just couldn't do it. We just didn't stick to the game plan.”

Some of the best teams in the world aren't coached on how to play from A-Z; they are not told how to play from defence all the way up to how to score the goal. But rather they are coached on how to set up and how to position themselves (perhaps just providing the groundwork) and then on the field it is up to the players to finish the job.

So what we see here is that there is a balance of trusting the setup and the coaching, and trusting the individual brilliance (intuition and creativity). All you need to do is trust in the plan.

Likewise, we are also to trust, even when we are not given all the answers. But it is not a plan that we are to trust, it is SOMEONE. Because, unlike a coach, who is unable to control that is happening on the field, God is in control of it all.

And so, even when God hasn’t directly told Nehemiah how to rebuild the wall, Nehemiah trust was in God’s faithfulness, and his mercy, and acted on the sorrow that was rising in his heart while hearing the news of Jerusalem— the people and the broken down wall, came to Him in prayer, and went rebuild the wall.

To continue on from the line of last week: Is God the first and only one in whom we trust, or do we only turn to Him as a last resort?

DEMORALISED NATION

After receiving permission from King Artaxerxes, Nehemiah travels to Jerusalem. What he finds there isn't a well-oiled machine, but one that has not been in use for so long that it was rusty and the gears struggling to turn.

Ezra 4 where there are accounts of discouragement to Israel.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build 5 and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

And then Artaxerxes, who recevied multiple letters to stop Jerusalem from rebuilding the city.

The rebuilding never had momentum. There was several years of frustration. It really struggled to get over the line.

Long tennis match. Have you ever wondered why a player can win one set 6-0 and then lose the next 0-6, and why 5 set matches turn out the way they do? During the course of the match it is not just about skill but about mental warfare. You are battling your own mind, and your own body. Let alone riding the ups and downs of the opponent where when they gather as little bit of momentum it can be hard to stop. Mix all that together, you have moments of determination and moments of doubt. Moments of seeing the finish line, and moments of wanting to throw in the white towel.

This happens in a 2-5 hour match. For Israel, this roller-coaster went on for a century— and this is coming straight out of exile too.

Israel was devasted and demoralised.

And devasted the city was. Nehemiah outlines for us in detail the clandestine investigation of the wall, starting from the Valley Gate (on the west side of the city) going south, and then finding the damage on the east of the city where there is valley.

A few years ago, the land on the corner of Huntingdale and Highbury Road. The excavating went too close to the neighbouring units (which I have a friend who used to stay in that home while he was in Melbourne) that they were in threat of tumbling down the slope. Thankfully that did not happen.

But for Nehemiah and Jerusalem, they weren’t so lucky. The stones of the east wall did tumble down the Kidron Valley and left a good portion of the east side of the city very vulnerable.

What was facing Nehemiah was a devasted and demoralised nation.

The more that Nehemiah investigated and saw the state of Jerusalem, the wall and the people, it didn't lead him to trust God less, but to trust him more and continue.

When things are harder you thought it would be; when things are not as you expect it to be, an opportunity to place your trust in Him?

Human heart can be discouraged and want to give up; OR it could be to be angry at the situation and circumstance.

Gospel says who are going to trust when the chips are down?

DETERMINED NEHEMIAH

Part of that trust was that God would work in and through him.

In stirring up a heart of sorrow and heartbreak, Nehemiah didn't request the king to do something about it while he sits back in the comfort of his position in the king’s palace, but he was determined to go to his people in Jerusalem.

Verse 11-13:

English Standard Version Chapter 2

So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12 Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode. 13 I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.

A couple of things we can note about Nehemiah:

1. He was sharp

Realised opposition and investigated the wall in secret (v. 10)

English Standard Version Chapter 2

But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.

Told no one about his plans (v 12, 16)

English Standard Version Chapter 2

And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.

2. He was shrewd

Getting the important information to get this project going (James Montgomery Boice)

Nehemiah: An Expositional Commentary Planning for Success

A person might wonder if, after one nighttime inspection of the damaged walls, Nehemiah could possibly have acquired all the information necessary for rebuilding them. The answer probably is no. Most likely he did not have all the information he was going to need before the task was finished. But the point is important, for this reason: although Nehemiah probably did not have all the information he needed to complete the rebuilding, he had enough to have formulated a sound, workable plan for doing it.

Timing and Tone in speaking to the Jews which unified and galvanised the nation.

Difference between just cracking out the whip and shouting, "NOW, GO AND WORK!" to uniting for a cause, coming with a clear plan prayed out and trusted to God, and saying, "COME, LET'S DO THIS TOGETHER!"

Trusting God includes trusting that God will use you. We are not to mistaken that our actions and God's will are detached, unless it is the case that you haven't come before God and just going out there on your own. There is a big difference. Nehemiah was able to use his expertise because he trusted God will use them.

As inspiring as Nehemiah was in going down to Jerusalem from the palace of the Persian king; being street smart; being aware of the state of the people and the presence of opposition; and be efficient in gathering information and sharing his plan with the people with great timing and judgement, perhaps the secret to his determination to rebuild the city came from within: Concern for God.

Verse 17:

English Standard Version Chapter 2

17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.”

What was his concern? Was Nehemiah concerned about the appearance of the land alone?

"You see the trouble we are in" isn't just about being invaded and captured again, but about evil being done to God's people. With no barrier and protection around the city, God's people are in danger of evil being done; evil infiltrating the city.

And so he continues, "Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem," WHY? "That we may no longer suffer derision."

What we have to remember is that historically nations had close associations with their gods. For a period of time, some countries including Australia were seen as Christian nations. And perhaps where in the modern times the title just reflected the "most common practicing religion," in the Old Testament a defeat of a nation was the defeat of the their God too. And over the years hasn't Israel fallen over and over and over again, from being in exile in Egypt, to have the Ark of the Covenant taken by the Philistines, to this exile and destruction of Jerusalem. Shame was not only on the people and the city but God had also become a laughing stock to the enemies.

From his appearance before the King to his appearance before Jerusalem, his concern was for one: GOD

DESCENDED CHRIST

God is not a laughing stock.

God will laugh at the enemies (Psalm 2)

English Standard Version Psalm 2

Why do the nations rage

and the peoples plot in vain?

2  The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,

3  “Let us burst their bonds apart

and cast away their cords from us.”

4  He who sits in the heavens laughs;

the Lord holds them in derision.

God will have the enemies as his footstool. (Psalm 110:1)

English Standard Version Psalm 110

1  The LORD says to my Lord:

“Sit at my right hand,

until I make your enemies your footstool.”

The destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the people weren't because other nations and their gods were more powerful, but through God's sovereignty and his purposes for His people.

But now as God was bring the wall back up in Jerusalem, the enemy can only jeer (v. 19-20):

English Standard Version Chapter 2

But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” 20 Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.”

But perhaps what we have to remember is that the real opposition isn't any man or woman to have lived on this earth.

It wasn't Sanballat, Tobia, and Gesham. It wasn't the Roman Empire. It isn't anyone today.

The real opposition is the one who deceived Adam and Eve in the garden; the one who is driving a wedge between the creator and the creation. He is the one who is attempting to make God a laughing stock.

IN 445BC, God sent Nehemiah, who moved from the palaces of the Persian King to the grounds of Jerusalem for the sake of His people. And just as Nehemiah left the comfort of his position in the palace of king Artaxerxes to go to the ruined Jerusalem, Jesus left his palace to "empty himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." (Phil 2:7) He announced, "…. I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me." (John 6:38) And John the Baptist proclaimed, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29)

And it is through Jesus' selfless entry into the world that His Kingdom and People are made secure once and for all.

He Is the Lord of our salvation. And his death on the cross is sufficient for us.

It is because of this gospel that Paul says that even if he had every reason to boast in the flesh (Phil. 3),

English Standard Version Chapter 3

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith

All his loyalties have been switched to Christ because his grace is sufficient. And is God bringing your heart to repentance this morning?

Conclusion

If you are hearing the gospel for this first time or still grappling with it, is God stirring something in your hearts, to stop trying to mind meaning in your careers, your future, your cars and homes; or to stop trying to earn your way to salvation (trying to make yourself sufficient for God)? If he is, will you find rest in Jesus, for he is sufficient for you for he has given his life for you?

Church, Is God the first and only one in whom you trust? Or are there others you are going to before Him?

Doesn’t he know everything about our numbered days? Through the roller-coaster that is life-- when you can't lift your head from embarrassment and the insecurities that you are facing to, when you are at your peak and full of abundance-- does not God know all of it before it even happens, guides you through all of it, so you don't lose your head and are able to keep your feet on the ground?