Nehemiah – Page 4 – Be Still…

Nehemiah 5:14-19 – A Godly Example

Read Nehemiah 5:14-19

From being cup bearer to the king of Persia to being named governor of his homeland, Nehemiah has had quite a life. I don’t remember a passage that officially names Nehemiah governor, but certainly his actions reflect a godly governor to be sure. I assume that King Artaxerxes probably named Nehemiah governor over Judah in one of the letters he sent along with Nehemiah on his journey home.

In today’s passage, we see Nehemiah’s example of putting the work of God ahead of his own personal interest. There aren’t many leaders these days who would do what Nehemiah did to move the project along. Today we see a lot of greed and power-hungry leaders who seem to forget about the “little guy.”

Nehemiah 5:1-13 – Helping the Oppressed

Read Nehemiah 5:1-13

I wondered how the people were surviving financially in the new land. If all their time was spent on the construction project, when did they earn a living? When did they rebuild their own homes? This passage reveals some of the inequality going on in the new land.

Apparently, Nehemiah was not aware of the financial hardships some were facing. Now that he was, he was angry that some of their own people were taking advantage. It breaks my heart that children being be sold into slavery. That was a common practice in those days, too. Today, human trafficking is at an all time high because of greedy people with no regard for human life.

Nehemiah 4:7-23 – On Guard!

Read Nehemiah 4:7-23

The situation facing Nehemiah in this passage sounds volatile. It’s times like these that really test our faith. We saw how Nehemiah instructed everyone to be on guard for enemy attacks. Good works that glorify God can be targets for the evil one. We, too, need to be vigilant when we are involved in work that furthers the kingdom. The evil one is waiting to pounce and mess up our plans, too.

Nehemiah was not going to let the opposition interfere with the progress of their divine mission. Prayer was again Nehemiah’s go-to solution. He said in this reading, “But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves.” Prayer was coupled with action. It wasn’t that Nehemiah didn’t think God would protect them, but that he wanted to be instrumental in that protection.

Nehemiah 4:1-6 – Handling Big Bullies

Read Nehemiah 4:1-6

Construction of the Jerusalem wall continues. We hear more about the bully, Sanballat, in this passage. Sanballat is spouting off his taunts to discredit the work of the Jews. I couldn’t help but think of when Jesus was taunted during the final hours before his crucifixion. People can be so mean.

We can only suppose what Sanballat’s problem is with the rebuilding process. Could it be he feels threatened and wants to show his superiority? Sanballat tries to get others to agree and join in on his mockery.

Nehemiah 3:1-32 – Communication

Read Nehemiah 3:1-32

That was quite a reading! To get the full effect of what was happening in this part of God’s plan, reading the whole chapter at once made sense. You may even want to read it over again so you can truly revel in the magnitude of Nehemiah’s mission and how he chronicled it for us, almost like a memoir.

Can’t you just picture the scene of men working together to reconstruct this critical piece of Jewish history! We’re given so much detail, recognizing many for their efforts. Nehemiah did a great job of recording these statistics for us. For those named, so many more were also dedicating this season of their lives to this project.