Strong Prayerful Leadership by Rosie Best (with an assist by Patti Lusher)

Have you heard that joke - the one about the shortest man in the bible? His name was ‘Knee High Mya’. Okay, it’s not good. What about the one… “If you want to make God laugh, tell God YOUR plans. I know that sometimes I do that, I get the order of things completely wrong, and then I wonder why things don’t go right. However, I have also been very blessed to have many endeavors succeed, and in the main, I know that it is because I follow some principles that I have discovered from the book of Nehemiah. I love this book so much that I literally bought the sweatshirt!

I first encountered this book when I was studying at the London School of Theology. I have never forgotten it, and often return to this book when I need to regroup. When I was revisiting it this week, I remembered that, though it’s very inspirational, there are several sections which are like ‘reading the phone book’ for inspiration. I’m talking, of course, of the lists. So, before I do the scripture reading, I would like to give you a little bit of background on the book.

Nehemiah is the cupbearer to the King. He gets news from back home that the walls of Jerusalem are still down.  In fact, the walls of the city were down for many years. There has been at least one attempt to rebuild them before, but it was unsuccessful. Nehemiah, hearing the news of ‘great trouble and disgrace’ (1:3) responds by sitting down and weeping.

So a quick word on the city walls. When they are down, the whole city would be vulnerable to all enemies that might attack.  Also, in the old testament, the walls being down is seen as a disgrace.  Let’s get back to Nehemiah.

The story goes on to tell us that he fasts and prays for several days. Chapter 1: 5-11 is home to the prayer that frames what comes next in the story. The final lines of the prayer say:

“Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”

Now, it’s easy to read the bible without a sense of the timeline that it represents.  There is about a five month gap between Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of Nehemiah. There’s a long period of time between his prayer and what happens.

From Chapter 1, and Nehemiah’s response to the news of the city of Jerusalem, we understand that Nehemiah has an established relationship with God. Nehemiah is not a stranger to God. They talk, as I said, and it’s been five months that Nehemiah has been talking with God about the trouble that he sees, that the city is in shame and disgrace.

We get a sense that during that time, God has laid a plan on Nehemiah’s heart. How do I know this? Because in Chapter 2, when the king sees Nehemiah sad, he asks Nehemiah what he wants him to do about his sadness. Nehemiah answers with a detailed plan of action. So lets read that now:

During the month of Nisan in the twentieth year that Artaxerxes was king, I served him his wine, as I had done before. But this was the first time I had ever looked depressed. So the king said, “Why do you look so sad? You’re not sick. Something must be bothering you.” Even though I was frightened, I answered, “Your Majesty, I hope you live forever! I feel sad because the city where my ancestors are buried is in ruins, and its gates have been burned down.” The king asked, “What do you want me to do?”

So, I want to stop here a moment, because that five months of prayer that Nehemiah has been living in has come to the point of fruition. The king has noticed the grief and says, “Okay, so what do you want me to do about it?” When you have an established relationship with God, you have those moments when suddenly an opportunity opens up and then it’s a great time for what I call an ARROW PRAYER. That’s a quick, “Okay, God here goes …”.

I prayed to the God who rules from heaven.

Then I told the king, “Sir, if it’s all right with you, please send me back to Judah, so that I can rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried.” The queen was sitting beside the king when he asked me, “How long will it take, and when will you be back?” The king agreed to let me go, and I told him when I would return.

Now this next bit is interesting, too. Before, we heard that Nehemiah was frightened. But, I believe that because he has confidence that God has opened up the way for him, he has confidence to ask the king for a little more.

Then I asked, “Your Majesty, would you be willing to give me letters to the governors of the provinces west of the Euphrates River, so that I can travel safely to Judah? I will need timber to rebuild the gates of the fortress near the temple and more timber to construct the city wall and to build a place for me to live. And so, I would appreciate a letter to Asaph, who is in charge of the royal forest.”

I believe that in that five months when nothing is happening, God is working to prepare Nehemiah’s heart. IN THE MOMENT, there is an expression of credit: it’s God that did it!

God was good to me, and the king did everything I asked.

The king sent some army officers and cavalry troops along with me, and as I traveled through the Western Provinces, I gave the letters to the governors. 

So, out of the established relationship, God presented Nehemiah with the right time to present the plan that had been growing in him. So, because God has set this on his mind and created an opportunity for it to happen, it’s going to be plain sailing from here, right? Wrong. You ever tried to do something God told you to and had people who objected to that plan? Nehemiah did, too. Let’s continue with Nehemiah 2.

But when Sanballat from Horon and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about what had happened, they became very angry, because they didn’t want anyone to help the people of Israel.

People were angry because of what God had purposed to accomplish. Have you ever been in a situation where someone has become angry with you and you thought it meant that God was against you? So, this is a book that we can learn something about how to deal with those who oppose us, too.

Nehemiah has arrived in the city and he doesn’t just go out and start sharing his plan with everyone. He goes first and takes a good look at the devastation he is planning to transform.

Three days after arriving in Jerusalem, I got up during the night and left my house. I took some men with me, without telling anyone what I thought God wanted me to do for the city. The only animal I took was the donkey I rode on. I went through Valley Gate on the west, then south past Dragon Spring, before coming to Garbage Gate. As I rode along, I took a good look at the crumbled walls of the city and the gates that had been torn down and burned. On the east side of the city, I headed north to Fountain Gate and King’s Pool, but then the trail became too narrow for my donkey. So I went down to Kidron Valley and looked at the wall from there. Then before daylight I returned to the city through Valley Gate.

None of the city officials knew what I had in mind. And I had not even told any of the Jews—not the priests, the leaders, the officials, or any other Jews who would be helping in the work.

So, he took time to see the situation for himself.

But when I got back, I said to them, “Jerusalem is truly in a mess! The gates have been torn down and burned, and everything is in ruins. We must rebuild the city wall so that we can again take pride in our city.”

Then I told them how kind God had been and what the king had said.

Immediately, they replied, “Let’s start building now!” So they got everything ready.

People get excited about what is going to happen. But wait, where there is enthusiasm there are often naysayers.

When Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab heard about our plans, they started insulting us and saying, “Just look at you! Do you plan to rebuild the walls of the city and rebel against the king?” 

Look how the critic twisted the work that was about to be accomplished. He starts with an accurate statement, “DO YOU PLAN TO REBUILD THE WALLS OF THE CITY…” Well, Nehemiah could say YES to that, but then because there is corruption in opposition, he continues “… AND REBEL AGAINST THE KING?” Nehemiah is not distracted by this tactic. He simply answers:

I answered, “We are servants of the God who rules from heaven, and he will make our work succeed. So we will start rebuilding Jerusalem, but you have no right to any of its property, because you have had no part in its history.”

If you choose to read some more of Nehemiah, I’ll tell you to skip chapter 3 (it’s a big ol’ list), but I would recommend 4-6 for some more instances of these interactions of getting the wall built IN SPITE OF the opposition that is upon him. You’ll see more of those ‘arrow’ prayers. I particularly like that Nehemiah uses the word REMEMBER a lot.

Now, here’s the important reminder… the arrow prayers of Nehemiah aren’t the extent of the relationship – they are, I believe the shortcuts that come from a close relationship. Nehemiah constantly credits God for his work in and through Nehemiah.

Here’s the miracle of this story. The walls have been down for YEARS! But in chapter 6 we find out that in just 52 days the walls get rebuilt.  So how did it get accomplished? Well, Nehemiah sets everyone to work the section of wall that is by whomever is closest. Each person gets to be responsible for their bit of the wall. We’ll come back to this in a minute.

Nehemiah faces all sorts of opposition. There are many lies told about him, and what does he do? He prays! He’s busy rebuilding a wall; he has set up everyone to build the little bit of the wall in front of them; and, so everyone is involved in reclaiming the disgrace of the city. Isn’t that what happens when you take pride in something?

And, one of his prayers is “REMEMBER ME WITH FAVOR, MY GOD, FOR ALL I HAVE DONE FOR THESE PEOPLE…”

So in this book, we learn of the importance of having an established relationship with God, because it is out of that relationship that God can put his plans in our heart. Out of that relationship, we then have a place we can go when we face opposition - back to God.

One version of this story reads, “Remember me, O God, when you look on them.” You don’t even have to speak out vengeance on your enemies. If God truly knows who you are, you can simply invite God to be in charge of your reputation. What a comfort!

So how does this sermon apply? Is there a situation that you are in where you don’t know how to move forward? Have you prayed? I’m not talking about a one day event, I’m talking about regularly bringing the situation before God and asking God to prepare your heart and reveal that plan that God has for the situation. I believe that when we come to God with our hearts truly open, that God either changes our heart, or establishes a plan to move forward.

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he’ll give you the desires of your hearts.” And then, of course, there is the work of the church. Each of us has a responsibility to participate in the work of the church. What is the part that God is asking you to play in the ministry or purpose of this church? Have you prayed about it? What is it, that when you hear about trouble or disgrace, you are moved to tears? Maybe this is God pulling you towards a ministry that may not even exist yet. I want to challenge you to be open to God, to allow God to move through you and open your eyes, your hands, your heart to what God wants to do in and through you.

Amen.