Road Trippin With Rachael

So I prayed to the God of the heavens – Nehemiah 2:4b (CSB)

I have a confession. I am a Type A personality. Not only am i Type A, but I’m also an INTJ-A (Myers Briggs introvert, intuitive, thinking, judging, and assertive.) What does this mean? It ultimately means that I am a planner. I like to have a plan in lace when I am doing something. I think my way through situations and potential situations, analyzing all the possible outcomes. It also means that I am a chess player – I am looking ahead and anticipating the actions and reactions of those around me.

However, there is a major flaw with my personality type: I can’t control other people. No matter how much I plan, how many plans I have, or how well I know someone to anticipate their reactions, I can’t control what other people do. I can’t one hundred percent plan the outcome of anything. Why? The answer is simple: people have wills of their own, and no matter how much I plan, prepare, or anticipate people can still react in ways that I don’t consider.

Before anyone gets up in arms about the place of free will versus God’s will, let’s all agree that there is a tension that exists between the two, and no one fully understands it. We see examples of both God exercising his will on people, and in people exercising their own free will. We see God hardening the heart of Pharaoh and Pharaoh hardening his own heart (Exodus 10).

We see where God is able to somehow use his will , and the individual will to bring his ultimate will to pass. God does this through the situations he allows us to enter into. He will do this, not of the cuff, but through his planning and timing far into the future. We are incapable of fully understanding how he does this, but we see how he does this through his actions. And Nehemiah is no exception. As we begin chapter two of Nehemiah, we see four acts that God uses to bring his will to pass.

God has us turn to him in times of great stress

So the king said to me, ‘Why are you sad, when you aren’t sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart. […] The the king asked me, ‘What is your request?’ So I prayed to the God of the heavens and answered the king, ‘If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, send me to Judah and to the city where my ancestors are buried, so that I may rebuild it.’ – Nehemiah 2:2, 4 (CSB)

There is nothing quite like a time of great stress to make you turn towards God.

In this moment Nehemiah is put on the spot. He works for the top government official in the world at the time, and this is not the modern-day western world, where if he does not give an acceptable answer that he will only loose his position. This, right then and there, was a situation where if he did not give an acceptable answer that was truthful, he would be killed on the spot.

Let’s start by taking a look at verse 2. The king wants to know why Nehemiah is sad, because he clearly wasn’t sick. One of my former bosses often said that when we are running large events we need to be like ducks: everything is smooth and graceful on the surface of the water, but underneath our feet are going like we are getting ready for take off. Thank you Will Brantley for that picture that I’ve used multiple times when I’ve worked with new employees. I image that Nehemiah had a similar job before him. He worked for the king, and he was by the king on a regular basis. In fact, he was present, most likely, continuously since he was the cupbearer. He had to maintain a professional persona at all times, because a nervous cupbearer could result in a dead cupbearer, which would be a sign of weakness for his king.

I think we need to question why the king noticed. Why did this powerful man look at his cupbearer, a Jew, and want to know what has upset him to the point that he is allowing it to show publicly. I’m sure that as a king, he was taught from a young age to be aware of his surroundings, but he was also to be surrounded by people who were going to watch out for him. God used Nehemiah’s change in demeanor to trigger the king to ask a question that would not have been typical question a leader would pose to someone whose job was to make sure your food and drink were not poisoned. God used the king to set the stage for Nehemiah to ask a necessary question.

In stead of giving an excuse or panicking, Nehemiah prayed. This prayer was that the king would allow for him to leave his post for a specified amount of time, and rebuild Jerusalem. We can look forward in scripture and see that this request would be a greatly used to encourage and clear the way for revival among the people of God, but Nehemiah was concerned with this one moment, and this one situation. In his infinite goodness and mercy, God gave Nehemiah the words to say to convince the king that he should let him return to the land of his people.

God prepares our hearts

And replied to the king, ‘May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?’ – Nehemiah 2:3 (CSB)

We are going to back track slightly into verse 3. Nehemiah’s initial response is somewhat snarky to the English speaking person. “Why should i not be sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins.” You can almost hear the sarcasm spilling out.

What we must always keep in mind is the audience to whom Nehemiah was writing. Nehemiah was originally recording his exchange with the king and was recounting it to a Jewish audience. These were people who were under Persian rule at this point in history. Their parents or grandparents would have immigrated back to the land of Canaan, after having been born and raised in Babylon or Persia. Instead of seeing this as a snarky remark, we need to see it as a reminder to the king that Nehemiah is one of subjects, but he is also not a Persian. He is reminding the king of who he, Nehemiah, is and of where he comes from. As a whole, the Persian empire was huge by any standards – the king would have had someone keeping an eye on it, but would not be involved in the intimate details beyond what was “need to know.” Nehemiah, in his own way – and by the grace of God, if reminding the king that something small to him is of extreme importance to someone else.

No matter how positively Nehemiah would have made this statement, we need to understand that it was still bold. He is reminding the king of the state of the people that were conquered. He is bringing attention to himself when a generation ago, this same ruling family approved of the killing of an entire people group (see the book of Esther).

And yet…Nehemiah still said it. he still spoke what was on his heart. Previously, we saw where Nehemiah had been in prayer for his people, repenting of not only his own sins, but also the sins that the people had committed against God. Nehemiah’s heart had been prepared. He was able to speak the truth, despite the fat that “[He] was overwhelmed with fear” (vs. 2). God, through Nehemiah’s willingness to repent, had been preparing his heart to speak the truth when asked, and in turn he prepared Artaxerxes’ heart as we see in the following verses.

God prepares the hearts of those around us

The the king asked me, ‘What is your request?’ So I prayed to the God of the heavens and answered the king, ‘If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, send me to Judah an to the city where my ancestors are buried, so that I may rebuilt it.’ The king, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, ‘How long will your journey take, and when will you return?’ So I gave a definite time, and it pleased the king to send me. – Nehemiah 2:4-6 (CSB)

While Nehemiah was quaking in terror of being asked a direct question by the king, God had been preparing the heart of Artaxerxes. To be clear, this is not expressily stated in Scripture; however, what we see is that the king’s response, instead of being beligerent or demeaning towards this people group of little importance in the eyes of the Persian Kingdom, we seeim asking with genuine intruige, “What is your request?” 

He could have killed Nehemiah. He could have done any number of things. Instead, in a moment where it is clear that God was at work, the king is calm and has a rational, reasonable conversation about what Nehemiah needs to do.

The most interesting part of this whole exchange, to this point, is that Nehemiah had not asked the king for anything. The possibility of him making such a request was ludacris. But God, as He so often does, goes ahead of his people, preparing the way for him. Had Nehemiah initiated thsi conversation, it could have gone one of two ways. It could have followed the path it ultimately does, or it could have ended in an unfortunate way.  In God’s provision, He has the king come up with the idea that Nehemiah could do something for his people. The desire of Nehemiah’s heart is able to come to pass, because God went ahead of him and had the kings heart ready to hear a request that under normal circumstances, he probably wouldn’t have entertained.

I think we can probably all agree that women have a profound influence on the men that are in their live. Mothers, wives, sisters, the women on the street all influence the men that they are around. We can look all through Scripture and see this plaid out for both the positive and negative. Eve was a negative influence and handed Adam the apple (Genesis 3:6). Conversley, Abigail influence saved the life of her household from the wrath David felt (2 Samuel 19:25-34). Even with Artexerxes being the king of the Persian Empire, he still had his queen by his side. God not only prepared the heart of the king, but He prepared the heart of the queen. If she had spoken up, there is a possibility that Nehemiah still would not have been able to gain permission for his request. The queen didn’t speak up against Nehemiah’s request.

Despite being filled with terror standing before the royal couple, Nehemiah had been thinking ahead. Instead of stuttering and stammering, he presents the king with a reasonable timeline of what it would take to travel complete his task, and return to the city. This is how God works: He doesn’t do one thing at a time. He is working out everything to bring His will to pass, in multiple people, at multiple times, in multiple places, and through multiple means. He was preparing Nehemiah’s heart by giving him a burden for his people, while simultaneously over the course of a long time span he was working on the hearts of the king and queen by letting them get to know Nehemiah, and letting them see Nehemiah’s heart and character. When it was God’s timing, the king saw that Nehemiah was burdened by something, and because Nehemiah had been in prayer had had a repentant heart, he was prepared to present a request to the king, even when it came at an unexpected time.

God prepares the details

I also said to the king: ‘If it pleases the king, let me have letters written to the governors of the region wet of the Euphrates River, so that they will grant me safe passage until I reach Judah. And let me have a letter written to Asaph, Keeper of the king’s forest, so that he will give me timber to rebuild the gates of the temple’s fortress, the city wall, and the home where I will live. The king granted my requests, for the gracious hand of my God was on me. I went to the governors of the region west of the Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent officers of the infantry and calvary with me. – Nehemiah 2:7-9 (CSB)

There are times when we need to be able to take a step back and see the big picture, but there are also times when we need to get in close and personal and see the details. There is a time to worry about only seeing the grass, and a time to dig into the weeds. I have a co-worker who were loving call “Details Diva.” Her particular role in our office is to help coordinate visits by making sure that everyone knows where they need to be at specific times. God is the same way. He has a way of caring about the details that come along, and being involved in them.

As we have clearly been able to see up to this point, God has been actively involved in the little details of Nehemiah’s chronicle up to this point. That point is further driven home, by the fact that Nehemiah, in the middle of being shocked that the king didn’t kill him, but instead asked what he (Nehemiah) wanted to do about the pardicament that he has found his people in. Nehemiah, once again through God’s provision, had his wits about him enough to realize that there was going to be some push back from the people who had settled into the land of Canaan in the absence of the children of Abraham. 

As a form of protection, and as a way to get what he needed, God gave Nehemiah the wonderful idea that he needed to have letters from the king, which would promise that he was to get where he was going safely, and that he would be able to get the materials he needed. 

In our western, 21st century minds we can’t understand that there would be people who would refuse to accept what would ultimatley be a substantial amount of money and business from someone simply because of their people of origin. In the middle east, during this time, blood and family were everything. Nehemiah knew that those who had come into power during the years that the Jewish people had been in captivity were not going to take kindly to the people of God returning home, nor were they going to take kindly to a Jewish man, regardless of the amount of money he had, purching large quantities of materials that were clearly for a large buiding project. 

There was a cultural understanding. Your tribe matters. Your people matter. Your family matters. The land where you live matters. We see an example of this in the Gospel of Matthew. It mattered that Jesus was born into the family of Joseph, because it proved that he was legally a part of the line of David (Matthew 1:16). We see a similar list given in Luke 3: 23-38. We can get lost in the genealogy, but what it shows as you look through those names, some of whom you will recognize from the Old Testament, is that God cares about the details.

God didn’t only care about the details of Nehemiah’s life, or only about the life of Christ. He cares about the details of your life and mine. He  gives us free will, but there are also people who are brought into our lives who are going to point us to him. They are going to be influences; they will be mentors; they will be friends, family members, and teachers. God wants to have a relationship with you, and he cares about the details in how your relationship is going to come about. Rest assured. You are going to have a relationship with God; whether it is going to be that of a judge and someone who begs for mercy for their sins, or a welcoming Father who is happy to see their son or daughter come home is another story. God wants to welcome you as his child, so much so that he gave up his only begotten Son, to die for the sins of mankind, and raised him again on the third day. Jesus Christ died a death that he alone was wholly undeserving of, but he did it because it was the will of God the Father to use his death to reconcile his people back to himself. Now all who have faith and accept the gift of salvation are able to be called the people of God.

Final Thoughts

God is always working in ways that we do not know. When we are in stressful situations, God already knew that they were going to happen, and he has gone before us. He prepares our hearts through prayer, but also the hearts of those who are around us that are also involved. The important part is that we prepare for these situations ahead of time, by taking the time to pray and to always be seeking his will not matter what comes our way.