Wednesday Bible Study: Reconstructing Nehemiah Part IV

 

This time, we watch Nehemiah assess the scope of the task ahead.  Anytime we try to do a work in the Lord- even a repair job on our own lives- we are going to be faced with the Job, and the Enemies.  For Nehemiah, job one was just getting to Jerusalem- a trip of several months.  But Nehemiah was not alone:

Neh 2:9  Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. 

The commentators note something interesting here.  For when Ezra came back 17 years before...

Ezr 8:22  For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, "The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him." 

But not Nehemiah, and we have two lessons there.  First, while it is good to have faith in God, it is also bad to "put The Lord your God to the test."  Don't be afraid to ask for help-  Only the first of things this post will strike ME on.  Second, you aren't alone in starting the work- God will always have His angels around to keep you as safe as He wills.  And this is BEFORE he/we starts the work!  But, before you go getting cocky, this also happens before he gets started...

Neh 2:10  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. 

Just seeking the welfare of the people set the enemy to work- and seeking your own welfare before God will, too.  This is why starting your day with Prayer is so important.  As soon as your intent is to do good, Satan and his lackeys are ready to overthrow it.  We are going to deal with these particular enemies in a moment.  But Nehemiah isn't quite there yet.

Neh 2:11  So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. 

Nehemiah doesn't tell us any more of those three days.  Being a Persian official with a military escort, he was probably recognized, feted, made contact with the movers and shakers.  Chuck Swindall pointed out that it may have been a period of rest, of getting his feet underneath him after the long journey.  I think it was Charles Stanley who taught me the acronym HATE- never act when you are hungry, angry, tired, or emotional.  Nehemiah had to start the work with a settled mind.  

Neh 2:12  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. 

Why the secrecy? For Nehemiah, he was going to need to have the facts in front of him before he announced his grand project.  And, he had to convince HIMSELF it could be done, before he came to those who would do the work.  This is a "dark night of the soul" moment- whether you can trust God in doing the thing, enough to make the attempt, and enough to tell others you're trying to make it.  Think of the alcoholic who announces at a party, "I'm giving it up," only to have his 'friends' tell him, "Aw, come on, be serious,"- does he shrug and say, "Aw, you're right," or, "No, seriously!"  Before he could start the thing, he had to be sure that he could go from cup bearer to construction supervisor.  How does this work for me?  Let me tell you:  After I typed the word "project" I had NO IDEA where to go.  But I prayed, and God whispered in my ear the next line.  I had to trust God I wasn't just "going around the wall" for no reason.

So now, he sees the project, and has steeled himself in the Lord it can be done.  And, he goes on and convinces those around him to go along- even makes them enthusiastic!  But now, the enemies come out in force:

Neh 2:19  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?" 

Now I need to explain about Nehemiah's enemies- and ours.  Sanballat was from Moab; we know this because, one, Horon was "a place of two caves" in Moab; second, his name- based on the moon-god Sin, from Babylon- shows the connection that had come from Babylonian rule in Moab.  Some speculate it might have been a title, and he was "the Sanballat" from Moab.  That he was the main enemy to speak makes him, for me, the Lust of the Eyes.

Tobiah was an Ammonite; both these two enemies had a shared heritage of springing from Lot's incestuous daughters.  My folks might call them "shirt-tail relations" of the Jews, which will be important later.  Josephus names him the progenitor of a wealthy dynasty that would later cause problems for the Hasmonean rulers of Jerusalem.  Nehemiah says he had wormed his way in to the power structure of Jerusalem to a point he was married to the High Priest's daughter and had an office in the Temple itself!  He is quite obviously my Lust of the Flesh, having wormed his way deep inside like a cancer.

Geshem was not just "an Arab" (which of course, made him also "shirt-tail relations", as the Arabs spring from Abraham's other son, Ishmael), he was likely king of a tribe known as Kedarites, which had influence in those days even up to Israel.  Where Sanballat was the leader from a nearby lackey, and Tobiah was a worm inside the apple, Geshem was a distant but powerful force from outside- the Pride of Life.

These three had little in common, other than the one thing- not wanting to share their power over the area.  While the walls were down, they had a say in things.  But Nehemiah had a word for them:

Neh 2:20  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." 

Shirt-tail relations had no portion among the people of God.  Just so, I am saved; these sins have no claim on me.  They cannot tell me what to do, cause me to fear, make me do nothing.That DOESN'T mean they aren't going to INFLUENCE me, and that's where we go next.

Snow

 

This is this morning.  But how did we get here?

Four days ago, we took the one enjoyable walk of our week...

Hard to tell by the cloud cover, though

To our north...

To our south, lol

Misty was looking up this tree at the squirrel- and the heron perched above him, who didn't wait to be captured on film

That night, the Martin Family had a round of drunken karaoke...

Misty did not sing.  She did dance, a little

Shenan killed it on the Judds' Grampa....

Making KC cry....

The kids do a duet...

I apparently tried to help her on one song...

Friday was busy with Misty's doctor visit (she got her monthly dosage lowered!), groceries, and the OU football game.  Saturday was the family Thanksgiving meal, and a raucous game of Apples to Apples (which I won).  Sadly, neither I nor Laurie were sharp enough to take pics, with twin head colds slowing us down.  It was still a good time, with deli sliced turkey to cut down on leftovers, and an actual houseful once again.

Today, however...

On the bright side, now that she's no longer slowed by her Addisons', Misty is back to being "Crazy Dog" in the snow!

Just so you know...

 ...I'll probably play catch-up on the M10 next week.  I know, I know, it'll throw off my numbers, but I still ain't come up with a Christmas party anyway!  Enjoy your weekend!

Wednesday Bible Study: Reconstructing Nehemiah III

 

So now we are 5 months of praying, fasting, and weeping for Nehemiah later, and he is waiting on the day that God would allow him to speak to the 'king of kings'- not a small feat, for even wives ran the risk of punishment for seeking him if he wasn't "in the mood", which we learn in Esther 4:11:

Est 4:11  "All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law--to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days." 

Last week, I noted (thinking it off-hand) that Nehemiah would have to come seeking permissions, logistical support, political clout, and a friend on the inside.  After I posted, I realized I wasn't guided to this list randomly- and it HAD to have an application for my situation.  I had a further confirmation when I felt that a passage from my morning reading in Psalms connected...

Psa 74:16  Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun. 

Psa 74:17  You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter. 

How does that fit in- and fit in with me?  Let's find out together.

Permissions:  The day and the night (time).

Nehemiah, as we start chapter 2, was still waiting to talk to Artaxerxes:

Neh 2:1  In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 

Neh 2:2  And the king said to me, "Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart." Then I was very much afraid. 

Note, you DON'T see anything like, "So I set my face to confront my lord."  He was waiting on God's timing.  And though he was patient, it was getting to him.  "Now I had not been sad in his presence"; but finally he had to let down the false face of contentment he was showing, and reveal his deep feelings to his king.  When we have something we go to God about, are we presenting a false face?  "I know I should be handling this..."  Jesus died so we DON'T have to, and shouldn't, 'handle this'.  I have to let down the "I need to do this" attitude and just say, "I can't do this, and it makes me sad."

The lights, and logistics:

Now he was exposed before the king- emotion showed before the king might be a death sentence.  "You make me sad, I make you sad".  Why don't we just come with our sadness, our weakness, to God?  At its end, it's pride; but also fear- fear of the consequences of admitting, "I'm not good enough."  But here's the thing-

Jas 4:1  What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 

Jas 4:2  You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 

Jas 4:3  You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 

He HAD to ask- and it had to be honest.  No BS story about, "Sad? I'm not sad", or, "Because I have not brought you riches and glory" was gonna do it.  So now, with God having finally put his back against the wall, Nehemiah asks:

Neh 2:3  I said to the king, "Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" 

Here's where the logistics comes in:

Neh 2:4  Then the king said to me, "What are you requesting?" So I prayed to the God of heaven. 

Far from being destroyed, mocked, or ignored, Nehemiah found the door opened to him, just because he had explained the need.  Fear of the Lord shouldn't involve being literally afraid.  Psa 62:7  On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.  Psa 62:8  Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah .  But here's the next thing- what do I REALLY need?  That takes Wisdom- aka the Holy Spirit- to get right before God.  This is a GOOD thing, though- 

Rom 8:26  Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 

Rom 8:27  And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 

Politics, and the boundaries:

Now the logistics- the physical logistics- runs into the political for Nehemiah.  He requests: Permission to do the job;  he sets a time limit to do it ( apparently 12 years); and letters for the governors of the satrapies he'll have to cross, giving him permission to cross; and finally a blank check at the hardware store:

Neh 2:8  and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy." And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me. 

Does the list apply to us- to me?  Well, consider: Not every problem we have is something God necessarily WANTS to take from us:

2Co 12:7  So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 

2Co 12:8  Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 

2Co 12:9  But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

- so, yeah, asking permission for my "mission" is required- something I hadn't thought about before this moment.  Plus, it is like the 'two wolves' story- thew one you feed is the one that lives.  If I have been feeding my "wolf" for a long time, it's going to take time to starve it to death.  So time is definitely a factor, just as it has been for Nehemiah from the start.  Then, the deed is going to cross a lot of old borders- borders of resources, of society, of habits needing to change.  I will have to ask God for the strength at EACH stop.  AND, finally, I'm going to have to rely on God's provision to "build back better".

Finally, the seasons and the friend on the inside:

Seasons change, moods change.  If Artaxerxes had been upset, growling about those annoying Greeks, or whatever, he might not have been in the giving mood he was.  "If you can't do you job right, being joyful before me, what good are you?"  But God had inserted, I believe, an x-factor:

Neh 2:6  And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him)...

I mentioned before the speculation that this was Esther.  Think on it:  God had already given her an access to the king that most wives never got (remember, the last wife got fired for not dancing naked in front of his buddies); that she was there might have been the modifying force to make Artaxerxes so amenable. Esther was also expert in being there "for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14), and would it be a stretch for God to use her this way again?  Plus, she was a Jew, just as Nehemiah, and both shared blood and similar circumstances would have made her sympathetic to Nehemiah's plight.  Finally, it explains why the Spirit led Nehemiah to add, "the Queen sitting beside him" in the first place!  But now, what has that to do with me?  Well...

1Jn 2:1  My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 

So what do I/we learn from all this?  

-God has His timing...

-I need to let my false face of strength drop...

- I have to ask, and seek the Spirit to ask the right thing...

- I have to inquire IF what I want is in His will....

-I have to be prepared to let a LOT of things change...

- I need to rely on His provision....

- and I need to let Jesus be my advocate.

Lord, help me to bring this in prayer to you, to seek your will in this, to guide me in self-examination, in trusting you with the changes necessary, and relying not on my strength- or even my perception of the problem- and put all things into the hands of Jesus my Savior.  Amen.

It was a Monday...

 ...but first, lets have a Saturday- 29 F out there, but calm (Around -1 or 2 C for you out-of towners...).

Nice and frosty white

The trees were dropping leaves like rainfall.  I tried to capture it for you all...

...but falling leaves don't photograph well.

Talked to a couple of friendly discers.  Misty tried to chase one of their tosses.

I'm thinking the top of this doesn't make spring...

Bridge, facing west- collage of leaves

Bridge, facing east:  River of silver

"Water's warmer than the grass..."

Ice on south canal

Okay...

Misty wondering if she'll ever wade in at the landing again

"It's good for us- we don't weigh enough to sink in the mud..."

"Sigh..."

For some reason, her shadow was cracking me up

Saturday afternoon I had a bout of... well, something that made nearby bathrooms a priority.  So Sunday was a wash walk wise, but I got to tease my boss about winning money on his Bears folding in the 4th quarter on DraftKings, so it was okay.  His reply:  I used to like you.

Monday I had a oil change appointment, and as I waited, Three interesting people made my notice.  The first was a nice lady who came in right after me.  We talked doggies until her ride came.  Then came Mr Anal-retentive, who somehow managed to find four different ways to explain to the techs that the last place overfilled his oil.  Third was a phone call from a lady who I could hear clear over at my seat, upset about an estimate the shop gave her that she claimed was $4,000, but the tech told her, "I was the one who took all your calls.  It was $2,000 every time."  She hung up on him, and he was barely done telling the other guy in the office when she called back, louder than ever.  After mumbling, "Here we go again", he politely answered the phone, she ranted for about 10 seconds, then the phone went silent.  "This time," the tech said, "I hung up on her!"

I was soon home, and took Misty for a walk... BUT...

35F with a cold wind...

...probably should have changed out of my slippers...

Here we were met with a mighty charge of leaves.  But, leaves flying don't photograph well, either

One of those jobs that should have been done Sunday....

Fat lot of help you are, sun!

I was going to head for the woods, but Misty said, Screw that, we're heading home," and down the Ponderosa trail, across the soccer pitch, and through the complex we went.

And yet, some people's kids...

Next was an outing to get some odds and ends, which became a comedy of errors, featuring going to two Lowe's to find one thing, and paying twice to buy another.  In the end though, we made it home with our grand prize- a new microwave stand...

...and amazingly, we assembled it (mostly) properly!