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Nehemiah (Part 3) - The Strategy

Dec 1, 2012 by: Viji Roberts| Series: Nehemiah

Review
1. SETTING - Introduction
2. SITUATION- A matter of perspective
• To correctly understand the situation (circumstance) around us, it is important to have the right Biblical perspective.
• Right perspective is not a personal interpretation of the Biblical, but a perspective through the mind of Christ.
• Personal perspective without the mind of Christ will make me self-righteous; have an attitude of superiority over our fellow brethren, leading to condemnation and judgment.
• On the other hand, perspective that has the mind of Christ will make me humble; esteem the other person better than me; broken enough to cry and weep for others –leading to building and edifying.
• We also saw that this is possible only by returning to the Bible- honoring it, hearing it, handling it right and heeding to its commands. God’s Word must become the basis of our everyday living for the right CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE.

STRATEGY

Today, we will look at STRATEGY, and the phrase for the day is CHRISTIAN PERSISTENCE. The strategy to deal with the work we have in front of us is persistence.
As perspective is possible only through the reading and keeping of the Word of God, we will see that persistence is possible only through consistent prayer.
In trying to understand this strategy, we will cover:
• Steeping the plans in prayer
• 3-D results of prayer — Dependence, Discernment and Determination, which are the elements of persistence

What is Persistence?
“To go on in spite of opposition”.
When you feel that being persistent is a difficult task, think of the bee. A red clover blossom contains less than 1/8th of a grain of sugar; 7,000 grains are required to make a pound of honey. A bee, flitting here and there for sweetness, must visit 56,000 clover heads for each pound of honey; and there are about 60 flower tubes to each clover head. When a bee performs that operation 3,360,000 times, it secures enough sweetness for only one pound of honey. The John Adair Lexicon of Leadership: The Definitive Guide to Leadership skills and knowledge (pg 466).

The Bible insists on and in fact rewards persistence.
James 1:12 – “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”

Remember the Parable of the persistent friend. Luke 11:8 The Greek word translated as “persistence” means “shameless”. A freedom from bashfulness to continue knocking at the throne of Grace.

Let us see the secret of Nehemiah’s persistence.
1. He steeped his plans in prayer
Nehemiah 1:4-11.
To understand Nehemiah we must understand the importance of prayer.
Someone said, “Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer”. That person couldn’t have been more wrong. We often mistake activity for work, and get restless about waiting. We forget that praying is laboring and that our hands can’t work, if they aren’t first clasped in prayer.
Col 4:12 - “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently for you in prayer that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”

Sharpening the saw: Praying and waiting on the Lord is the spiritual equivalent of sharpening the saw. We can’t get work done without first sharpening the saw.

Stephen Covey tells the story of a man who was walking through a forest when he came across a frustrated lumberjack. The lumberjack was trying to cut down a tree with and was swearing and cursing as he laboured in vain.
“What’s the problem?” the man asked. “My saw’s blunt and won’t cut the tree properly”, the lumberjack responded. “Why don’t you just sharpen it?” “Because then I would have to stop sawing”, said the lumberjack. “But if you sharpened your saw, you could cut more efficiently and effectively than before.” “But I don’t have time to stop!” the lumberjack retorted, getting more frustrated. The man shook his head and kept on walking, leaving the lumberjack to his pointless frustration. This story is relevant to so many of us isn’t it? … we keep struggling with a blunt saw.
(Accessed: 23 Feb 2012.http://betterlifecoaching.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/sharpening-the-saw-a-story-about-continued-development/ )

If we want to get work done, we need to have a sharp saw. Praying not just renews us but also strengthens us.
Isa 40:31“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.”
John Bunyan once said “He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day”.

Nehemiah understood this well. There are ten prayers of Nehemiah recorded in the entire narration. These prayers and effect of prayer on Nehemiah have lessons for us.
Let’s have a look at some of them and the principles we can learn from them.

The first prayer is found in Neh 1:6.
Neh 1:6“Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned.”

Watch the principles in this prayer:
• First: “Confession”. It is imperative to have clean hands and a pure heart.
God cannot and will not use anything that is not clean. Come clean with God before we can even begin our work.
• Second: “there is a petition”. God is the one who moves first, not me.
We are not doing our work through God’s help, but God is doing His work through us. If it is His work, He must then call the shots.
• Third: “We have sinned”. There are no stars or individual, independent super agents in the army of God.
We work together, as a family; as a body; and as an army. What affects one, affects the other. The sins of the children of Israel were the sin of Nehemiah. There is culpability by association.

Phil 2:3“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.” (NLT)
The second generation cupbearer who had risen up the ranks with integrity and hard work to be a high official in a strange land did not think of himself as any better than the exiled children of Israel, whose sins and rebellion had gotten them in their mess. He didn’t think THEY deserved it. He didn’t think himself to be immune to the justice of God, having being BLESSED with the riches and luxury of living in the palace.
How do we apply this to ourselves?
For one, love makes the difference: Bible teacher Dudley Hall recounts the story of Jesus’ restoration of Peter, explaining that Jesus never asks Peter if he likes sheep, or feels particularly attracted to sheep. Instead, Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love Me?” It is this love for Jesus that is to be our motivation to serve Him and the Church. I want to be “called” – and if I am to be “driven,” I want it to be by the Holy Spirit and not by fear or my own selfish ambition or motivation. [Are You Driven or Called? By Craig von Buseck.CBN.com Ministries Director. Accessed. Feb 23, 2012.http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/BibleStudyAndTheology/discipleship/vonBuseck_Driven_Called.aspx?option=print%5D

1 Pet 4:8 - “For love covers a multitude of sins”.
Also, as Nehemiah was praying, his burden for Jerusalem became greater and his vision of what needed to be done became clearer. Real prayer keeps your heart and your head in balance so your burden doesn’t make you impatient to run ahead of the Lord. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be determined (21). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books).

The SECOND prayer of Nehemiah is recorded in Neh 2:4.
“…So I prayed to the God of heaven…”
A quick prayer before Nehemiah answers the King’s question. We talk about thinking on our feet; Nehemiah demonstrates to us the strategy of ‘praying on our feet’.

Look again at the principles:
• First: He is able to pray on his feet, because he first prayed on his knees. (‘night and day’ Neh 1:6).
• Second: Nehemiah reminds us that we would be immobilized and tongue-tied without prayer.
• Third: His first petition is to the King of Kings, the God of heaven, not ‘this man’, the king of Persia.

Wiersbe in his book ‘Determined’ writes ‘It encourages my prayer life when I contrast the earthly throne of Artaxerxes with the throne of grace in heaven. Nehemiah had to wait for an invitation before he could share his burden with the king, but we can come to the throne of grace at any time with any need.’ (Heb 4:14–16). (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be determined (26). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books).

The THIRD prayer of Nehemiah is recorded in Neh 4:4-5.
Neh 4:4-5“Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity: And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked [thee] to anger before the builders.”
This prayer is jarring and seems to be against the grain of all that we have been taught in the Bible. Yet we find Nehemiah praying what scholars call the ‘Imprecatory’ prayer.

The Principles here are:
• First, if you have to vent, vent before the Lord. Remember, when someone upsets us there is no use venting. You want to get it off your chest, take it to the Lord. It is the safest place. There will be no regrets here.
• Second, worldly wisdom would advise that we talk back to let them know our mind. We can only follow that if we have the mind of Christ. However, when we are upset it is usually our old self that manifests itself and that is when we need to get with God real quick, just like Nehemiah.
Venting is not biblical, but praying is.

The FOURTH prayer of Nehemiah is recorded in Neh 4:9.
Neh 4:9“But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.”
Nehemiah both prayed and set a watch. It sounds both ironic and as if lacking in faith. However, Nehemiah realizes anything less would be tempting God. (Remember the temptation of Christ?)
The principles here are:
• First, prayers don’t replace work but must precede it.
• Second, toil and labour are part of God’s employment package.
• Third, Nehemiah knew that it was not in the posting of the guard but in his trusting that he would be victorious.

We can draw parallels from other characters in the Bible to see this principle repeated. David chose the five stones and God saw to it that the stone reached its target. Moses lifted up the rod, but it was God who parted the waters. Based on Abraham’s understanding of His God (Heb 11:19), he could have landed on the mountain without the wood and fire believing God was up to something anyway. Nehemiah had the right strategy about God’s work: Prayer did not take away his responsibility of toiling.

Prayer is trust but not an excuse for laziness and irresponsibility. It’s godly discernment to be responsible in what God has entrusted us to do. Praying does not eliminate work but clarifies it.

We see that Nehemiah’s enemies failed, not so much as a result of the success of Nehemiah’s strategies, but because “God had brought their plot to nothing”. (Neh 4:15) Nehemiah planned as if it was a go, but prayed for it to be a go.

The tenth prayer of Nehemiah: Neh 13: 29-31.
It is interesting to note that the book of Nehemiah ends with a prayer.
What are the principles here?
• First, God Himself is our great reward and over and above He adds further rewards.
• Second, cleansing - being about God’s business, offering and first fruits are important to God and Nehemiah ensures those are followed. A fresh reminder to give to God what belongs to Him.

We could track through each of his prayers and arrive at certain principles that are helpful to us as Christians. However, we will move on see the results of his prayer life.

2. The 3-D Effect of Prayer — Dependence, Discernment and Determination (Elements of Persistence).

We saw previously that Nehemiah had the right perspective about the situation. Today we understood he was a man of prayer. He waited on the Lord, and was ready to act when God began the work.
I believe, his dependence, discernment and determination came from the habit of prayer. This I what I want to call the 3-D effect of prayer in the life of Nehemiah.

Let us look at examples of where he demonstrates the 3-D effects of prayer and from there see a direct application to our lives.

Dependence
Neh 1:5 - “and said, I beseech thee, O LORD, God of heaven, the great and terrible God…”
Oswald Chambers once wrote, “the remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.”
Though Nehemiah knows he has nothing to fear, except God, Nehemiah does not shoot off his mouth. His dependence on God does not fill him with arrogance but with discernment.
Prov 9:10 - “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…”
Nehemiah is therefore a good example of how believers should relate to unsaved officials as they seek to do the work of God. Nehemiah respected the king and sought to work within the lines of authority that existed in the empire. He didn’t say, “I have a commission from the Lord to go to Jerusalem, and I’m going whether you like it or not!” When it comes to matters of conscience, we must always obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29); but even then, we must show respect for authority (see Rom 13 and 1 Pet 2:11–25). Daniel and his friends took the same approach as did Nehemiah, and God honored them as well (Dan 1). [Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be determined (28). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books]

Discernment
1. Neh 2:12,16 -17. Not everyone will catch the enthusiasm. Be discerning in patience when gathering support.
2. Neh 5: 7. “Then I consulted with myself…”
The nobles weren’t really ‘noble’ and Nehemiah had the discernment to ‘consult with himself’.
The true ability to consult with ourselves comes with walking close to our Master. By mimicking how the Master would have behaved, because we have seen Him act so often in similar circumstances.
3. Neh 6:12 - “ and lo, I perceived that God had not sent him…”
Hiding in the temple sounded very pious and godly, but with discernment comes the ability to identify sin (Neh 6:13) even when coated with the veneer of godliness. Nehemiah understood that acting on fear with a human response was sin.

Determination
God’s Work is not for the weak hearted; at the same time there is no option to cop out. It is meant for all Christians.

Check out “so” statements in the life of Nehemiah: “So I prayed” (Neh 2:4); “So I came to Jerusalem” (Neh 2:11); “So they strengthened their hands for this good work” (Neh 2:18); “So built we the wall” (Neh 4:6); “So we labored in the work” (Neh 4:21); “So the wall was finished” (Neh 6:15).

His determination was backed up by a solid reason, God Himself. Determination is born of out of courage that God is covering our back, and with the passion that we have been called to the work by the Master Himself.

The work was done in 52 days. Dependence. Discernment. Determination.

Application
We can’t be a Nehemiah without persistence that begins with prayer. Truth be told, these are not just for people like Nehemiah but for all of us Christians.
Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Every Christian is involved in an endurance race. Don’t get out of breath too soon. Don’t give up just yet. And don’t lose heart or feel left out. Nehemiah felt it, Jesus underwent it and as a Christian you will experience it too.
The key word for this week is PERSISTANCE.