And I said to the
king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the
province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to
Judah, 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.
THE STUDY:
What we see in these two
verses is Nehemiahs preparation and understanding of how things worked. He
knew leaders names and their area of responsible. What I found profound was the
last statement in verse 8, And the
king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.
Nehemiah was realistic,
giving God the credit for causing the king to grant his requests. Because
Nehemiah was sure this was of God, he had no problem accepting what the king
offered. In the Bible, God often uses the king of a country in the divine plan
(e.g., Exod 6:1; 10:1; 14:4; Isa 45:1–7).
God’s work and our
planning are not contradictory. J. White notes, “Prayer is where planning
starts.” Nehemiah modeled good leadership; he prayed, planned, and acted in
dependence on God and submission to his guidance. Neither is research contrary
to dependence on God. Nehemiah knew who the officials were with whom he would
have to deal, so he requested the credentials he would need as the project
progressed.[1]
WHAT WE CAN WALK AWAY
WITH ….
- We walk away this morning with the understanding that through research and planning God’s plan is destined for victory. We are to put forth our best for God but we are to also remember the Glory goes to Him.
APPLICATION:
Burt Reynolds starred in an old film entitled
"The End". In the film he decides to commit suicide by swimming out
as far as he can until he is exhausted and then just go under. But after going
under he is looking at the surface from the underside and decides not to go
through with it. As he breaks the surface of the water he screams, "I want
to live! I want to live!" He then begins to try to swim to shore, but it
is a very long way off. As he begins to swim he talks to God. He promises to
obey all of the Ten Commandments, and then realizes he doesn't know what all of
them are so he promises to learn them. Then, in his panic, he says, "Lord,
if you get me out of this, I will give you 80% of everything I have." But
time passes and he is still going strong, and besides he can just begin to see
the shoreline. But as he continues to swim he feels his strength holding out
and says, "Lord, if you help me to get to shore alive I will give you 10%
of all my earnings." And, finally, he struggles to the place where he sees
that he is just going to be able to make it to land and says, "Well, Lord,
let's just forget about what I said before. I think I can make it from here on
my own." Reynolds' attitude is reflective of the attitude of many people
today
Nehemiah knew
He needed God to accomplish the task at hand. He never forgot who was doing
what. Not the King but the King of Kings! Today, let us not forget we can
research, prepare, and accomplish great things through God, but he must get the
Glory!
Blessings my friends
Pastor Rod
[1]
Breneman, M. (1993). Vol. 10: Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (electronic ed.).
The New American Commentary (177). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
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