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The Courage to Make a Difference
By Scott McClymonds
Busy Bees Christian PreSchool
I am going to share with you a portion of one of my favorite stories in the Bible. I think you will be inspired by the main character, Nehemiah. He was a picture of faith, courage, and action, and we can all learn a great deal from his example.
Nehemiah’s willingness to act on God’s call helped transform history. His story should encourage each of us to take time to listen to God’s calling on our lives, and to step out in faith into that calling. His courage and convictions definitely helped my wife Cindy and I as we struggled through some tremendously difficult times with our business.
Let’s get started with a bit of background. Nehemiah lived in a time when the Jewish people were in captivity. Roughly 100 years prior to the events in Nehemiah the city of Jerusalem had been captured by the Babylonians, and the Jews who survived were taken back to Babylon as captives. The events leading up to this captivity are described throughout the books of Kings and Chronicles in the Old Testament. In short, their leaders failed to follow God and His laws, and they eventually incurred God’s wrath and judgment in the destruction of their city and nation.
In God’s great mercy and love for His people, He did not abandon them. Beginning in the book of Ezra we see how God worked through the ancient Persian kings to enable some of the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. That was only part of the work God wanted to be done though, so He used a man named Nehemiah to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and turn the hearts of his people back to Him.
This particular article covers chapter 1 and the first 8 verses of chapter 2 of the book of Nehemiah. I recommend you take out your Bible and read those before we go any further.
Chapter 1 opens with Nehemiah receiving an alarming report about the condition of the Jews in Jerusalem. They were impoverished and in great distress. Their city was burned and in ruins. They were living among the pagan peoples without protection or any type of unity in their culture. As Nehemiah realizes the plight of his fellow Jews, he is filled with deep sorrow, and immediately turns to God.
He realizes the Jews in Jerusalem are in such a miserable condition due to the consequences of sin. He goes to God in prayer, confessing his sins and the sins of all Israel. He confesses that he and the Jews have neglected God and His laws, and have acted corruptly against God. After that Nehemiah appeals to God’s great love and mercy by asking God to be attentive to his prayer, to let him prosper, and to grant him mercy in front of the king.
A careful look at this prayer lets us conclude that Nehemiah had made his mind up to take action since he had asked God to be attentive to his prayer, to let him prosper, and to grant him mercy before the king. If he hadn’t planned any action he would not have asked for God’s blessing. We learn two things here. The first is that we are dependent upon God’s mercy to help us do anything. Jesus says, “Without me you can do nothing”. The next lesson is that God does require action of us. He doesn’t just wave His magic wand and say, “Poof!” No, He works through weak and fragile people like you and me to accomplish His objectives.
We also learn that Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the king. It was his job to bring the king his beverages and taste them to make sure they were high quality as well as non-toxic. Somehow he had worked himself up to this trusted and influential position inside the king’s inner circle despite the fact that he was a captive. As we see shortly, Nehemiah uses this position to his advantage in order to carry out God’s call on his life.
As chapter two unfolds we see the king inquiring why Nehemiah was looking so glum, and Nehemiah musters up the courage to talk about the great burden of Jerusalem that was on his heart. It seems as though the king may have caught Nehemiah by surprise, because Nehemiah says he was “dreadfully afraid” when the king approached him. We see God’s hand at work when He moves the king to say, “What is it that you want?”
Despite his fear, Nehemiah says a brief prayer to God, then tells the king exactly what he wants. This list of resources Nehemiah requests indicates he had been thinking and praying about this for quite some time. In fact, about four months had passed between the time when Nehemiah had first heard the news about Jerusalem and this discussion with the king. Incredibly, the king is moved by God to give Nehemiah exactly what he wants, and soon he is on his way to Jerusalem.
What can we learn from this history lesson? I believe it contains a lifetime of learning, but there are several points in particular that I would like to bring to you.
First is the issue of passion. We saw Nehemiah’s tremendous passion and concern for the Jewish people, and I ask all of us together to see if we have the same passion and concern for our families. The family is God’s core unit of government and ministry, and He cares deeply about it.
Number two is taking accurate stock of our family’s situation. Are we doing as well as we should be? Are we making progress toward our goals? Are our relationships healthy and improving? Are we growing in our love toward each other and toward God? If we assess our families accurately we may find many things we need to change. Just as Nehemiah didn’t want God’s people to remain in bondage, we should also want our families to realize their full potential despite the fact that it may take radical change.
Third is developing a bold and clear vision for your family. What do you want your relationships to look like? What values do you want to teach your children? What types of attitudes do you want them to have toward other people? What ways do you and your family want to serve your community? What do you want your relationship with God to be like?
Fourth is resolving to do something, to take bold action that you know will make a dramatic difference. Nehemiah could have stayed in his safe and influential position with the king. Instead, he decided his cause was so important that it demanded his entire being, even at the risk of putting himself into dangerous and uncertain situations. What do you need to resolve to do? What are you willing to risk for it?
Fifth is turning to God in prayer, acknowledging that He is the source of true change. Just as Nehemiah confessed his sins to God, maybe we need to do the same. Similar to Nehemiah’s prayer, perhaps we have some responsibility for holding our families back by neglecting our relationship with God.
Six is realizing we need the help and support of other people to accomplish big things. Many of you have a spouse with whom you can work together to make great things happen. Those of you who are single parents need to assess who can help you. Christianity takes teamwork.
Finally, you need to depend on God’s mercy and promises to help you transform your family into being all it can be. Remember, He is faithful. He loves you so much that He sent His son Jesus to be a substitute for your sins. Put your trust in Him and you will not be disappointed.
