Nehemiah 2:1-8: Obtaining God's Blessing

Nehemiah 2:1-8: Obtaining God’s Blessing

 Please turn with me in your Bibles to Nehemiah 2. If you’re using one of the Story Bibles we provide, that’s on page 320. We’ve been going passage by passage through the book of Nehemiah, and this morning we come to Nehemiah 2:1-8. As you may remember, Nehemiah is a Jew living in the pagan land of Persia. He’s actually a very high-ranking official in Persia since he’s the personal cupbearer for the king. And when Nehemiah hears about how God’s holy city of Jerusalem is in shambles, he’s devastated—so devastated that he wants to do something about it. That’s where we pick up in Nehemiah 2:1-8:

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. 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. 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?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.” 6 And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. 7 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. 

When I was in college, I had a roommate who did something I thought was pretty bold. He wanted to purchase an engagement ring for his girlfriend within the next few months, but he didn’t have as much money as he wanted to spend on this ring. I forget exactly how much he had, but he didn’t think it was enough. So he took this money and put all of it into the stock market. And he didn’t even diversify it like I advised him to do. Instead, he put it all into one company. That’s a pretty bold move, especially when you consider that he only had two or three months before he planned on proposing. However, it paid off. The company he invested in happened to be Google (this was back in 2010), and let’s just say Google had an extremely good three months so that my roommate ended up somehow doubling or perhaps even his money. So he took it out, bought the ring, and was a very happy man. He did something quite bold, and it ended up going quite well.

And just like my roommate made a bold move, our text this morning records Nehemiah making a pretty bold move also. And yet, Nehemiah’s endeavor succeeded because of God’s blessing. That’s the main thing we see in this text. In verse 8, Nehemiah states, “And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.” So Nehemiah’s endeavor succeeded because of God’s blessing. And I believe there are three reasons why God blessed Nehemiah’s endeavor, and we’ll spend the rest of our time looking at these.

God Blesses Practical Wisdom

First, God blesses practical wisdom. That’s the first point. God blesses practical wisdom. Now sometimes, of course, you just get lucky like my college roommate did. But typically, the kinds of endeavors God blesses are those that are both conceived and executed with good, practical wisdom. And Nehemiah certainly employed that in making his request of the king. His first wise move was not doing anything hastily. The previous chapter records how Nehemiah first heard the devastating news about Jerusalem during the month of Chislev, which was a month on the Hebrew calendar that spans November and December on our calendar. Then, we see in verse 1 of our main text that Nehemiah didn’t approach the king with his request until the month of Nisan, which spans March and April on our calendar. So in between Nehemiah first hearing about Jerusalem and him asking the king for permission to go rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, there was a span of about 4 months. Nehemiah prayed and planned for 4 months before he talked to the king. And we can see evidence of how well he thought things through as we look at how his conversation with the king unfolds. He doesn’t just go in to see the king and ask the king to do something. Rather, he skillfully leads the king to initiate the conversation. He brings the king some wine with a visibly troubled look on his face. So naturally, the king notices this and asks what he’s troubled about. The king says, as recorded in verse 2, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.” And when the king says that, we read that Nehemiah is “very much afraid.” The way that’s phrased is intentionally emphatic. Because if the king interpreted Nehemiah’s troubled look the wrong way, he just needed to give the word, and Nehemiah would be a dead man.  

So Nehemiah immediately reaffirms his loyalty in verse 3. He states, “Let the king live forever!” Then he continues, “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?” So the king asks, “What are you requesting?” which is exactly the kind of question Nehemiah has been hoping he’d ask. Verse 5: And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.” And notice in the next verse another factor Nehemiah had likely considered in choosing when to bring this request before the king. Who does it say was sitting beside the king? The queen. So if you’re the king, you probably want to look good in front of the queen. You don’t want the queen thinking you’re heartless but rather you want to impress her with how charitable and generous you are. So it seems like Nehemiah wisely came to the king with this request at an opportune time, with the queen sitting in the room. And then, of course, when the king asks Nehemiah about the logistics of the operation, Nehemiah’s able to present him with a very detailed plan. Verses 7-8: 7 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.” So Nehemiah’s got it all figured out. And because of that—because of Nehemiah’s practical wisdom demonstrated throughout this passage—the king grants his request.

And I think there’s an important principle we can glean from that. Don’t think that just because you’re a Christian and just because you have a sincere desire to serve God that you don’t also need to employ practical wisdom in your endeavors. Don’t expect God to bless laziness or sloppiness. I heard about this one guy fresh out of college who showed up for a job interview at PNC Bank downtown wearing shorts. And not even nice shorts; this guy was actually wearing basketball shorts. Now that might be acceptable attire if you’re interviewing for a job in some industries like physical fitness or sports, but I don’t typically see many bankers wearing basketball shorts to work. But that’s what this guy wore to his interview. He reportedly told the person interviewing him that he had been advised to simply “be himself” in the interview, so that’s why he wore shorts. He was just “being himself.” Unfortunately, “himself” was promptly denied the interview because, as you might expect, the interviewer didn’t quite see things the same way. So this candidate’s failure to employ practical wisdom kept PNC from employing him. So understand that practical wisdom is a very necessary and biblical thing. Christians especially need to remember that it’s not like we have to choose between being spiritual or being practical. God wants us to be both, as we see modeled here by Nehemiah. 

God Blesses Humble Trust 

Then secondly, as we think about Nehemiah, we see that God blesses not only practical wisdom but also humble trust. That’s number two: God blesses humble trust. That is, he blesses endeavors where we’re humbly acknowledging the limits of our abilities and looking to him for success. Because notice that even though Nehemiah demonstrates a lot of practical wisdom in approaching the king, he’s ultimately relying on God. We can see that by the prayer Nehemiah prays in the previous chapter. And it records that he was continually praying, presumably throughout the four month period between chapters 1 and 2. So even though Nehemiah’s a fairly clever and capable guy, his devotion to prayer shows an understanding that he needs more than just his natural abilities to obtain the king’s favor. He needs God. And then, after Nehemiah receives the king’s permission and his request is granted, he gives the credit to God. Verse 8: “And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.” So God blesses the humility of Nehemiah’s heart. 

You know, I’m reminded of James 4:6, which states that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So if you want God to “give grace” to you rather than “oppose” you, you have to humble yourself before him. And that begins for somebody when they first embrace the gospel and become a Christian. A huge part of becoming a Christian is humbling yourself before God. You have to humble yourself, number one, by acknowledging your sin and the utter pervasiveness of sin in your life and the fact that you deserve God’s judgment for your sin. Then, number two, you have to humble yourself by admitting that there’s absolutely nothing you can do to save yourself. No amount of good deeds or religious rituals can ever get you out of the hole you’re in. Then, finally, you have to humble yourself by looking to Jesus to save you. He’s the only one who can. You see, Jesus came to this earth as a human being and died on the cross to pay for our sins. We owed a debt to God’s justice, but Jesus paid that debt so we wouldn’t have to. That’s how much he loves us. In spite of our sin, he died to purchase our pardon. Then he victoriously resurrected from the dead and is now the source of eternal rescue for those who trust in him. But that trust requires that we humble ourselves before him. So the gospel itself is a message of how “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 

And we also see how true that verse is after we become Christians and as we’re pursuing the different things in life we pursue. Many times, we rush into things assuming that we have what it takes to make things happen on our own. We think that we’re smart enough, skilled enough, diligent enough, connected enough, and experienced enough to do things without any help from God. And that’s exactly the kind of attitude God opposes and eventually humbles—especially if you’re one of his children. If you’re a child of God, you can only have that attitude for so long before God humbles you and shows you just how impotent you really are. 

But if you approach things with a humble attitude to begin with, God typically blesses that. In fact, if you’ll start looking to God, there are no limits to what God can use you to do. Look what he did through Nehemiah. Nehemiah came to the king with an audacious request. Don’t miss just how bold this request is. Nehemiah’s asking a pagan king to allow him to rebuild the walls of a city that had formerly been very rebellious. That’s why Jerusalem was destroyed in the first place. Also, Nehemiah was asking the king to allow him to go oversee the project personally, which would require him leaving the king’s service for a lengthy period of time. And then to top it all off, Nehemiah was even asking this pagan king to foot the bill for the whole project. So this certainly was an audacious request—a request so “out there” that only God could make it happen. And…he does. God somehow puts it in this king’s heart to grant Nehemiah’s request. 

And I’m convinced that God loves to do that kind of thing. If we’re humbly devoting ourselves to prayer and if our desire is to glorify God, I’m convinced that God loves to display his power in big ways. So sometimes, you just have to saddle up and take a bold step forward. Stop being paralyzed by your fears and stop analyzing everything to death and just do something for God. I remember when Becky and I were preparing to move to Pittsburgh to start this church. We were living a pretty comfortable life in Alabama. I had a comfortable job, earned a comfortable income, and we both absolutely loved where we were. And when we sensed God moving us to Pittsburgh, where we didn’t know anybody, in order to start a church from scratch, that was a bit of a scary thought for us. Launching out on that kind of an endeavor seemed so risky from a human perspective. I had never even been on staff at a church before. How in the world was I supposed to know how to start a church—and even start a church in a city where I didn’t even know anybody? I’m the kind of guy who likes to have all of his ducks in row, so the whole idea of starting a church in Pittsburgh made me feel more than a little anxious. But you know what Becky and I did? And the end of the day, we decided we were just going to have to trust God. We had saturated the decision in prayer, we were seeking God’s glory, and there came a point where we just had to boldly step out in faith and believe that God was going to come through. 

Let me ask you this: what might God be calling you to do that would require bold faith? Maybe he’s been prompting you to share the gospel with a certain friend or family member even though you’re not sure how they might respond. Maybe he’s been prompting you to lovingly confront another Christian about a sin in his or her life. Maybe he’s been prompting you to start tithing your money on a regular basis, which means giving according the biblical pattern of 10%. What is God calling you to do that would require bold faith? Hopefully this passage in Nehemiah is an encouragement for you to do that. If God can open the heart of a pagan king to grant Nehemiah’s audacious request of rebuilding the wall and even make that king willing to finance the whole operation, God can also take care of things in your life if you’ll step out in faith. There’s absolutely nothing that’s too hard for God. 

God Blesses Worthy Goals

Now, we could end the sermon right there. We could say that God blesses practical wisdom and that God blesses humble trust and probably leave here very encouraged—and rightfully so. We should be encouraged. But I believe there’s more God would have us see in this passage. Exercising practical wisdom and humble trust is good advice, but this passage also leads us to take a step back and ask ourselves a very important question: “Is what we’re pursuing in life what God would have us pursue? Are our goals aligned with God’s goals? Is our heart aligned with his heart?” You see, Nehemiah wasn’t just pursuing his own personal advancement or comfort or prosperity. If anything, he was doing the opposite. Rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls was a task that would take him out of the royal palace and put him right in the middle of a very dangerous territory. It would involve hardship. It would require sacrifice. Many people would probably say that Nehemiah was throwing his life away. But Nehemiah had a heart for God and for the city of God and ultimately for the glory of God. And he understood from the Scriptures that God had promised that Jerusalem would be rebuilt. We saw last week how God promises that in Deuteronomy 4:25-31. And we know Nehemiah was thinking of that promise because he specifically cites it in his prayer in Nehemiah 1. So rather than this being an example of Nehemiah merely seeking personal advancement, this is an example of Nehemiah pursuing a very biblical and God-centered goal. So that’s our third point: God blesses worthy goals. God blesses worthy goals. And we would do well to ask ourselves those important questions about our goals I mentioned a few moments ago. Are our goals aligned with God’s goals, and is our heart aligned with his heart? 

And let me just acknowledge that those aren’t easy questions to ask. Those are the kinds of questions that would be very easy to not ask. You may remember me sharing last year how, as I was going to sleep at night, I could hear some kind of a critter scampering around in our attic ever so softly. And my initial response was to just try to ignore it and pretend it wasn’t there. That was by far the most convenient thing for me to do. But as I began hearing this critter several times a month for a fairly extensive period of time, I finally begrudgingly called a pest control guy and paid him more money than I care to mention to remove the critters from our attic. They ended up being a pair of flying squirrels. And the pest control guy said it was a good thing I called him when I did because flying squirrels like to have a lot of babies. So even though I initially wanted to ignore the problem and pretend I didn’t hear anything, it was very good that I asked the hard question about what was in the attic and then responded appropriately. So even though these questions are hard, don’t let yourself not ask them. Think about your goals in life. What are you seeking? What are you pursuing? And is your heart aligned with God’s heart in those things? 

Conclusion

Listen to these words of Jesus in Matthew 10:39: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” So Jesus tells us that the way to find our life is actually to lose our life. If you want to “find your life” and find true fullness and satisfaction—both in this life and in the next—the way to do that is radically counterintuitive. It actually happens as you “lose your life” and pursue God’s agenda rather than your own. So for those of you who find yourself feeling empty or in some way unfulfilled this morning, could it be that the answer to the way you feel isn’t seeing a psychologist and or taking a pill or reading another self-help book? Could it be that the answer is to stop making your life all about you and start making it all about God? Listen: God doesn’t invite you to worship him and live for him in order to make you miserable. He invites you to do those things in order to make you happy. 

I came across a verse recently and couldn’t stop thinking about it. It’s Psalm 4:7. David says, speaking to God, “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.” “You have put more joy in my heart than they [the ungodly] have when their grain and wine abound.” In other words, the joy of knowing God and living for God is greater than any other kind of joy out there. It’s incomparably great. And if you’ll stop living as if this life is all there is and start living for heavenly goals and heavenly purposes, you also can know that joy. “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Let’s pray.