Hello friends,
My name is Jae Soon. I am one of the Connect Pastors and attend the Central Manchester Campus.
As we continue this exciting journey through the Bible, looking at various amazing characters, I wanted to share one of mine with you all – Nehemiah.
I love reading the book of Nehemiah as it’s like a great political hero movie. He was not the priest or the teacher of the law. Nehemiah was just one of the political leaders among the congregation members. His life was comfortable as he was a well trusted cupbearer of the king and had power, fortune, and fame. Even though he was one of the third or fourth exiled generations, he had great care for God’s people who were troubled and disgraced.
The background story is in:
Nehemiah 1:2-3 (NIV): ‘Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”’
Can you imagine the situation that God’s first chosen nation is no longer on the world map and God’s chosen people are in despair without hope? What made Nehemiah sad is that something that is way beyond what one man can change.
Before Christ Jesus in our lives, we were slaves to sin but when we come to Jesus, we learn to lead our life by faith. Yes, we become a leader for the Kingdom of God, leading our lives according to God’s will. Also, our God-given leadership can also be a good influence on other people. The question is, how can we do that?
In this broken world, we often get disappointed when hearing bad news caused by poor leaders – those who are corrupt and abusing their power and authority for the sake of their own greedy and wicked desires.
Proverbs 28:15-16 (NIV): ‘Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a helpless people. A tyrannical ruler practises extortion, but one who hates ill-gotten gain will enjoy a long reign.’
I want to share two things: 1.) Nehemiah is a good leader with a great leadership capacity, and 2.) he is a great person of prayer, who starts everything with prayer and finishes with prayer.
I love that he has a great caring heart for God’s Kingdom and His people. It was so great that he planned a project to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and its gates! When you read Nehemiah chapter 1:4-11, you will see how inspirational he is. In Nehemiah 1:4, he even wept, mourned, fasted and prayed, which shows that he is a good leader and has great empathy. Also, in Nehemiah 1:5, he knew God’s character as he proclaimed it in his prayers. In Nehemiah 1:6-7, he confessed the sins of the Israelites, including confessions about himself and his family. In Nehemiah 1:8-10, he trusted God’s promise as God is faithful to His Promise. In Nehemiah 1:11, he was very practical with specific requests to God. Amazingly, he brought this impossible situation to the Heavenly King first, before he spoke to the earthly king.
When we read the whole book of Nehemiah, we can see how he was aware of what was going on as a leader, how he planned with great strategy himself, taking actions with others with careful steps, how he dealt with internal and external opposites with great discernment, how he waited for God’s timing, remaining still, how he exalted God only rather than himself, how he raised other people as leaders and empowered them with wisdom, how he made it all work in unity to complete the project, how he cared for the welfare of the people, and so on… Everything he did, he did it with continuous prayers! Nothing looks supernatural in the book of Nehemiah but everything was actually fulfilled by God’s supernatural power.
Friends, let’s remember that Nehemiah’s project itself was impossible but what is harder than that is that he had to make the project work with discouraged people – those who were in despair. We can sometimes find ourselves in despair in our life circumstances with hectic work situations, broken relationships, and finance and health issues, and so we might weep in our prayers, which is good but we are also to rejoice as God is working.
Don’t lie down in despair and don’t hold on to false hope to comfort you. Like Nehemiah – a name that actually means “God comforts” – let’s bring everything to our God in our prayer, finding our living hope in Jesus, who can bring “impossible possibility” to our lives and who can change the natural to the supernatural.
There were many attempts to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and its gates, but it remained ruined for 140 years. However, Nehemiah’s leadership was not only able to rebuild it all in just 52 days but also, result in re-establishing God’s chosen nation as God was working in his life. How remarkable is that! This is the greatest comfort that Jesus Christ is our Living Hope! Jesus loves us and He is working in our life to rebuild something good in us and through us!
God bless you, have a blessed day.
Jae Soon Lee-Riley.
