We’re in the series “Something More” based on the story of a man named Nehemiah who lived over 2,000 years ago.
The “something more” Nehemiah prayed that God would help him arrive at in his life was the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem that had been destroyed a generation earlier and not rebuilt. While the wall around Jerusalem remained a pile of rubble, Nehemiah’s people suffered. So God answers Nehemiah’s prayers to lead a rebuilding project.
One BIG IDEA from Nehemiah’s story that you can’t afford to forget is that God is interested in you experiencing “something more” just like you are! We know this is true because there’s this great promise God gave in Nehemiah’s time that is still true today. Jeremiah the prophet recorded this promise from God.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord, “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future.”
God has good plans for your life! He wants you to have hope and a good future! He wants you to enjoy “something more” than you’re experiencing now. There is “something more,” and it begins with God!
Another insight from Nehemiah we’ve realized, is that when you set out on the journey toward “something more,” it’s not long before critics start trying to ridicule and intimidate you. But you can’t let them!
HOWEVER, what do you do when the challenge to God’s good plans for you comes from friends, not foes?
Here’s what happened in Nehemiah’s story.
Nehemiah 5:1 says, Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers.
Circle that word “against.” There are some of you who are certain that you’ll not be able to get to that “something more” that God has promised you in your life because there is someone in your life that is supposed to be “for” you but you feel like they’re “against” you.
How can you experience something more when someone who is supposed to be playing on your team is doing and saying things that benefit the opposing team?
We’re going to answer that dilemma today from Scripture…from the example set by Nehemiah.
The specific problem in Nehemiah’s day is stated by some of the workers on the wall.
Nehemiah 5:5: Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others."
The economy was so bad in Jerusalem that people had been borrowing money from in order to buy food and pay taxes. For collateral they were mortgaging their property and their children to their fellow Jews. When they weren’t able to pay their debts their own countrymen were confiscating their property AND their sons and daughters! Hardly seems possible. But that’s the power of greed!
The current (October ’09) issue of Smithsonian magazine has an article entitled, “Prescription for Murder,” that tells about hundreds of thousands of deaths in Southeast Asia due to phony antimalaria pills being sold to an unsuspecting public. An investigation that took over a decade finally found the culprits to be from right there in Southeast Asia itself. The motive? Money. Lots of it.
The city of Jerusalem is in ruins and the citizens could only afford so much. But the bills kept coming. Taxes were still high and there’s widespread poverty and injustice. This would be the time that people would pull together right? You would think so - but NO!
It’s one thing to have negative people who don’t know you to try to intimidate you into quitting – like the Jews had as we saw in the earlier chapters of Nehemiah. But its another thing all together to have your own people breaking your back with burdens too heavy to carry!
Is there “something more” when you’re going one way and your spouse is going another? Is there “something more” when your kids are driving you crazy? How do you get your hands on “something more” when your fellow employees are stabbing you in the back – or when the corporation is making all these crazy decisions that are adversely affecting your livelihood? Even the culture around us is heading away from the tenets of the historic Judeo-Christian ethic that made this country great. Are we to simple fold our hands and give up; just become apathetic and hopeless?
Is there “something more” when you aren’t getting along with a friend that you’ve been close to for so long – it might even someone else in the church community? When previously there has been such closeness and now THERE’S CONFLICT?
DID YOU KNOW that when a group of thoroughbred horses face an enemy they stand in a circle facing each other with their hind legs kicking out at the foe? Donkeys, on the other hand, do just the opposite! When their enemy attacks them they face outward toward the enemy and kick at one another!
I’ll just go ahead and say it. What do you do when someone close to you is being a donkey? What do you do when they’re kicking “in” toward you instead of “out” toward the enemy?
If Nehemiah didn’t do something about this problem the wall-building project, which was just about finished, would come to a screeching halt. The work of God would become a laughing stock and the enemy, Satan himself, along with his puppets, would have their way.
It’s when you get close to success that Satan tries to discourage you the most. If his efforts to antagonize you from outward enemies are unsuccessful, he’ll infiltrate the ranks. Any soldier can tell you that bad morale can be just as destructive as an enemy bullet.
Deb and I watched a movie week before last with Clive Owen & Julia Roberts called “Duplicity” where big billion-dollar drug companies were involved in spying on one another to find out who had what product scheduled to come out and when. They wanted so badly to get the jump on one another that they would stoop to any trick necessary.
Each company had “moles” working on the inside of the other company; spies planted to steal priceless information. There’s a plot twist at the end that you don’t see coming because of the destructive nature of moles on the inside working for the other guys. I won’t give the movie away in case you want to rent it but I want to use the idea of “moles” to talk to you today about MAKING MOUNTAINS OUT OF MOLES.
There were “moles” inside the Jewish community in Nehemiah’s day who could have destroyed the work of God if proper steps hadn’t been taken.
How do we get to the pinnacle of success in the area that God wants us to achieve when there are “moles” amongst us? What to do when people who ought to be pulling for you seem to be pulling against you?
Here’s what Nehemiah did and what we need to do to Make Mountains out of Moles. Here’s what we need to do in order to arrive at the mountain top blessings God has for us when Satan plants his moles.
These five steps have been called “The P.A.U.S.E. Principle,” by making an acrostic from the word "pause" to show us how to handle “inside” conflict that keeps us from arriving at the good goals God wants us to reach.
Prepare
Nehemiah said this in chapter 5, verses 6-7 (Msg) I got really angry when I heard their protest and complaints. After thinking it over, I called the nobles and officials on the carpet. I said, "Each one of you is gouging his brother."
Underline that phrase, “thinking it over.” The New English Bible puts it this way: "I mastered my feelings."
Instead of exploding in anger in the heat of the moment Nehemiah paused. He thought things over. He mastered his feelings.
So the first step when I find an “inside job” working against God’s positive plans for my life is to prepare.
Nehemiah knew that the exploitation of Jews amongst themselves had to stop. When we recognize the existence of a “mole” digging the foundation away from us we need too need to prepare. We may need to prepare by praying, or by getting all the facts, or by seeking godly counsel, but usually we solve little and sometimes make matters worse when we fly off the handle.
Abe Lincoln said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree I’d spend six hours sharpening my axe.”
The reason we often fail to solve the conflicts we have with others, and thereby get sidetracked on the way to “something more” is a lack of sharpening our axe – a lack of preparation.
Affirm relationships
The next thing we need to do in order to get past the conflict with someone trying to sabotage our breakthrough with God is to affirm relationships.
Look at the next thing Nehemiah did. Neh 5:8 (NLT) At the meeting I said to them, “We are doing all we can to redeem our Jewish relatives who have had to sell themselves to pagan foreigners, but you are selling them back into slavery again. How often must we redeem them?” And they had nothing to say in their defense.
Nehemiah reaffirmed the importance of their relationships by shaming the people who had been so selfish.
Why build a wall if there weren’t going to be the right kind of relationships inside that wall? Like some today who spend all of their time and money to have the nicest houses that money can buy but they have no time to invest in the relationships of the family living in those houses.
Life is about relationships – not money! Love people and use money but don’t use people and love money.
We’ve got to put relationships first if we want “something more” from God.
When you find a situation in one of your relationships that isn’t right – and you realize that situation is keeping you from God’s blessings – STOP and spend time affirming your relationship!
How do you affirm relationships? The Bible says in Romans 10:12 (NLT) Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.
We affirm relationships by showing genuine concern and respect for one another. At home, at church, at work, in the community, respect people, and be genuinely concerned for them.
Thirdly, the “U” in the P.A.U.S.E. principle for stands for…
Understand others
We’ve got to understand the concerns of others, their desires, their needs, their limitations, and even their fears.
Always try to understand others and not just your self.
Nehemiah 5: 9-12a (NLT) Then I pressed further, “What you are doing is not right! Should you not walk in the fear of our God in order to avoid being mocked by enemy nations? 10 I myself, as well as my brothers and my workers, have been lending the people money and grain, but now let us stop this business of charging interest. 11 You must restore their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and homes to them this very day. And repay the interest you charged when you lent them money, grain, new wine, and olive oil.” 12 "We will give it back," they said. "And we will not demand anything more from them. We will do as you say."
Nehemiah set a clear example, along with some others on his leadership team, of lending money and grain to the people AT NO INTEREST. Nehemiah understood that when people are down they don’t need to be pushed further down. They need to be lifted up. They need RESTORATION.
He told the Jews charging their fellow Jews interest to quit it. And in verse 11, circle the word “restore.” He said to the mortgage holders, “You must restore their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and homes to them this very day. And repay the interest…”
RESTORATION is so badly needed today. In marriages, you may need to restore your efforts to romance your spouse to the way you behaved when you were courting them. You married this guy or this gal and now you feel like they’re the “mole” that’s undermining your blessings from God. Well if you fell in love with them and committed yourself to them in the first place – go back to the first place! Go back to trying to understand them.
Any relationship where there seems to be someone against you that should be for you – work on understanding that person! P.A.U.S.E. and ask yourself, “What makes them tick? Why are they the way they are?”
Nehemiah understood that these businessmen really had a heart after all!
Next…
SEARCH for creative solutions
Nehemiah 5:12b-13 Then I summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials take an oath to do what they had promised. 13 I also shook out the folds of my robe and said, "In this way may God shake out of his house and possessions every man who does not keep this promise. So may such a man be shaken out and emptied!" At this the whole assembly said, "Amen," and praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised.
By shaking the dust or debris from wall building out of his robe Nehemiah illustrated that God would shake their possessions if they returned to their greedy ways. Everybody thought that was a good idea so they said “Amen,” and praised the LORD!
It’s easy to come to a tough situation in life, especially one involving a person we love we end up in some sort of conflict with…it’s easy to get frustrated and give up to think that we have no way of solving the situation. But when you give up you miss out on the “something more” that God has for you.
Nehemiah could have said, “If these people can’t treat one another any better than this I’m going back to Persia! I had a cushy job in the palace and here I am pulling my hair out trying to get these people to treat one another right!” Instead, he sought a creative solution. He painted a picture through this robe-shaking event that they would not soon forget.
Some of you say, “but I’m not Nehemiah. I don’t have a creative mind.” Where do you think Nehemiah got the idea? We’ve already seen that Nehemiah was very consistent at prayer. God will give you creative solutions when you need to make mountains out of your moles!
And then, after you’ve prepared, affirmed, understood and sought creative solutions…
Evaluate your options objectively and reasonably
14 Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year—twelve years—neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. 15 But the earlier governors—those preceding me—placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that. 16 Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work; we did not acquire any land.
17 Furthermore, a hundred and fifty Jews and officials ate at my table, as well as those who came to us from the surrounding nations. 18 Each day one ox, six choice sheep and some poultry were prepared for me, and every ten days an abundant supply of wine of all kinds. In spite of all this, I never demanded the food allotted to the governor, because the demands were heavy on these people.
19 Remember me with favor, O my God, for all I have done for these people.
When someone else stands in the way of you receiving “something more” you’re tempted to get emotional, angry, upset. Instead you’ve got to evaluate your options objectively and reasonably. Objectivity is when you don’t let your feelings, opinions or personal biases get in the way. When you let these things get in the way you become unreasonable and you make bad decisions. You end up making things worse by adding to the problem. We’ve already seen that Nehemiah was good at this. Remember verse 7, he “mastered his feelings.” So many opportunities to get “something more” in life are missed because of our failure to be objective and reasonable.
Nehemiah could have added to the problem if he had been a greedy politician. He had the option of placing another burden on the people by demanding that they pay his expenses. But he realized this situation called for personal sacrifice. HE EVALUATED HIS OPTIONS OBJECTIVELY & REASONABLY.
Let’s be honest. Sometimes we fail to get to the mountaintop of God’s blessings because we don’t want to be objective and reasonable. We sure don’t want to have to make any personal sacrifices!
Let’s me even more honest. Most of life takes personal sacrifice! We have this idea that we can get through life successfully by not giving but always receiving. Nehemiah was a great leader, a great man of God, a great governor, and a great builder – because he didn’t have to receive all the time. He knew how to give of himself. He was passionate about it!
We’ve been sold this bill of goods that says “something more” comes from getting things to always go our way. Nehemiah shows us that getting to “something more” comes from being willing to not always be blinded by our own ambitions and our own reputation.
Don’t let the moles get to you! P.A.U.S.E.
PREPARE before you attempt to do something about the situation.
AFFIRM relationships. Remember to make relationships a priority. What good is success without anyone to share it with?
UNDERSTAND others. Everyone is worth understanding.
SEARCH for creative solutions.
EVALUATE your options objectively and reasonably.
