The Wall
Pt. 1 – Building Blocks
I. Text
Nehemiah 1:1-11
1-2The memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. It was the month of Kislev in the twentieth year. At the time I was in the palace complex at Susa. Hanani, one of my brothers, had just arrived from Judah with some fellow Jews. I asked them about the conditions among the Jews there who had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem.
3 They told me, "The exile survivors who are left there in the province are in bad shape. Conditions are appalling. The wall of Jerusalem is still rubble; the city gates are still cinders."
4 When I heard this, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God-of-Heaven.
5-6 I said, "GOD, God-of-Heaven, the great and awesome God, loyal to his covenant and faithful to those who love him and obey his commands: Look at me, listen to me. Pay attention to this prayer of your servant that I'm praying day and night in intercession for your servants, the People of Israel, confessing the sins of the People of Israel. And I'm including myself, I and my ancestors, among those who have sinned against you.
7-9 "We've treated you like dirt: We haven't done what you told us, haven't followed your commands, and haven't respected the decisions you gave to Moses your servant. All the same, remember the warning you posted to your servant Moses: 'If you betray me, I'll scatter you to the four winds, but if you come back to me and do what I tell you, I'll gather up all these scattered peoples from wherever they ended up and put them back in the place I chose to mark with my Name.'
10-11 "Well, there they are—your servants, your people whom you so powerfully and impressively redeemed. O Master, listen to me, listen to your servant's prayer—and yes, to all your servants who delight in honoring you—and make me successful today so that I get what I want from the king."
I was cupbearer to the king.
II. Introduction
I don’t normally spend a great deal of time giving you historical background before jumping into a text. However, as we start this New Year with the concept that God is calling each of us to step up and accomplish great things this year I do fill the need to give you a little historical perspective of the account we will be examining over the coming weeks.
We are going to be reading the account of Nehemiah. To understand the account you must understand that in the year of 445 BC Nehemiah was a captive. The Jews have fallen into captivity to Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar. Nehemiah was probably born into captivity and lives under the rule of King Artaxerxes. It was under this king that Nehemiah rises to the position of cup bearer which we will talk about in more detail. The Israelites are slaves and captives. Some of the Jews have returned back to their homeland. Although they are home they are living in poverty and the capital city of Jerusalem is in ruins. The wall that is essential for protection, signifies the covering of God, and elevates their status in the eyes of their neighbors and enemies is nothing more than rubble. It is against this backdrop that we begin to learn!
III. Building Blocks
A. What will move you . . . beyond tears?
Here is the situation . . . Nehemiah is 1000 miles away from Jerusalem and although a captive living comfortable in a cush palace, making a great paycheck (how else could he afford to later feed 150 people a day without no allocation from the regional governor?), minding his own business. He has his New Year’s resolutions in hand. Working the 9 to 5 trying to make his own way. Bothering nobody. Hoping to fly under the radar this year. Then he gets word of the condition of his home town (1000 miles away) and the Bible says because he felt so bad he wrote a check to appease his conscious. The Bible says he moped for a few minutes and then moved on to the ball games, dating games, work games. The Bible says he simply turned the channel so he could forget! No!! The Bible says he sat down and wept. He mourned for days. He fasted. The news rocked Him to the core of his emotions and his spirit! But it went further than that! He then got up and did something about it!
What moves you beyond tears? What will grab your heart and squeeze you to feel again this year? What will move you to think beyond you this year? But more importantly what will move you to take action? We can manipulate to cry and to feel, but it doesn’t cause any real change until we get up and do something about it!
Someone has to be moved . . . 1000 miles away in a palace . . . comfortable life ... we have to get a burden that will drive us to do something or nothing will change!
I am grateful for criers, but I would rather you be crusaders because too many of us are great at water works, but disappear when it comes to hard work!
Sometimes to accomplish growth someone is going to have do something that isn't comfortable or preference.
I am asking God to get you by the heart and the throat until it cause something to happen in your hands and fee! I don’t know what the cause is for me . . . here is a tip . . . look around! Find a need and fill it! The need you see is the need God is calling you to fill!
Don't ride another year out on the bench! Take a stand! Quit being a crying spectator! Find one cause this year and give it everything you have got. It could be hunger. It could be a food pantry. It could be hurting children. It could be overhauling a ministry of the church to be more effective. It could be one nursing home patient that needs company. It could be one clerk that needs a smile. But do something outside your comfort zone!
B. God keeps His Word . . . curses and promises!
I think too many of us have forgotten that God keeps His Word! The promises and the curses! I think in this day and age we are so used to no one (from politicians, employers, stores, or family) keeping their word that we mistakenly throw God into that same boat. Nehemiah affirms that God keeps His Word. You told us if we treated you like dirt we would suffer the consequences . . . guess what? Here we are! You told us if we would repent you would remember us . . . guess what? Here I am!
Why do we think God won’t honor His own Word now? Why do we think we can treat Him like dirt and get away with it? We haven’t done what you said and find ourselves in captivity! The only difference now is that we are not captive by another nation but by another kingdom (sickness, addiction, debt, cycles of depression). Then we get angry at God and shout at Him, “God why aren’t you honoring your promises?” He is! He is honoring His promise of curses if we don’t do what He told us to do! We want all the good promises and yet we are living in such a manner that we access the curses.
Just because we prefer blessings over curses doesn’t diminish God’s obligation to live up to His Word! God’s preference to bless us rather than curse us doesn’t diminish His obligation to live up to His Word! He honors His Word for good and for bad! Our life determines which Word we get! The two sides go together you can’t get one and leave the other out!
Repentance always precedes greatness. The greatest were great repenters. Before he ever lay the first brick in the wall Nehemiah repented. I wonder how many of need to start this New Year off with repenting so that we can work with God rather than having God work against us this year? Some of us need to go back and repent and remember what He has told us He will do if we will do what He said to do!
C. Walls are built by those that exhibit availability and prayerability.
Depending on who you read there are various views on the prestige of Nehemiah’s position! We know that his position as cup bearer gave him access to the king and apparently paid well. However, I am not sure that the cup bearer position is one to be coveted. His responsibility was to serve the drink to the king and other officials. However, because of the constant assignation plots against the king he was required to drink some of the king’s drink first to see if it had been poisoned! In other words, this person is expendable! No real heartache if he dies or not! So his skill set is pouring a drink and tasting a drink!
So what set Nehemiah apart was not ability, skill, prestige, or prominence. What caused Nehemiah to make history and change his world was two essential building blocks! The first was availability. He simply saw the need and filled it! He made room in his life to be called on by God. He adjusted his schedule to do what God said to do. He was used mightly because he carved out time to be used! I think the reason many of us never seem to be used by God is because we are never available. Every minute of our lives are scheduled out for us and to keep up and we never make ourselves available for God. In order to be used by God you may have to miss a movie, a date, a trip you wanted to take. You may have to adjust your daily routine. You may have to alter your plans! God builds on people who are available!
The second building block was prayerability. New Year new word. Nehemiah was a man of prayer. In fact, if you break the book down he is found in prayer 11 times in 13 chapters!
We will never build beyond the depth of our prayer lives! Those that build high and fast and fall are those who don’t have any prayerability! His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor His delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love. - Psalm 147:10-11
Our prayer life is the foundation upon which God builds. If you want to be used by God then make yourself available in prayer!
I would venture to state that the great things God has for you to accomplish will not be based on your ability or position! That isn't the issue. The determining factor for what you will see accomplished in your lifetime will come down to your availability and your prayerability!
