“The Value of a Great Plan”
Nehemiah 1:11-2:11a
Perhaps all of us can recall our first job. Whether we were working part time or full time we all shared at least one thing in common. We had a boss. Someone in charge. A leader. Whether we enjoyed working for them is another matter-the point is, someone else was in charge-not us. For me, the summer following the sixth grade I went to work at a mission-a local homeless shelter. It was an interesting job to say the least.
There are few areas in life any of us are equipped for to step in as the boss, especially if it is our first job. As a young adult I remember a gentleman who was very wealthy. He owned a number of banks. He was also very generous. When his grandson was old enough to go to work full time, he gave him a gift. His own bank … made him President of the bank. That was his first job. As you can probably imagine it didn’t go very well. (1) He wasn’t prepared and (2) Because it had just been handed to him rather than him working his way up in the bank, the employees had no respect for him. Every leader will face a time when his or her employees will say something other than yes sir or no sir, yes mam or no mam. Something other than “sure”--- and you will have a confrontation on your hands. And when there is a confrontation someone has to give. Someone has to be flexible. When things become too rigid in the workplace someone will usually drop out.
Nehemiah worked under Artaxerxes, the King of Persia. And the King had a reputation for being very rigid. Just wouldn’t budge. Now as I said last week Nehemiah was in a position of influence …. he was in a position to greatly influence the king. He was the cupbearer. He was responsible for making sure no one could poison the king –the king trusted Nehemiah- he knew Nehemiah was on his side. But here’s the problem. Nehemiah’s heart wasn’t in Persia. Nehemiah eft his heart in Jerusalem. And it was his desire to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls but he couldn’t just leave. So there was the possibility of a confrontation between he and the king if this wasn’t handled properly. So what do you do?
Truth #1. For Nehemiah the answer was clear. The answer was and is prayer. Prayer is the first step to becoming a godly leader.
Nehemiah 1:11. Nehemiah was 1000 miles away from where he was working. So he prayed. And this is what happened. ….. Nothing. His story opens in the month of Chislev. (1:1) That’s December and it resumes in the month of Nisan. (2:1) That’s April. So for about 4 months nothing happens. Does that ever happen to you? You hear someone say, just pray to God and give Him the situation. So you went home and prayed and you prayed about this frustrating problem you have—and then you gave it your best prayer---Lord give me patience and give it to me right now!!!! A few days go by –-- a month --- 2 months --- 4 months and nothing happens and we’re like Lord, are you asleep? Remember when the disciples were in the boat and a storm came up?? ---- Jesus was asleep. They were like --- don’t you care that we’re about to drown? Did you hear me Lord? Well that was Nehemiah’s experience too. And it may be yours as well.
Truth #2. Leaders must learn to wait. It takes patience. But if you have a prayer life at all, you have already discovered this. There is a whole lot to be said about the phrase that “good things come to those who wait.” And that is what Nehemiah is doing. For 4 months he waited. And then something happened. Chapter 2:1. Remember he is the cupbearer. So he poured them both a drink and he adds this insight/statement. “I had not been sad in his presence.” But everybody’s got a breaking point…right? And so did Nehemiah. I’m sure he had come to the place where he thought man is this ever going to happen? You know just one of those blue Mondays --- did you know more pastors resign their jobs on Monday than any other day? So the king says to him, why is your face sad even though you’re not sick?
So this is where I just appreciate his honesty. He says, “When the King said that to me, I got scared.” And he had good reason btw. Many times those who worked directly for the king would be killed if they did anything wrong. Look at verses 3-4a. This is the moment he had been waiting/praying for. The door was open. 4b. So, he prayed. It happens. You wait. You pray. You wait. You pray. Then suddenly God kicks the door open. And for a moment you are like in disbelief. Then you’re like, Oh yeah, I prayed for this. ?
The king says, “How long will this take?” V. 6. So Nehemiah gave him a definite time. Too many times people cannot tell you their plans or they say we’ve got to think about this some more. I’m doing this by faith! As believers we have so many different ways of procrastinating and not planning. So many ways of saying no to something … and they can even sound spiritual …
• It’s just not God’s will
• It’s not his timing
• I’m waiting on the Lord
• It’s a closed door
• I don’t have peace about it
• I don’t feel prompted
• I need to pray some more
Now often one of those statements is true but also many times we are just procrastinating. There is a time to wait. There is also a time to act. This is a truth.
Truth #3. God honors a plan. Nehemiah had been praying for 4 months but he was developing a plan. He was so sure God would let him go that he even drew up a plan/agenda in case God said yes. Solomon said the mind of a man plans his way but the lord directs his steps. Going out on faith does not mean you necessarily go out without a plan.
In the NT Jesus reminds us of the fact that we must count the cost.
• You want to be a follower? Count the cost!
• You want to build a tower? Sit down and count the cost. He says because if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish, everyone who sees it will ridicule you.
I recall walking home from school every day for years … going past a house that was never finished. Walls were about halfway up but never went any further. Was always that way. They never made a plan.
Truth #4. Good leaders do their homework. Notice that when the king says you can go, Nehemiah’s like, wait a minute, before I go there are a couple of things I want to talk about. Look at verse 7-8b. He is asking for timber to build himself a home. He had been planning. And it paid off. Can you imagine how this would have gone otherwise? The previous time it had taken about 90 years to build this wall. This time Nehemiah does it in 52 days. That is the value of a good plan. He has a plan in place. And now if an official stops him and says hey where are you going? If he said, well I was hoping by faith to go to Jerusalem. Well where are your letters of permission? Don’t have any. Go back and start over! If any of you have ever dealt with the county you know what I’m talking about.
But, they ask for a letter and he says sure! But who is it from? The King! Oh. And btw I need some timber? Really where’s your purchase order? The king said give it to me. Oh. God honors planning. Nehemiah planned. He asked. The king said yes. Nehemiah saw it this way – v. 8c –and the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me. The light just turned green and God was the one directing traffic. The king actually did more than grant the letters. More than getting the timber. He says, hey I’ll also send some of the army to help. V. 9b. So, he was on his way to reaching the goal but then he hits a snag. The biggest snag a leader runs into is usually people btw. Difficult people. People will make or break your plan. At any time given time, it is like we are all carrying around 2 buckets. One has water in it and the other one has gasoline. So if a problem develops we have to decide which one we will use. We will either put it out or make it worse. This is what happens in v. 10. Enter these 2 men Sanballat and Tobiah. Now I think these two guys work everywhere. No matter where you work, no matter what you do, there are always a few people who will fight everything you try to do. They just have different names. Someone will always quote Murphy’s law … something bad will happen. This simply not going to work. That is the mantra for many people unfortunately. Hey I hate to tell you partner, but this just ain’t gonna work. No way Jose.
Truth #5. Listen …. Criticism and opportunity do not necessarily mean that you are outside God’s will. In fact, it many mean you are at the very center of his plan. Think about it. If you are doing something big for God, something that will really make a kingdom difference, don’t you think Satan is going to fight it?
Nehemiah is no longer the cupbearer. He has changed hats in chapter 2. Now he is the engineer for this plan. He is the chief brick layer. Chapter 2. V. 11 says so I came to Jerusalem and was there 3 days. What did he do for those3 days? He was probably doing some more planning.
Let me close with 4 quick principles I see in this passage …..for Getting Started God’s Way.
1. Changing a heart of God’s specialty. Not ours. Realize your limitations. Only God can change a heart. We pray. God changes.
2. Praying and waiting go hand in hand. Pray and turn it over to
God.
3. Acting on faith does not mean we stop planning. Get an action plan.
4. Expect opposition. And when it comes, press forward.
Where does good judgement come from? Usually from mistakes. Good judgment comes from bad experiences." That is if we are learning from them.
One day, a donkey fell into a pit. The animal cried and whined for
hours while his owner tried to figure out what to do. Finally, the
farmer decided that since the animal was old, and the pit needed
to be covered up anyway, he'd just bury the old donkey right
there. He got a shovel and started filling in the pit. The donkey
kept up its wailing, but then fell silent. After an hour of furious
shoveling, the farmer paused to rest. To his amazement, he saw
his old donkey jump out of the pit and run away!
At first, when the donkey realized what was happening, he just
cried even more. piteously. But then he hit on a plan. As each
spadeful of dirt hit his back, the donkey would shake it off and take
a step up on the growing mound of earth. Eventually, the mound
rew high enough for him to jump out of the pit.
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt…. All kinds of
opposition. The trick to getting out of the pit well is to shake it
off and take a step up. We can get out of the deepest pits by not
stopping and never giving up. Just shake it off and take a step up.
