Nehemiah 2 WHEN GOD MOVES YOU
Please be turning in your Bibles to Nehemiah 2, Nehemiah 2 and verse 1, and as you’re turning I want to tell you that sometimes God just isn’t fair.
For the past 2 weeks I have been helping a friend move some dumpsters around different job sites and such. Well, this week I was moving some trailers around over at Spruce Creek, at the community where there is an airport and people have hangers attached to their houses in addition to garages.
The job I was on was a tile roof. When folks are replacing a tile roof, you have to have a driver on hand with extra trailers, because the tile weighs so much. The roofers fill the trailer 1/2 to 2/3s full and then you replace it with an empty trailer while you take the full trailer to the dump. Hopefully, you get back with the trailer you just emptied, before the roofers overfill the one you just left, cause those folks don’t want to stop for anything.
So, you have a couple of trailers there on the job site. It’s inconvenient for the people who live there, but it’s inevitable.
Anyway, the roofers were taking a break the other day, so I left a trailer in the driveway, and one in the road, to swap out shortly. And we’re not talking about Saxon, or Providence here. I’m talking about a side street in a gated community. I left the trailers and ran up the road for a minute. The next thing I knew I got a call from my friend, wanting to know where I was. Security in that subdivision was treating the trailer I had left behind like it was a bomb threat or something. They said I couldn’t leave a trailer like that, and they called the police.
So, I headed back to the job site. Parked my truck in front of the trailer and just sat there. In the mean time, security had been there, and they put 3 cones around this 8’ tall, 7’ wide red trailer, I guess so people could see it. BTW, the police never came because they knew these folks were just being silly.
So, I sat there for the next 30 minutes, just waiting for the roofers to finish their siesta, so I could switch trailers.
While I’m waiting, a couple comes out of the house, next to where I’m sitting, I see them look my way and then I hear the wife tell her husband, “It’s still there.” In other words, these are the folks who called security and the police on me.
Now, these folks also have a tile roof, and it has 2 tarps over it, so it’s leaking. So, soon they are going to need a new roof. I wanted to holler, “Hey Karen, where are they going to put their trailers when they come and work on your roof.” But I didn’t. Last week I heard some preacher say, “Just because it’s true doesn’t mean it needs to be said.”
I hate it when the Lord makes me practice what I preach.
By now I hope you have found the second chapter of Nehemiah.
- Read Nehemiah 2:1-20
1. God can move you without abandoning you.
In this chapter there is a major transition. Nehemiah moves from having the king’s ear, from being a confidant of the king and enjoying life in the palace, to being a builder; something he has no training for, or experience at.
In this case he knew the change was coming, but that is not always the case. Sometimes these transitions and changes come unexpectedly, but that doesn’t mean God isn’t in it, and that He’s not working.
One of my brothers is an investigator for the army. He was a supervisor in the DC area. Well, he had one of the people he was supposed to supervise, who was unqualified for his job. In typical government fashion, the government protected this guy’s job and position even though my brother repeatedly warned his superiors that the guy wasn’t pulling his weight, and that he was unstable. They ignored his complaints for more than 18 months.
Finally, it reached the point where the guy knew he was about to lose his job, so what did he do? He came to work with the rifle to shoot my brother. As the Lord would have it, my brother was away at training that day, so the guy was unable to do what he had planned. A friend of his at work hid the gun and covered it up.
My brother’s superiors covered up the whole thing, because they had ignored my brother’s repeated warnings and didn’t want this to go into their files.
The man was fired, but he was in the community and knew where my brother lived.
To make a long story short, my brother took a demotion so he and his wife could move to another state where the man wouldn’t know where they lived since no one would do anything about it.
After moving, my brother and his wife got really active in a good church, and his wife, who teaches ballet, is teaching where they live and is active in the arts ministry of a church in a neighboring community. A while back my brother told me, “You know, I thought the Lord moved us because of me. It turns out he moved us so my wife could plug in and minister more effectively.”
Just because God moves you, perhaps unexpectedly, just because where you are going may not be as glamorous or as profitable as where you were, doesn’t mean you aren’t in God’s will and it certainly doesn’t mean that He’s not with you or going to use you.
There’s a man, a member of this church, who was in the military. After 17 years, 3 years shy of retirement, the military decided they were going to downsize and he was going to lose his job.
Me. I’d probably be bitter and angry at the military and the Lord. But, this family moved, and this church would not be the same without their impact.
What might be confusing and frustrating and even infuriating to us, may often be right in God’s plan.
2. When God moves you, don’t forget your goal
- Read Nehemiah 2:1-5
What was Nehemiah’s goal? His goal was to rebuild the walls in Jerusalem.
You know, rebuilding isn’t all that glamorous is it? It’s not like building something new. You build a new deck, it’s exciting. You see progress each day. When you’re building a house, it’s exciting. New walls, new stuff going up each day. But, when you’re rebuilding, it can be frustrating. It can be discouraging at first.
When you’re redoing a roof, you have to tear off the old shingles, and tear off the old rotted wood. That’s not very exiting.
The same is true in life. When you’re getting remarried, it’s often not as exciting as it was the first time. You still have some of the debris from the first marriage sitting around that has to be cleaned up first. You’re rebuilding a business, there are things that have to be undone before the new stuff can be done. You’re rebuilding a broken child, it’s not as easy an rearing one properly the first time. There is baggage, debris, mess, stuff that has to be undone or relearned before you can move forward.
I remember a business class I took in college. We looked at case studies of struggling or failing businesses, and were asked what needed to be done in order to turn the business around. One guy’s answer was always the same, “Fire them all and start over again.”
Well, you can’t do that in life. You’re dealing with things like they are. You’re dealing with people where they are. It’s easy to get distracted with the little things and forget what your goal is and what you are trying to accomplish.
I mentioned earlier about dragging trailers for some roofing jobs. I was on another job Friday and there were 20 illegals working on a roof there. . . . I invited them to bring their children to MPC. They can’t . . . I spoke to some Spanish parents at MPC, one is a missionary who has been away, asked for our materials before she left. They have said they will come up with some way to minister to these folks . . .
Let’s stop a minute and pray for them and their families. What is our goal? To make disciples of all nations.
Don’t forget your goal. I’ve mentioned before that I was part of FFA when I was growing up. At each meeting, the president would tap his gavel and ask, “FFA Members, why are we here?” To which the members would answer, “To practice brotherhood. To honor rural opportunities and responsibilities, and to develop those qualities of leadership that a Future Farmer should possess..” They know why they are there.
Kobe’ Bryant once said, “Once you know what it is in life that you want to do, then the world basically becomes your library. Everything you view, you can view from that perspective, which makes everything a learning asset for you.”
Let’s not forget our goal. Why we do what we do.
You have to have a goal. You have to remember why you’re doing what you’re doing.
3. When God moves you, examine closely what needs to be done.
- Read 2:11-16
Nehemiah made midnight rides to examine the walls closely. He didn’t ask someone else to do it for him. He went and checked it out.
He didn’t talk about it. He didn’t make a big fuss. He pondered and he prayed.
This is the part many people don’t see in folks with changed lives, or changed direction, or rebuilt situations. Many folks don’t see the thought, and planning and contemplation that has taken place e behind the scenes before anything is started they can see.
People see a person who is suddenly in shape, or who isn’t scrambling to pay the bills anymore, or who is putting their home and their marriage back together. They see a business that is turning around, and they miss the work that has gone on behind the scenes. They miss the examination and the planning that has taken place. They see the glamor. They miss the labor.
Many of you remember Michael Jordan, one of the best basketball players to ever play. During his NBA career, he averaged 32 points per game, an amazing average. In an interview he was once asked how he was able to maintain that average over his entire career. He answered, “There are 4 quarters in every game. If I can score 8 points in each quarter, then I can maintain that average, so I strive every quarter to somehow score 8 points.”
God is a God of new beginnings. Even when there is rubble all around, even when you are surrounded by the ruins of past mistakes, God is a God of new beginnings, of fresh starts.
Ok, you blew that New Year’s resolution. It’s already fallen by the wayside. What needs to be done to accomplish what you want?
You want to get into shape. You want to quit being sore and tired, what needs to change? Do you need to change what time you go to bed? Do you need to change what you’re eating? Do you need to walk around the block before you sit in front of the TV each evening? Are there foods you can’t have in the house?
You want to start getting more financially in shape. What needs to change? Do you need to start making your lunch each day instead of eating out? Do you need to start making your coffee at home instead of stopping for that $5 Starbucks on the way to work each day? Do you need to consider a job change? What needs to change?
You want to rebuild that relationship. You want things to be better with your spouse. Do you need to change how you answer each other? Do you need to pick up behind yourself? Do you need to spend some more time at home instead with your friends? What needs to change?
You want to have a closer walk with the Lord? You want to see His hand more visibly at work in your life? What needs to change? Do you need to get up 30 minutes earlier in the morning so you can spend some time reading your Bible before you start you day? Then, does that mean you go to bed 30 minutes earlier the night before? We usually determine how our morning is going to be, the night before.
You’re having trouble with your attitude. Do you need to turn off the TV and spend some time listening to praise music? Do you need to turn off the news, and turn on some preaching?
What changes need to take place in order for changes to take place?
This is often the hardest part, figuring out what needs to be done. When God loves you, or when He is moving your heart, examine closely what needs to be done.
4. When God moves you, decide you’re going to do something about your situation.
- Read 2:17-18
When God moves you, when He moves your heart, you have to move. You have to do something about the situation.
You know the difference between a dream and an accomplishment? Action.
We have a NA (Narcotics Anonymous Group) that meets at Lake Monroe. They have a saying written on the board where they meet. It says, “Nothing changes until something changes.” You can sit there would’a, could’a, should’a until the cows come home, but until you put actions to your plans, to what God has placed on your heart, nothing is going to change. That’s a good word. Nothing is going to change until something changes.
And notice, how Nehemiah addressed the people. 3 words jump out at me as I look at verse 17.
- Read 2:17
3 words. We. Let’s, and we. Nehemiah didn’t point fingers at others saying they weren’t doing their jobs. He said, we’re in this together. If anything is going to be accomplished we’re going to do it together. Let us, get this thing turned around.
If you want to turn around a business, or a church, or a family, it takes a group effort. Sure, it takes a leader, someone to assume responsibility. Someone to be the catalyst, but it is a group effort.
And notice, the whole time Nehemiah is encouraging the folks.
- Read verse 18
He reminded them of how God had already worked and assured them that he was going to continue to do so.
Most of us have seen geese flying in their v formations as they migrate. California anthropologist has done a study on those formations. He tells us 4 things about them.
1) Birds flying in a v formation can fly 71% farther than a bird flying alone. When a bird in the formation flaps its wings, it helps create lift for the ones following it.
2. When a bird gets out of formation, it immediately feels the added resistance and quickly rejoins the group.
3) When the lead bird gets tired, it falls back and lets another one take the lead.
4) The whole time the birds are flying, the ones in the back are honking, encouraging the one in the lead.
Wouldn’t it be great if we in the church worked more like that, remembering that God put us in a church family for a reason, realizing that we can go farther and accomplish more together than we can ever do alone.
Wouldn’t it be great if we were more concerned about lifting our brothers, and encouraging those around us?
We don’t promise them anything God hasn’t. We don’t promise them easy, but we remind that in the nd we will be victorious.
Winston Churchill, at the beginning of world war 2, when the Germans were stomping everyone, when they were kicked out of France by the invading German armies told the people of England, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”
David, after taking off Saul’s armor said, “Is there not a cause?”
We share a vision and we encourage one another.
Oh, what do you know? The Lord does have something to say about that.
> Hebrews 10:23-25 Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.
He who created the birds and planned on them helping and encouraging one another, did the same and planned the same for us.
When God moves you, you need to get up and move.
5. When God moves you, don’t get distracted or discouraged.
- Read Nehemiah 2:19-20
When Nehemiah and the people of Jerusalem began to do something, when God moved them to change things, naysayers began to attack. The criticism started.
Look, if you’re not doing anything, no one is going to say anything. But if you get up and start doing something, if you get up and start making changes, and start doing and being what God has called you to do, there are going to be people who criticize and oppose you. If you’re gong to accomplish anything, you have to get used to criticism. If someone criticizes you, stop for a minute and pray.
Ask the Lord to see what spirit this criticism is coming in? Is it an honest attempt to help? Is it a word of caution, checking to make sure you have prayed through the situation. Are they listening to God? If they are, you had better listen to them. But, if it is being given from a spirit of negativity, or negativity, or lack of faith, or just plain meanness, ignore them, Cut them loose.
Look how Nehemiah replied to these criticizers, “The God of the heavens is the one who will grant us success. We, his servants, will start building, but you have no share, right, or historic claim in Jerusalem.”
I know what God has called us to do. I know what He wants to do here. I have spent time praying about this. You, on the other hand, aren’t coming with a spirit of humility, or a spirit love. You are coming because you’re happy with the status quo. You’re just trying to stop what God is doing.
And he cut them loose. You have no part in what is going on here.
When God calls you to do something. When he lays something on your heart and you have prayed about it, don’t let the criticizers stop you. Do what He has called and equipped you to do. Show them through success, what God can do if you trust and obey Him.
My friends, in our community there are broken walls all around. There are broken marriages, broken families, broken children, broken lives. More than 20 years ago, God called this church to help rebuild those walls, to help rebuild those lives, to help share Jesus with people needing rebuilding. God evidently has called you here to be a part of that work and to be a part of that mission. But we cannot share what we do not know. We cannot teach what we have not learned.
Will you make a commitment this morning, “Lord, I know where you have called us. I know what you have called us to do and to be. Help us to rebuild the walls in our own lives, to encourage others who are striving to do the same, and to share with our community the God Who is the only One who can authentically rebuild lives.
