PUT IT IN WRITING: FROM ASPIRATION TO ASSIGNMENT (NEH. 2:1-9)
At the height of the phone wars, AT & T, MCI, and Sprint advertised their advantage over another in the papers, on TV, and through telemarketing. Many people were bombarded with slogans like Get 100 Free Minutes, Save 20% or more, or 3 Free Months. When customers decided to switch their carriers to take advantage of the offers, they discovered they weren¡¦t getting more savings, longer minutes, or better service.
And when they complained, the operator¡¦s retorted: "We didn’t say that," "Who did you talk to?" or "I am not the manager." The last response effectively induced a guilt trip, a red face, and a sympathetic and regretful sigh from most callers.
One commercial made the most sense to me at that time. An operator said, "If so-and-so calls you again, ask them to put it in writing." That made sense. If you confirm a transaction, make a complain, apply for a job, what do you do? Put it in writing. It’s not easy. You will have to think it through, write it down, and cut to the chase or get to the point.
Four months had passed (1:1, 2:1) since the day Nehemiah first heard that the walls of Jerusalem were broken. He awoke from his indifference, ignorance, and inaction, acknowledged three great confessions in chapter 1, and prayed for an opportunity to make a difference. The opportunity arose in an unlikely manner. Artaxerxes the king asked him three questions, and Nehemiah was ready. In fact, he had a detailed request or plan in a few lines, from four months of prayer. He was sharp in his thought, snappy in his answers, and sound in his requests. The king was convinced and the gracious hand of God was upon him.
Note the king’s three questions to Nehemiah.
THE FIRST QUESTION IS "WHY ARE YOU SO SAD?"
2:1 In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before; 2 so the king asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart." I was very much afraid, 3 but I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?"
(Neh 2:1-3)
One evening in 1808, a gaunt, sad-faced man entered the office of Dr. James Hamilton in Manchester, England. The doctor was struck by the melancholic appearance of his visitor. He inquired, ¡§Are you sick?"
The man replied, "Yes, doctor, sick with a mortal disease." To which the doctor asked, "What sickness?"
The man confessed glumly, "I am frightened of the terror around me. I am depressed by life. I can find no happiness anywhere, nothing amuses me (or makes me laugh), and I have nothing to live for. (Doctor,) If you can’t help me, I shall kill myself."
The doctor said, "(Come on,) The sickness is not mortal (deadly. It won’t kill you). You only need to get out of yourself (and have a change of pace). You need to laugh; to get some pleasure in life."
"What shall I do (then)?" said the man. "Go to the circus tonight to see Grimaldi, the clown. Grimaldi is the funniest man alive. (I saw him a couple of nights ago, and I’m still laughing. Go and see Grimaldi the clown.) He¡¦ll cure you."
A spasm of pain crossed the poor man’s face as he said, "Doctor, don’t jest with me. I am Grimaldi the clown!" (Tan, 7,700 Illustrations # 3188)
First, put in writing this question: Why are you so sad? Or, what motivates you to pray?
How do you express or resolve your sadness? Do you drink, smoke, or worse, damage property, injure others, or forget God? Do you eat ice-cream, chocolate, or other snacks to forget your unhappiness? Do you take it out on your own family, close friends, church brothers and sisters or the house pet?
In Nehemiah 2:1-3 the Hebrew word "sad" appears four times (vv 1, 2, 2, 3). Sadness was a feeling in Nehemiah¡¦s heart that showed up on his face and disrupted routine work, normal relationships, and daily life. The king suggested plainly, ¡§Your face tells me you are not happy, your body tells me you are not sick, so I gather your heart must be broken.¡¨
When Nehemiah was sad, he meant it, showed it, and more importantly, he talked plainly, concisely and rationally about it (2:3): ¡§May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned by fire?¡¨
It is important to know what you feel and how you feel. but it is more important to know why you feel what you feel and what to do about what you feel. And he used less than twenty words to tell the king why he was sad: ¡§The city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned by fire.¡¨ Nehemiah was motivated by the love of God, the promise of God, and the things of God in his heart, on his mind, and on his face.
Some of the most human, honest and heartbreaking prayers Jesus responded to in the Gospels were short, specific, and staunch prayers. Three stood out. Peter cried three words when he was sinking down, "Lord, save me." (Matthew 14:30) Three words were also uttered by the Canaanite woman whose daughter was demon-possessed. She kept following, beseeching, and bothering Jesus, although He asked the disciples to send her away; but she came, knelt and petitioned, "Lord, help me." (Matthew 15:25) In Luke 17:13 ten lepers looked for Jesus, stood at a distance and shouted four words in Greek, "Jesus, Master, pity us!"
THE NEXT QUESTION IS "WHAT IS IT YOU WANT?
4 The king said to me, "What is it you want?" Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I answered the king, "If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it." (Neh 2:4-5)
A mother of a highschooler shared with me her experience one Mother’s day.
Before the important day arrived, her son came up to her and said, "Mom, mom, what do you think of flowers?" The mom, unaware of her son’s intention on the fast-approaching day, looked at his son and gave a very practical answer, "They’re OK...but they die!"
On Mother’s Day, the son surprised her with some high tech presents. She received a gameboy and two video games: Super Mario Bros. and Tetris!
In Southern California, every weekday from 12-3 p.m. on AM 640 the biting Dr. Laura would take calls from hearers and answer their questions. She has this famous question to rambling, bumbling, or mumbling callers, who were often awed of the host, nervous on the occasion, or guilty of sharing opinions: ¡§What is your question?¡¨ ¡§What is your question for me?¡¨ or ¡§What can I help you with?¡¨ or ¡§What can I help you from where I sit?¡¨
What do you want? Do you know it? Can you say it? Have you written it down? Like leaving a message on the answering machine, if you say nothing, if you can call back, or if someone else can help, then it’s not really that important, you are not really that helpless, or both.
Notice Nehemiah prayed briefly, but his answer was thorough. His leave-nothing, very-sure and always-ready answers from verse 5 onwards can be capsulated in 5 W’s and 1 H.
Nehemiah knew what he wanted; he had an action, a what question, for the king ¡V ¡§let him send.¡¨ After saying what he wanted, Nehemiah identified the recipient or direct object of the king¡¦s actions ¡V the who: ¡§me.¡¨ Not the king¡¦s architect, builder, or advisors. After what and who, Nehemiah proceeded to where: ¡§to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried.¡¨ Next, Nehemiah supplied the why: ¡§so that I can rebuild it¡¨ To be thorough, Nehemiah set a time or give the when (v 6) and state the means or the how in verse 8: ¡§If it pleases the king, may I have....¡¨(8).
At the end of the conversation Nehemiah got what he wanted. He had royal letters, army officers and the cavalry with him.
Many people have no clue what to pray for, why they need it, and how to respond with, in and by faith. So, put it in writing these five words: ¡§What is it you want?¡¨
THE LAST QUESTION IS "HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?"
Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, "How long
will your journey take, and when will you be back?" It pleased the king
to send me; so I set a time. (2:6)
It¡¦s been said, ¡§Rome is not built in a day.¡¨
The king was not fooled. Nehemiah needed more than just burning passion, written statements, and outstanding prayers. Artaxrexes asked, "How long will it take?"
The last question was not necessarily the simplest. Some people get stuck when it comes to keeping time, organizing time, and making time. Some people pray when they remember, some pray when they are reminded, and others pray when they are ruffled.
Nehemiah knew when to start, when to end, and when to rest. Each step of the way, he knew when to ask for: beginning with royal letters, followed by the guarantee of a safe passage from the governors of Trans-Euphrates in travel, and provision of physical resources from Asap for the city gates, temple, and homes upon arrival in Judah.
Do you know in the end how long it took Nehemiah to make a difference? Let us look at three verses. In Nehemiah 2:1 he started asking the king for permission in the twentieth year of the king¡¦s reign. Now let us go to Nehemiah 6:15, and you¡¦ll see how long he took? 52 days. Finally, in Nehemiah 13:6 and see how many years he had served. 12 years and counting.
Let me end with a remarkable story about Sir Edmund Hillary, the 83-year-old New Zealander beekeeper, who, along with his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay, was the first climber to reach the top of Mount Everest, the world¡¦s highest mountain, half a century ago in 1953.
After his monumental climb, Hillary asked a senior Sherpa what he could do for the Sherpa if he could help them. The senior Sherpa replied, ¡§We are as strong as you are. But our children have eyes, but they cannot see. They are blind because they cannot read We need a school. Learning is the one we most desire for our children¡¨
So Hillary, the renowned young mountaineer who reached the top at 34, gave up riches, fame and adventure, and returned year after year the next four decades of his life to give back to the people who made him a legend. Hillary¡¦s Himalayan Trust helped built the first school and hospital, and all in all, 27 schools, 12 clinics, 2 hospitals, 2 airfields and a couple of dozen bridges.
But the sacrifice had been high too. In 1975, Hillary was building a hospital with volunteers and was eagerly awaiting his wife Louise and their youngest daughter¡¦s arrival. The small plane did not make it. Hillary¡¦s wife and daughter were killed shortly after takeoff from Kathmandu. (James Brooke, ¡§In Sherpa Country, They Love ’Sir Ed’¡?New York Times, 5/29/03 & Tim Friend, ¡§Sir Edmund on top of the world in life of service¡¨ USA TODAY, 11/17/98)
When Hillary celebrated the 50th anniversary of ascent on May 29, 2003, he turned down an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II, and instead shared a quiet dinner with lifelong Sherpa friends who have journeyed to this capital to see him.
So how long does it take you to pray, serve, do the things of God? As long as it takes. I try to live my life from a commercial standpoint: Do one thing, do it well; a biblical verse: Finish the course, keep the faith; and an old-timer¡¦s advice: Retirement is for the birds!
Conclusion: It¡¦s been said, ¡§Fail to plan is to plan to fail.¡¨ Can you write in one sentence the 5 Ws and 1 H of your prayer to God? Can you do it, like Nehemiah (2:4-5), in 35 words or less? Martin Luther said, The fewer the words, the better the prayer. Practice it, write it, and revise it till it becomes concrete to you. Are you one of those who go he-he hi-hi and go nowhere?
Victor Yap
http://epreaching.blogspot.com/
www.riversidecma.org
www.preachchrist.com (Chinese sermons only)
