Have you ever felt like you were in the wrong place, at the wrong time? Hopefully not in the next few minutes, but four teenagers were arrested in the parking lot of a large mall in Lakeland, Florida, just before Christmas when, attempting to steal an automobile at random, they tried to break into an unmarked police van containing three officers on a stakeout. That’s being in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Or how about Rory Johnson, age 29, who was arrested in May for a liquor store robbery in Elkhart, Indiana. Johnson had parked in the back of the store to facilitate his getaway but had trouble exiting because of congestion due to road construction. Five minutes after the robbery, he was sitting in his car, having moved only a few feet, and liquor store employees pointed him out to police. The wrong place, at the wrong time. And of course, doing the wrong thing.
Or there is the sad story of Darnell Madison, 37, who was shot and killed in July in Homewood, Alabama. Apparently he burst into a motel room intending to rob the seven men whom he had seen enter it with a large wad of money. He was unaware they were armed undercover police officers working on another case.
One more, Deputy Sheriff Ryan Maye told the Times-Leader of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, that he first heard the rustle of a plastic baggie coming from the next stall at about 10:45 a.m. Easter Standard Time on Tuesday. Then Maye heard the sound of a lighter being struck. Within seconds, the smell of roasting marijuana filled the men’s room of the magnificent neo-classical Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.
"I banged on the door and ordered him to come out," Maye told the paper. From the stall emerged a sheepish Nickolai, age 32, who was due for an 11 a.m. hearing on a recent arrest of theft and drug charges. Nickolai was tucking a pipe back into his pocket, according to Maye. Maye and another deputy patted Nickolai down and found, in addition to marijuana, two containers with 49 Xanax pills inside.
Since all parties involved were already in the courthouse, the arraignment didn’t take long, and Nickolai was sent to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility down the street pending $1,000 bail. He was given a hearing the following Thursday on the new charges. There was no indication whether he planned to smoke pot before that hearing as well.
Pretty extreme cases of being in the wrong place, at the wrong time. But I wonder if feeling like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time might not describe how Nehemiah felt when he received the report we explored last Sunday. Is the jump from a courthouse, pot smoking felon to Nehemiah to big for one sentence?
Last week we launched our walk through the book of Nehemiah, and we talked about how we start to go about the business of getting refocused in on the vision that God has for our lives.
We talked about the fact that often that vision will come to us at a time of desperation. A time of discontent, heartache, and burden. A time when we look at an area of our life as an individual: maybe our marriage, a relationship, a job situation, a temptation, and we say. . .”God, I know this shouldn’t be like this. Help me to make it different.” Or in the life of a church we look at the lost around us and say, “God, we have to do something to make a difference in this area.” Those times of desperation and discontent are often the times of vision birthing.
We talked about the vision starting with a concern. It starts with having an area burning in your heart, keeping you up at night, consuming your waking thoughts. Having an area that is stirring in your spirit as an area that you are concerned about, and want to see something change.
For Nehemiah, it was the report about the city of Jerusalem. He had called some men to him, there in the king’s palace where he was working in Shushan, and asked them how things were going. And they told him things were terrible. The people are living a life that is embarrassing and shameful. The city looks like a garbage pile. Things are terrible.
And when Nehemiah received this report of what things looked like in Jerusalem in those first four verses of chapter one, probably more than 100 years since the city had been overtaken and destroyed, he was stuck. There was nothing he could do. He was in the wrong place, with the wrong job, working for the wrong guy.
Just think about it. Nehemiah is in Shushan. You all know where that is, right? Neither did I. It’s where the book of Esther takes place, but geographically, I didn’t have a clue. So I looked it up on a map. Couldn’t find it in my handy-dandy Rand-McNally Atlas. Had to dig a little deeper. Found out it was the capital of Elam. That little fact didn’t help me one bit.
Finally, found a map that showed Shushan and Jerusalem. Now I don’t know how well you can see this, but these two cities are a good distance apart. Probably in the neighborhood of 900 miles. On top of that, you couldn’t take an eagle’s route to Jerusalem from Shushan. In fact, you had to take a rather out of the way journey, which probably made the distance well over 1,000 miles. Oh, and by the way, they didn’t have planes or automobiles.
So here is Nehemiah, receiving this devastating news, and he is a long way from the right place to be able to do something about it. Meantime, he is working as a cupbearer. Now, this was a job that could go from really cool, to really bad. . .really fast. The cupbearer was the one who tasted and served wine to the king. Ancient kings had to be very cautious about what they ate and drank. People wanted them dead. So they used trusted servants to taste everything before they consumed it.
It had its benefits. For instance, it gave Nehemiah an inside lane to the King. He was highly trusted. Probably able to overhear conversations and discussions of very personal and private natures. However, if someone was trying to kill the king via food or drink. . .Nehemiah was the goner. If the servant lived or did not get sick, the king and queen then ate or drank. Hardly seems like the job for the man that is going to rescue Jerusalem.
As for the King, King Artaxerxes is now in power. For a while that was a bit of a problem. You see, King Cyrus had authorized moving forward with the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. But when Artaxerxes took over, there was a period of trouble within his kingdom that unsettled him a bit, and he put a stop to the reconstruction project. Doesn’t seem like the guy to be working for when you have a passion burning in your heart for the city of Jerusalem.
So here is Nehemiah, in the wrong place. . .a thousand miles from Jerusalem. . .with the wrong job. . .conducting high level taste tests for poison. . .under the wrong guy. . .a king who wasn’t 100% sold on the idea of rebuilding this great city. In the wrong place, with the wrong job working for the wrong guy. Or so it seems.
And as you read through the story of Nehemiah, you will find a couple words that you would probably fly right over and see as rather insignificant. The words are Chislev, in chapter one verse one, and Nisan, in chapter two verse one. Two words that probably don’t mean anything to you, but you should know that they were months in the calendar of the day. And what is significant about these two months, is that they are actually four months apart.
So as the story of Nehemiah unfolds, you have him receiving this horrific report about the condition of Jerusalem in chapter one, and then we might be tempted to perceive his actions as beginning in chapter two. . .four months later. And it would be easy for us to lose sight of the fact that the Bible is not a minute by minute recording of details and history. It is segments. Key moments. Snapshots into the lives of the people that we are learning about.
So it would be incorrect to look at the life of Nehemiah, see him receive this report during the month of Chislev, read his prayer, and then assume that is all he did about Jerusalem for an entire four month period. In fact, as Nehemiah’s story unfolds throughout chapters one and two, we see that there were three specific things that Nehemiah did in regards to this concern, this burden, this vision that God was birthing in his spirit.
He prayed. He planned. And He positioned himself. Let’s look at these three things more closely together. First. . .
A. HE PRAYED FOR GOD’S GUIDANCE
Last week as we wrapped up our service, I asked you to reflect on and contemplate the “concern” that God would want to birth in your heart as a seed for vision in your life. And then we prayed. And when we prayed, I prayed the Scripture of Nehemiah’s prayer that followed his receiving this devastating report about Jerusalem. It makes up the majority of chapter one.
Within that prayer, Nehemiah launches into a major commitment to prayer. Listen to this commitment. Nehemiah 1:5 (read through verse 6a). When he says “day and night” I believe he is describing his mindset towards prayer throughout this entire four month period between chapters one and two.
Nehemiah knew there was a relationship between this concern, this burden, this vision that was burning in his spirit, and prayer. The two can’t be separated.
Sometimes we get a vision, and the first thing we want to do is jump into action. We are so ready to be doing for God that we fail to hear from God. Nehemiah didn’t want that to happen to his vision. So he begins bathing it in prayer, day and night.
One of Debbie and Is favorite verses in the entire Bible is found in Jeremiah 29:11. You have heard it referenced before. Turn there with me. I want you to see this connection between vision and prayer. Jeremiah 29:11 (read).
That’s visionary language right? I know the thoughts. . .some of your versions will say plans. A future. A hope. Vision words. And we often stop there at verse 11, but the following verses tell us how to find that vision. Verse 12 (read).
God says, “I know the thoughts I have for you. They are my thoughts. Why wouldn’t I know them? But do you?” God says, “If you want to know these thoughts. . .then you will call on me. You will pray to me. You will listen to me. You will open the door for us to enter into a relationship of communication where I can share this great vision with you.” Verse 13 (read).
How do we know God’s vision for our lives? We call upon Him. We go to Him in prayer. We seek after Him. And when do we find Him? When we seek Him with all of our hearts. This is not some half-hearted pursuit. This is not, “God, I kind of would like some direction. . .some guidance. . .maybe a vision for my life.” This is a commitment to passionately pursue the will of God for your life. Many people say they can’t hear from God, they don’t know what God wants them to do, but have they really sought after God with their whole heart? Their entire being?
Dan Southerland pastors at a church that has experienced phenomenal, exponential growth over the past 15 years. And a massive percentage of their growth at Flamingo Road Church in Fort Lauderdale, FL, has come through conversions. Unchurched people. And this is what he says about that connection between vision and prayer:
“Vision is usually given to those who pray until they get it. If prayer is not the octane that fuels your vision, your vision will stall out and your church will be motionless. Those things you are praying for are the things you are depending on God to do. Those things you are not praying for, you are doing on your own.”
Think for a moment about that concern. That vision you have begun to wrestle with. Hopefully you wrote it down on last week’s worship folder. My Concern Is. . . Now do a quick self-examination. On a scale of 1 to 100, rate yourself in regards to praying for that vision. 1 being that you really haven’t prayed about it at all. 100 being that you have bathed this thing in prayer night and day, weeks and months. Occasional prayers for the vision. . .maybe a 50. Write down that number somewhere in the margin of your outline. Then put a percentage sign next to it.
If you believe that prayer is vital to vision. Then that percentage is the percentage of your vision that you can see fulfilled. God fulfills vision through prayer. There is no shortcut to it.
Then, as God speaks to us in prayer. . .He calls on us to act. And Nehemiah was ready to act. Not only did he pray, but. . .
B. HE PLANNED FOR GOD’S ACTIVITY
Again, if you don’t recognize the reality of what we have in our hands today as a record of the events of history. . .you will miss out on this little nugget of truth. It would be easy to read through the book of Nehemiah, and say, “Hmm, looks like Nehemiah got the bad report. Said a prayer. Sat around a few months. And then went into the king and asked if he could go build a wall.”
But I seriously doubt that is how it happened. Does this really sound like someone who is shooting from the hip? Listen to these verses. Nehemiah, chapter 2 (read through verse 8). Does that sound like a guy who has been sitting around for four months, and then ad-libs as he goes? I don’t think so.
I believe during that four months, that time of prayer and seeking God’s direction that Nehemiah began to communicate with God and develop a plan for God’s activity. He came up with a Seven Step Strategy for Rebuilding the Wall –
1. Convince the king to let me leave his service in order to rebuild a wall around a city that in years past was a military threat to this kingdom.
2. Convince the king to lend financial support to the building project of a city that has been a military threat to this kingdom.
3. Get letters from the same king to the surrounding governors telling them to give me safe passage so that I can rebuild a city that has been a military threat to their areas.
4. Work out a deal with Asaph, to get all the lumber to build the gates, and a home for me to live in, in this rebuilt city that has been a military threat to this kingdom.
5. Ask the king to promote me from cupbearer to Governor of Judah.
6. Organize and equip the people living in Jerusalem who haven’t been organized or equipped for decades now.
7. Build the wall, and restore the city.
Now be honest. After looking at Nehemiah’s plans and dreams, and vision. . .does whatever you have been visioning really seem that extraordinary after all? Does that place of concern and vision really seem all that impossible in light of what Nehemiah was planning?
And you see, this planning, and in a moment when we look at positioning, are where a lot of dreams die. Some of us are really good at praying that God will move. But when it comes to our involvement, how God is going to use us. Planning to be a part of what God is up to. The vision often fades away.
I dare say that there isn’t a single person in this church that wouldn’t pray and dream for a great children’s ministry here at SWC. But when our vision night came. When it was time to begin coming up with a plan, a strategy for ministry. Two seminary interns were the only ones who attended.
I dare say that almost anyone in our church would pray that God would use our church to reach lost people. But when we ask for those prayers to be put to paper, and ask for a plan to be launched where each of us can come up with three people we want to see reached for God, only four “Three for God” cards are turned in.
Many visions die. Fade away. Because unlike Nehemiah, when we enter into our waiting period. . .the waiting period becomes a waning period. If it isn’t going to be here and now, then it isn’t going to be at all. And that isn’t intended to be a guilt trip, as much as it is a warning that whatever that concern you have before you is. . .there will be opportunity to let the prayers grow more and more infrequent. To let the fervor and enthusiasm die down a bit. And before you know it, we can end up once again out of focus and lacking vision.
In his book “Visioneering”, Andy Stanley writes, “New visions die easily. And understandably so. There is little to go on. Praying and planning will help you keep your vision alive. And that is critical. When your vision dies, part of you dies as well. So pray. Pray for opportunities. Pray for the people who could help you launch your vision. And while you wait, plan! Develop a strategy. Dream on paper. Find the one or two things you can do and get busy. You don’t know what God is up to. It is better to be ready even if nothing happens than to run the risk of missing out if He brings an opportunity your way.”
Which brings us to the third thing Nehemiah did.
C. HE POSITIONED HIMSELF FOR GOD’S PROVIDENCE
Look at verse 11 in Nehemiah’s prayer of chapter one (read). “And grant him mercy in this sight of this man.” What man is he talking about? He is talking him, Nehemiah, being granted mercy in this man’s sight, the man being King Artaxerxes. The king to whom Nehemiah is cupbearer.
Nehemiah is praying that God will provide the opportunity, that God will position Nehemiah with the chance to share his vision, his passion, and his concern with the king.
Now I know that was the last blank on the outline, but don’t give up on me yet. Hang in there for a few more minutes, and think about this with me. We often pray for God to do miracles, and that is a good thing to pray. We can intercede and ask our Heavenly Father to move in divine and miraculous ways in our lives, and in our areas of concern. However, because God has chosen us to be vessels of His grace. Because God has chosen to utilize us in the fulfillment of His mission. Because God has made us stewards of all that is before us. Often what we should also be praying for are opportunities to be positioned to make a difference.
It looks like this. Say you have a vision of your children, a passion and concern that they grow up as godly men and women. Then we should not only pray that they would become people of great character, but we should pray for the opportunities to build character into their lives.
Say you have a vision for your career. A burning desire to accomplish great things as a Christian in the secular workplace. Then we should not just pray that God will provide a miraculous promotion. We should pray that God will place us in opportunities, in moments when we can demonstrate that ability and talent that He has blessed us with.
Say you have a vision for a lost friend, family member or neighbor. We shouldn’t simply pray that God will miraculously save them. We should pray that God will open the door in His providence and position us to be able to share the Gospel message with them.
Notice, Nehemiah didn’t pray. . .”God, the city is a mess. The wall is down. The gates are burned. Reach down by your mighty hand, and fix it all.” No. He prayed, “God, it shouldn’t be this way. I have a burning desire to be a part of changing the way things are, but I seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. So by your divine hand, grant me the opportunity to make a difference. Help me find favor in the eyes of the king, so I can intercede on behalf of the city.”
You see, Nehemiah may have thought he was at the wrong place doing the wrong job for the wrong person, but listen to what Andy Stanley writes, “God had Nehemiah in the right place, doing the right thing, at the right time. Unbeknownst to Nehemiah and Artaxerxes, God has spent years preparing and positioning these men for what was about to unfold.
“Consider this: from the time Nehemiah was a little boy, God had been engineering his circumstances to ensure him a place among the palace servants. From there God maneuvered him through the ranks of influential Persian officials so he was noticed for his integrity and trustworthiness. Eventually, he was recommended to the king by some unknown palace staffer. And then one day he was appointed to the position of cupbearer.”
And catch this next part, “On the surface, it would appear God was moving Nehemiah in a direction that would make it impossible for him to ever realize his dream. But just the opposite was true. God landed Nehemiah a job that gave him an inside track to the king. Like a master strategist, God had been working behind the scenes, putting all the players into position. And now the curtain was about to go up, signaling the beginning of a divinely scripted, perfectly cast play.”
Part of bringing your vision into 20/20 focus is understanding that God is using your circumstances to position and prepare you to accomplish His vision for your life.
Let me ask you today. . .did you spend some time this week reflecting on that concern? Did you take some time to pray, and ask God to point out to you that place of desperation where He has a vision for you? If so, what are you going to do in the time between Chislev and Nisan? Or in 2005 terms, between October and January. You see, for your particular vision, like with Nehemiah, God may have a waiting period in store for you.
It may be four months, it may be four weeks, it may be four years. What are you doing during that time? You see, with the passing of time, it is easy to loose focus, and give up. We hear all the voices and commentary around us. . .”Who are you kidding? You’re not going anywhere to rebuild anything.” “She’s never coming home.” “He’s not going to become a Christian.” “Nobody’s going to go for that.” “Your kids are too far gone.” “You’ll never have a marriage like that.” “Nobody’s going to listen to you.”
As your vision comes into focus, and God begins to stir, it will be easy to listen to the voices. But in the mean time, God has you where He wants you. And while you are there, He wants you to pray, plan, and position yourself to be used for His purpose and to accomplish His desires for your life.
(Significant inspiration for the sermons throughout this series derived from Andy Stanley’s "Visioneering", and Dan Southerland’s "Transitioning". . .excellent leadership reflections on the book of Nehemiah.)
