Making a Difference

KEY VERSE: “Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.” —Nehemiah 2:17

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Nehemiah 2:1-8, 15-18

THE BOOKS OF Ezra and Nehemiah originally were one book and for that reason Nehemiah picks up where Ezra ended. A Jew named Nehemiah was still living in Babylonian exile as a personal servant to King Artaxerxes. He was visited by Hanani, one of his brothers from Judah, who told him that the Jews who had returned from Babylonia were in great difficulty and that their foreign neighbors held them in contempt. Furthermore, the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and the gates had been destroyed by fire. He was grievously saddened to learn that the people were demoralized and that the walls and gates of Jerusalem were in a shambles.

Nehemiah was deeply dependent upon God and regularly, as now, sought his guidance in prayer. When he served the king’s wine that day, God answered his prayer, that the king would be merciful and favorably answer his request. Nehemiah “took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, and said unto the king … why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchers, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?

“Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.”—Neh. 2:1-5

Continuing, we read: “So it pleased the king to send me; … Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.”—vss. 6-8

The king sent army officers and horsemen with Nehemiah. When they arrived at the governors and gave them the king’s letters, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian were grieved exceedingly that a man had come to work for the good of the people of Israel, and they were highly indignant and “laughed [them] to scorn.” (Neh. 2: 19) After arriving in Jerusalem, Nehemiah went out by night and viewed the wall and the gates but he told no one where he went or what he did.

Later he said to the people, “Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.”—Neh. 2:17,18

Christians too must rely on God for help to build character with “gold,” “silver,” and “precious stones.”—I Cor. 3:12

| Home Page | Table of Contents |