Title: Vision begins (Nehemiah 2:9-20)
Contents
Vision begins (Nehemiah 2:9-20)
There will be many hardships in your life ahead, but the game is over.
Your life will surely be spent for God's sake and for His kingdom.
And it will happen. And God will be glorified.
If you have a determination for God and a heart to love the country, nothing is impossible.
I hope that the vision of God realized through prayer will be conceived in your hearts.
Finally, Nehemiah proclaims the vision. There is the cry of Nehemiah, “Arise, let us rebuild the walls of Jerusalem” (verse 17). The vision had begun.
What is a vision for Nehemiah? It is to rebuild the walls. What is your vision for building a house? Building a house is not a vision, but a way to glorify God by building a house and to cast off the shame we have suffered. Nehemiah describes this as rebuilding the wall.
prayer for vision
Folks, prayer begets vision. If you pray diligently, God's vision will be conceived. What comes out of a thought is not a vision.
Nehemiah asks the king more than what Nehemiah asked.
Let's read verse 9. “The king sent army officers and horsemen with me, and I went across the Euphrates to the governors and delivered the king’s letter.”
God's answers are always abundant. David confesses, “My cup overflows” (Psalm 23:5). He did not confess, “My cup is barely full.” God always answers my prayers more perfectly and more abundantly than I wanted.
When the king sent Nehemiah, he also sent soldiers and horsemen. Nehemiah did not ask for this. It was unexpected.
When you live in this world and depend on God, you will surely overcome and your cup will overflow.
When vision begins, we have something to think about. God answered and the vision began, but the process was not smooth. In the process of realizing the vision, opposing and disruptive forces are always waiting. You have to go beyond this. You have to go through this. Only then will the vision come true.
A spiritual person who predicts crises
Let's read verse 10. “Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite the steward heard the news. When they heard that a man had come to rebuild the house of Israel, they felt very uncomfortable.”
Not everyone applauds for doing a good job and having a great vision. Someone who does a particularly good job says so. They say, “I am doing such a good job, but why do you get angry, oppose and criticize me when I am doing things that benefit you like this?”
There are several reasons for people with planting discomfort. First, because the interests are intertwined. So it doesn't matter what is right or wrong and opposes it when it hurts them.
They also get angry when they fall behind in competition or are humiliated. If you feel that your self-esteem will be hurt, you will follow what the other person is doing and oppose it. Even if it is the right thing to do, if you hold a grudge against the other person, you will oppose it.
Nehemiah was expecting all of this. Spiritual people predict at what stage a crisis will come as they carry out their vision. And prepare for it spiritually. Who are the people who oppose the construction of the temple, and who are uncomfortable with planting? They were Samaritans. The Samaritans and the Jews have long been at odds.
The moment they heard that Nehemiah had returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the burnt gates and ruined walls, the Samaritans were politically afraid of their rights being violated and their dominion diminished. So you have a bad idea. We do not think about whether it is right or wrong to build the walls of Jerusalem.
A wise person who prays in front of a crisis
Let's see how Nehemiah overcame these obstacles.
The first is prayer. Nehemiah was also a man of prayer. He did not fight or provoke his opponents or those who made them uncomfortable.
Let's read verses 11-12. “I went to Jerusalem and stayed there for three days. Then at night I took a few people out on patrol. I hadn't told anyone what my God had ordained for Jerusalem in my heart. I had nothing to ride except the horse I was riding on.”
After Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he remained still for three days. This is what a wise person looks like. The thing is, you didn't act until you first gathered information and figured out the situation.
What did he do for three days? They probably prayed, meditated and fasted. He must have prayed and meditated on ‘how can we get out of this crisis wisely and well’.
Nehemiah decided to go on a patrol with some men on the third night of prayer. Thinking like this, I am silent. I mean, I didn't tell other people. He didn't explain it to the people, he didn't come heavily armed, and he didn't make a fancy parade. They did not patrol during the day, but in the dark night they took a few men to inspect the walls of Jerusalem. Here you can learn Nehemiah's silent wisdom.
A lot of times we get angry when we talk rudely. When exaggerated, it becomes a lie. We often get angry for saying unnecessary things, but Nehemiah did not tell the story of the inspection to his colleagues or any administrator.
The Silent Wisdom of Nehemiah
Nehemiah's night reconnaissance was about 4 km away. It was a reconnaissance of quite a few streets at night. Here we can see Nehemiah's wisdom and fortitude. The collapsed wall was far away and the degree of destruction was very serious. If you visit Israel, you will know that the stones on the walls are very large. It's all just buried in the valley.
At that time, how much heavy equipment would have been required to roll the big stones and bring them back up to the wall. Lifting it by human hand has never been an easy task. We needed experts, we needed equipment, and we would need people. Another thing is that the temple was rebuilt after the second return from captivity. This is because the Israelites who returned from their captivity were weeping and heartbroken when they saw the collapsed walls.