Reading: Nehemiah 2:1-16

That’s the title for the Sunday School lesson for day after tomorrow.

Wait, wait, wait!!

Even if you aren’t a leader, don’t leave just yet.

Here are four verses from the passage I want you to consider briefly.

“And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?” (3).

What is the state of the church?

How strong is my attachment to my spiritual heritage?

I need to care, just like Nehemiah did.

“Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven” (4).

Maybe there’s a time lapse and a change of location between the question and Nehemiah’s prayer.

I’m guessing, though, that he prayed in his heart right there.

I need to be more of a praying-on-the-spur-of-the-moment man.

Turning to God for direction right at the time of need — I must cultivate that kind of living.

“And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight…” (5).

To find favor, be a faithful servant.

I wonder how much Favor Currency has accrued to my account.

“When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel” (10).

A man to seek their welfare — that’s what my family needs in me!

And that’s what my church needs in me.

In these areas, I definitely want to be a man in the Nehemiah mold.

from Nehemiah 2:5

A little bit more from Nehemiah 2: My God, the King, and Me