Day 236 – Nehemiah

• Today we begin our final week in the Old Testament! What a journey we have been on!
• So, who is Nehemiah? Find out, in Nehemiah 1, where he is currently living (you may recognise it from the story of Esther) and what his job is. Find out, if you don’t already know, what sort of things Nehemiah would have had to do as part of his job.
• The events of this book are roughly around 13 years after the arrival of Ezra back in Jerusalem. What did Nehemiah do when he first heard about the state of Jerusalem? When you hear bad news, is your usual response similar to Nehemiah’s?
• Nehemiah wasn’t personally affected by the broken walls; before he heard the news, he was presumably in no rush to leave Susa. Is your heart broken when you hear of things against your Christian brothers and sisters? What about for war, or poverty, or non-Christian law? Can I encourage you to pray this week for situations that go beyond your own personal life?
• What does Nehemiah pray for in Nehemiah 1?
• In Nehemiah 2, Nehemiah spoje to the king, asking for help. Four months hd passed since he first heard the news about the walls. In the time that he spent waiting for a good opportunity to speak to the king, what do you think Nehemiah might have been doing to prepare for the conversation? What did he do just before he speaks to the king?
• How did the king react? What did Jeremiah ask for in Nehemiah 2:7, and why do you think they might have been important? How does verse 10 back this up?
• What was the first thing Nehemiah did when he arrived in Jerusalem?
• What good leadership skills can you see in the way Nehemiah acted and spoke in these early days? Think about his worldly characteristics, as well as his godly ones.

Well, the people are continuing to build their lives back again in the Promised Land and Nehemiah has the tough job of starting the rather huge job of rebuilding the walls. Like Ezra with the temple, he will face challenges, both with keeping his own morale up, and from external sources, which we’ll read about tomorrow.

Nehemiah, and Ezra too, must have sometimes wondered whether it was all just too much! Sometimes it’s like that for us too. Are you behind in your reading plan at the moment? You may be a little overwhelmed with the job of keeping up, like Nehemiah might have felt as he surveyed the rubble of the walls. You might think of other challenges in your Christian life which are similarly challenging, such as sharing your faith with your unconvinced friends, or dealing with the challenges of lockdown.

Notice what Nehemiah does. He starts with prayer. When you have a challenge in front of you, let me encourage that to always be your starting point!

Then, in Nehemiah 2, he’s brave. He stands up in front of the king, putting himself on the front line. That would have been tough. It *is* tough. But Nehemiah was confident it was the right thing, and stood up and trusted in God.

Thirdly, as he surveyed the broken walls, his heart was filled with the importance of the task in front of him. Do you long for God’s name to be proclaimed amongst your friends? Standing up for God usually happens not because of a technical understanding of our jobs as Christians, but through a genuine desire to bring God into people’s lives. Do you have that desire? If you struggle with that, make that an area for personal prayer.

Finally, when he was challenged, he came to God. At the end of today’s readings, Nehemiah was mocked, but instead of fighting back, he relied on knowing that working for God was more important than a couple of guys giving him a hard time. What makes you give up? How can you give God the higher place and trust in Him during these moments?