In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 our world has changed in some fundamental ways. We are not living in the same world we were living in just 7 weeks ago. There has been a seismic shaking of the foundations of our civilization. And we don’t know what the future holds. Everything is uncertain, and many people are fearful. But let me guarantee you one thing with respect to the future…

Everything will rise or fall on leadership

That is true in politics; it is true in world events; it is true in the church; and it is true in your own personal spiritual life.

In studying the book of Nehemiah, we have been looking at the life of a leader.

Last week, we learned that Nehemiah was a man who placed as his top priority Character over career. He determined to be a man of God: a man who was available to God, and a man who was transparent with God.

And that priority led him to be a man of strong character; a man of integrity. And because of his integrity, he rose to a position of absolute trust in the Persian Empire – a position that would give him the opportunity to advance God’s work and to help God’s people. He was the cupbearer to the king. The head of the king’s palace security detail.

We also saw that God was incubating a vision in this leader – a vision to be a rebuilder.

1. God’s people in Jerusalem were in great trouble and disgrace

2. The walls of the city were broken down; the gates of the city were burned with fire

3. Even though he was 1200 km away, Nehemiah’s heart broke over this situation

   1. when God gives us a vision for His work; it usually begins here – our hearts break with the things that break God’s heart

   2. Nehemiah began to weep and fast and pray over this situation

Chapter 1 gives us insight into Nehemiah’s prayer life. We know that he prayed. But when we get to chapter 2, we find out more about the depth of his prayer life.

Neh. 2:1-3

In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before; so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

You have to understand that in those days, the servant of the king was not allowed to bring his own personal concerns into the king’s presence. If you were having a bad day, tough! You couldn’t show it in front of the king. The king had more important things to think about.

So here was Nehemiah, and his heart was breaking for the situation in Jerusalem, and he just couldn’t hide it anymore. The king noticed, and said “Nehemiah, why are you so sad?”

And what Nehemiah said in response shows you what kind of guy he was. He didn’t lie and say “Oh, it’s nothing.” Even though he was afraid, he told the truth. He told the king about the situation in Jerusalem.

But I want to back up a little bit to verse one. This happened in the month Nisan. Back in chapter 1: 1, it was the month Kislev when Nehemiah first learned about the situation in Jerusalem. That’s when he started praying. Now it’s four months later, according to the Jewish calendar, and he’s still praying.

And obviously, the burden isn’t getting lighter, it’s getting heavier. Up until now, Nehemiah has been able to conceal his grief. But not anymore. The prayer burden is getting heavier.

Q. Why does God delay answering our prayers? Nehemiah had been praying day and night for four whole months without an answer from God. There couold be no doubt about the fervency of his prayers. But God made him wait.

Q. Why does God do that? Why doesn’t God answer our heartfelt prayers right away?

1. to deepen our longing – this is what was happening in Nehemiah’s life over those four months. God was incubating that vision for rebuildling. And that vision needed to be deeply rooted in Nehemiah, because God knew that he was going to face some pretty severe opposition down the road. When God makes us wait, he does so to deepen our longing.

2. to determine God’s timing – God knows things that we don’t know; he knows the best time for the answer to come. We tend to want answers to our prayers right away, but God sees the bigger picture and he knows that if we’ll just be patient, the answer that He can give us in a little while will be better than the answer that he can give us right now. When God makes us wait, he does so to determine His timing

3. to discipline our living – Q. were four months of fasting and praying good or bad for Nehemiah’s spiritual life? It was good. It did Nehemiah a lot of good. And that’s something about prayer that we tend to forget. We think that prayer is primarily for the benefit of others. But it’s not “Prayer changes things” it’s really “Prayer changes me and then God can use me to change things” When God makes us wait, he does so to disicpline our living

If you’re going to be a rebuilder with God, it’s going to take patience and persistence in prayer.

But leadership is not just about praying, it’s also about planning. Look at verse 4…

The king said to me, “What is it you want?”

That’s the key question in the whole book! Instead of saying “Nehemiah, get out of here! You’re not allowed to be sad in my presence” King Artaxerxes had enough regard and respect for this trusted servant to ask him “What is it you want? How can I help you?” You see, if that relationship of trust and esteem hadn’t been there, they wouldn’t have been having this conversation.

Remember the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5?

• Naaman was commander in chief of army of the King of Syria

• had leprosy

• his wife had a little servant girl who had been captured from Israel

• the servant girl said “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

• her integrity had enough weight to set Naaman on the road to see the prophet Elisha where he would be cured.

v. 4 Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king,

Question: how long was Nehemiah’s prayer in verse 4? About 0.3 seconds! His four months of praying came down to this one split second prayer in the heat of the moment. But that shows us that prayer was just an integral part of Nehemiah’s life, like breathing. Then he answers the king:

“If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.”

That proves that the vision for rebuilding has been incubating in Nehemiah’s life. Over the past four months, he had begun to think in terms of being personally involved in this project. In the quietness of his own prayer life, he had said to God “Here am I. Send me.”

(He wasn’t like those Christians who pray for missionaries to be sent out into the fields but wouldn’t dream of going themselves!)

Look at verse 6…

Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.

Why does Nehemiah take the time to mention that the queen was sitting beside the king? Is there any significance to it?

You ladies know that behind every good man is a good woman, and King Artaxerxes was about to make a good decision here, so it’s we can assume that a woman had some part in it, right?

Well there may be nothing more to it than that. But it is interesting that the word that is translated “queen” there really means “the woman of the palace”. It could possibly refer not to the queen but to the queen mother, especially if she were a woman of stature and influence.

King Artaxerxes father was King Xerxes. King Xerxes had many wives, but one of them was Esther, who of course was Jewish. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that perhaps it may have been Esther who was sitting there – the woman of the palace – sitting beside the king.

Anyway, the king decides to let Nehemiah go, but he doesn’t want to let him go permanently. That shows us just how valuable Nehemiah was to the king—he wanted him back!

The following verses fill in the details of Nehemiah’s plan – he had been doing some detailed thinking about what would be necessary for him to pull off this mission. A leader understands that there’s a time for praying, but there is also a time for planning, too! And the more you pray about something, the more you ought to be planning around it.

Basically, Nehemiah asked the king for three things:

1. to be sent (with the authority of the king behind his mission)

2. to be safe (with the protection of the king’s military forces)

3. to be supplied (with the resources of the king’s forest for the rebuilding project once he got there – like a blank check for Home Depot)

And the king granted him everything he asked for. Jesus said “You have not because you ask not.”

God will never call you to do something without giving you the resources to do it. “Faithful is he who called you who will also bring it to pass.” So Nehemiah was on his way. The vision to rebuild was now about to become a reality!

But look at verse 10…

When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.

Anytime you step forward to do something for God, you can guarantee one thing: You’re going to run up against opposition. Sanballat and Tobiah were officials in the Persian government, and they were dead set against Nehemiah’s rebuilding project. And they were going to try everything they could think of to stop it.

The devil doesn’t want us rebuilding for God – he’s quite happy with the status quo – he’s quite happy that the walls are in ruins and the gates are burned. He likes it when we’re buried under a pile of rubble in our spiritual lives. And he will try everything in his power to keep us there – to keep us defeated and discouraged.

We’re going to see more of Sanballat and Tobiah in the coming chapters of this book.

So Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem and the vision that was incubated in Susa is now about to be implemented in Jerusalem. But it begins quietly. Look at verse 11…

I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on. By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire.

Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate.

The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.

The first thing Nehemiah did after he got to Jerusalem was some quiet reconnaissance work. He went out at night and inspected the ruined walls. In some places, the walls were so badly damaged that he and his mount couldn’t get through. He didn’t tell anyone what he was up to. He just took a few men with him.

He didn’t make a big announcement and hold a press conference to say “I have been sent by King Artaxerxes to rebuild these walls.” That would have raised opposition all over the place!

No, he quietly surveyed the work to be done so that he would know firsthand the size of the task he was facing.

I believe that our best rebuilding efforts for God need to begin quietly. If you have failed, if you have sinned, if you are facing a massive rebuilding project in your life, just start quietly. You probably need to spend some time, as Nehemiah did, simply surveying the damage. Because sin usually involves unforeseen consequences.

Don’t come out with a big announcement: “Well, I have failed in the past, and I’ve let everyone down, but now I have changed and I’m going to put my life back together.” Just get busy and do it – quietly and humbly and discreetly. People will notice soon enough that there’s something different about you.

And please, if someone you know is in this phase of rebuilding, let’s give them room to do this quietly. I think we do recovering sinners a great disservice when we hustle them up to the front and put them in the limelight when they’re just starting to put the pieces of their lives back together.

Nehemiah started out quietly.

The next thing Nehemiah did was to recruit people to the vision God had given him. Up till now, he hadn’t revealed why he was there. But now look at verse 17ff.

Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.”

I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.

It’s one thing to have a vision from God; it’s quite another to recruit others to share in that vision. But this is the mark of a great leader: a great leader recruits other leaders to share in the work of God.

1. He made “we” statements; he identified himself with them; he “connected” with them. This is how he began building his team. Great leaders always touch the heart before they ask for a hand.

2. He didn’t minimize the problem or the task that confronted them – when you recruit to a minimal task, you will get a minimal commitment. People want to be challenged to do great things!

3. He had spiritual credibility; he had a testimony to share about how God’s hand was upon him. He had been trusting God and it had produced outstanding results in his life. So they could trust God, too! He understood that people must first buy-in to the leader before they will buy-in to his vision.

Nehemiah touched their hearts, and so they began the good work of rebuilding.

BUT…

v. 19

But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab (notice that the enemy has been recruiting too – the demonic duo had now become the three amigos!) heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”

When you begin to do a good work for God, Satan will immediately oppose you. And he’ll do it by trying to sow seeds of doubt in your mind about your mission.

Look at what they said to Nehemiah “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” Now we know that Nehemiah had the permission and the authority of the king to do what he was doing. But the enemy said “Wait a minute. What makes you think that the king really wants you to do this?”

Satan always tries to drive a wedge between us and God. In the Garden of Eden he told Eve “Did God REALLY say what you think he said? Does God REALLY want you do to this?”

And when we begin the work of spiritual rebuilding in our lives or in the lives of others, Satan will say the same thing: “Do you REALLY think that this is what God wants you to do?” Satan says…

When you sin, you get punished. Period.

When you fail, there are consequences. Period.

That’s the rules. That’s how God designed things to work.

There’s no room for grace. There’s no such thing as “rebuilding” after you fail. There’s no way that God would want you to make a “comeback”. And in thinking there is, you are really rebelling against God.

This is what Satan says, and this is what he wants us to think. He doesn’t want us to get hold of the concept of God’s grace, because if we do, we’ll be out of his clutches.

So the enemy threw all this stuff at Nehemiah. But Nehemiah came back with an answer to the enemy; with a rebuttal. We find it in verse 20…

I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”

Nehemiah’s rebuttal consisted of four things.

1. He reminded his enemies of who they were really challenging: they were challenging the God of heaven

2. he reminded them who they were talking to: We are his servants

3. He reminded them of the mission they were opposing: God has called us to the work of rebuilding

4. He reminded them of their true identity: they were interlopers who had no right to be there - you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.

Satan is a usurper; the authority he pretends to have over us is a usurped authority, not a rightful authority. And he tries to oppose our efforts to respond to the call of God to rebuild. Don’t let him throw you off track!

Be like Nehemiah – remind him that he is challenging the God of heaven; that you are the servant of the God of heaven; that you are about God’s business, the business of rebuilding, and that he is a usurper.

James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that God isn’t interested in the work of rebuilding.

Illustr. – Jacques in restaurant: I’ve made so many mistakes. I feel like such a failure. My life is such a mess.

“God has a plan for you. God isn’t finished with you. God wants to help you rebuild so that you can help others rebuild. Because that’s who God is.”

Gospel invitation