In the center of Nehemiah’s prayer lies the seven necessary elements needed by each Christian to hear God’s call, follow God’s call (regardless of the cost), and the fortitude to see the task through to completion. Thus far, I have presented the first five keys: 1) compassion resulting from a heart that is broken for the oppressed and lost in the world; 2) a vision of God as the great I AM plus a vision of His plan for salvation; 3) conviction leading to repentance; 4) humility from realizing His magnitude of grace toward us; and 5: submission to His will. Next, we will look at commitment and faith.
Nehemiah was called to leave the comfort in which he had been living to face danger, opposition, and hard work. This would require a commitment which never looks back or doubts. When others had returned to Jerusalem, he had stayed behind. Now, God called upon him to build a wall. The wall was a symbol of hope and God’s protection for the nation. Were he to fail in this mission, the people lay open to siege, both physical and emotional. The wall symbolized their separation from false ideologies and idolatry. Even though, they once had a wall; they had chosen to allow in dangerous ideas, false religions, and evil by opening their gates. Now, as they turned their eyes back to God. They needed a new fortified wall as a symbol of their separateness from the evils of the world around them.
Commitment
What had begun as a broken heart for the suffering of God’s people; has through prayer reached the place of full surrender and submission to God’s will. Now, Nehemiah would need the commitment and fortitude to complete the task; whatever it might be. Commitment often
means a life of self-sacrifice, as it certainly did for Nehemiah. He would have to leave everything familiar and go out into the unknown, trusting God.
such sympathy should be the parent of a noble, self-sacrificing life. Look at the man in our text (Nehemiah). He had the ball at his feet. He had the entrée of a court, and the ear of a king. Brilliant prospects were opening before him, but his brethren’s sufferings drew him, and with a noble resolution of self-sacrifice, he shut himself out from the former and went into the wilderness.
He is one of the Scripture characters that never have had due honour–a hero, a saint, a martyr, a reformer. He did, though in a smaller sphere, the very same thing that the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews magnified with his splendid eloquence, in reference to the great Lawgiver (Moses), ‘and chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God,” and to turn his back upon the dazzlements of a court, than to ‘enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,’ whilst his brethren were suffering.21
The kind of commitment required to carry the wearied Christian through the trials that come their way requires a willingness to lay it all down for the sake of God’s plan; knowing he is the greater treasure.
Faith
“Faith is knowing, beyond a shadow of doubt; that God IS the great I AM and he rewards those who diligently seek him” (my paraphrase of Hebrews 11:6). Nehemiah now understood the power, magnitude and grace of God. He would trust God for the grace which saved him, the grace to sustain him and the future grace which would present every moment of every day that lay before him along this treacherous journey. As John Piper so aptly points out “Faith in future grace is the spring of radical righteousness. It’s the root of love and all Christ-exalting living.”22 Knowing that God holds every future millisecond in his hands of grace; means, trusting him and believing Romans 8:28. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Faith in God is necessary to have the commitment to step out into the unknown; because, without Him, I can do nothing. How does one gain that kind of faith? Often, it may come through great trials. Learning to lean upon God, no matter what the circumstance before us; can be built amid those tribulations that cause our hearts to turn to God for the answer. Then, there are some who need not go through such trials to gain faith. They do so through diligently seeking God in His word and in prayer. Such had been the case of Nehemiah. His life had been relatively comfortable; until, that fateful day when God opened his eyes to see the suffering of His people.
Paul the Apostle was one who diligently fought against God; until, God opened His eyes and allowed Him to see the truth of the gospel. He saw Jesus in all His splendor, as one to be desired above all else. Preaching the gospel lead to His being stoned, imprisoned, and ultimately killed for His faith. Let’s look at what Paul wrote concerning the faith to finish well.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Philippians 3:13-15
Jesus is that treasure we must see as so precious, that we seek Him above all else; even above, our earthly comfort.
Concluding tweets
[tweetthis]When God told Nehemiah “build that wall”, he needed commitment and faith[/tweetthis]
[bctt tweet=”Jesus is that treasure we must see as so precious, that we seek Him above all else” username=”effiedarlene”]
[bctt tweet=”Faith in God is necessary to have the commitment to step out into the unknown” username=”effiedarlene”]
[tweetthis]Faith is knowing, beyond a shadow of doubt; that God IS the Great I AM[/tweetthis]
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21 Alexander MacLaren, MacLaren Expositions of Holy Scripture: A Reformer’s Schooling, (Dallas, TX: Graceworks Multimedia, March 9, 2013), 373, Kindle
22 John Piper, Future Grace, (New York: Multnomah Books, 1995), 322
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