A Nehemiah Moment

A great biblical example to reference when you are faced with a professional or personal decision. We can learn much from Nehemiah-

Here are words from the book of Nehemiah-

In December of the twentieth year of the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia, when I was at the place at Shushan, one of my fellow Jews named Hanani came to visit me with some men who had arrived from Judah. I took the opportunity to inquire about how things were going in Jerusalem.

"How are they getting along?" I asked- the Jews who returned to Jerusalem from their exile?"

"Well, they replied, things are not good; the wall of Jerusalem is still torn down, and the gates are burned."

When I heard this, I sat down and cried. In fact, I refused to eat for several days, for I spent the time in prayer to the God in heaven.

One day in April four months later as I was serving the king his wine he asked me, "Why so sad?. You aren't sick, are you? You look like a man with deep troubles."(for until then I had always been cheerful with him. I was badly frightened but I replied, "Sir, why shouldn't I be sad? For the city where my ancestors are buried is in ruins and the gates have been burned down."

"Well, what should be done?", the king asked me.

With a quick prayer to the God of heaven, I replied, "If it please Your Majesty and if you look upon me with your royal favor, send me to Judah to rebuild the city of my fathers!"

The king replied, with the queen sitting beside him, "How long will you be gone? When will you return?"

So it was agreed! And I set a time for my departure!
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Has there been a moment in your life when an issue burned in your gut? Was there something that you wanted to do so badly that the action literally spilled from your pores? We all have been there. Yet, working against the intense want and desire were the forces of "I can't" or "There is no way this can work". There is fear of stepping out and logic that gives you every reason to not do it.

Nehemiah's issue made him physically ill. He could not eat. He had to do something. Well, what he did was pray. His answer came four months later. He found himself before the king and the opportunity arose for him to relay his issue to the ruler of the land. This was a dangerous act for Nehemiah. He was a servant and one of the Jews pulled from Jerusalem into exile. I can imagine an environment where men such as Nehemiah were not to talk but serve. Yet, this brave man had the king's ear and he stepped out in faith to voice his concern. He was asking the king to free him for return to his homeland. Potentially, the king could become furious and act against Nehemiah. But we see that he did not.

I can see Nehemiah speaking with passion in his voice and longing in his heart. He undoubtedly looked the king in the eye and conveyed his absolute emotion. In short, he convinced the king to honor his request. Well, the real explanation is that the prayer was answered albeit four months later. Nehemiah did not forget about his prayer and neither did God.

Here is a Nehemiah moment I had years ago-In 2001, I decided to go to graduate school while working full time. Everything told me not to-I had multiple bills to pay and four mouths to feed. But this was something I truly wanted to do so I set out on the journey. Luckily, I could remotely take classes via satellite and my company had the equipment for doing so.

This went on for over two years until I had three classes left. It just so happened that these were not offered via satellite for another two years. My choices were to wait until then or somehow go to school on campus. The latter meant not working full time which logic said was ludicrous to even consider. I'm sure I prayed about this because what happened next amazes me to this day.

I decided to resign from work and go to school full time. I agonized over the decision and finally decided that I could not wait two more years. So, I typed a resignation letter and took it to my manager. I explained to him my decision and recall it coming straight from my heart.(like Nehemiah speaking to the king) When I finished, my manager picked up the letter, tore it in half, and said we would find a way for me to go to school and stay employed. Well, we did, and I finished.

If you are faced with such a decision, my advice is pretty simple-pray about it. You can't make this decision, no, you should not make this decision on your own. Get help. God is the only one who knows what you feel and the importance of this decision to you.

If you need help, I will do what I can to help.