Strengthen Your Hands
Chapter one: Strengthen your hands
(a) PREPARATION OF THE LEADER
At first God started working in the life of Nehemiah and through him many others were stirred up for God’s work. In the history of God’s people we can see how again and again God raised up a faithful servant or a small remnant of His people to restart His work. Lord always performed great things for His people because of the faithfulness of the few. God desires each one of us be a part of the remnant through whose faithfulness and intercession He plans to work out His divine purpose and plan.
Nehemiah was very sad because the city of Jerusalem was lying waste and the gates were consumed with fire (Neh.2: 3). In the same way those who are deeply concerned about the work of God cannot help but feel sad when they see the lean and spiritual anemic condition in the lives of God’s people. These days in many parts of the world we find among believers nothing but leanness and spiritual infancy. According to God’s promises, His great power is at our disposal our lives can be abundantly fruitful if we are concerned about the sad condition to do according to His desire (John 14:12; Rev.1: 18). We have a living Savior who is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb.13:8). When we fail to obey God’s word fully, our lives become barren and we pile up failures, defeats and spiritual infancy into our experiences.
When the children of Israel were in Babylon there seemed to be no hope whatsoever of their returning to Jerusalem, because they were captives and also few in number, but God kept the promise He made to His servant Jeremiah. Thus through a heathen king named Cyrus they were given a chance to return (2 Chro.36: 22). After the proclamation was made by king Cyrus, they started to return to Jerusalem. They could finally see God’s prophecy being fulfilled on their behalf. Things that were impossible had become possible.
(b) TRUSTING AND OBEYING
Even though king Cyrus made an open proclamation that all the Jews who desired to return could do so, yet many stayed back because they were not willing to believe. In the same way if we also fail to believe and claim God’s promises, He cannot work in us and through us. As believers we should keep our belief in God’s promises very firm, and claim them for solving our needs. There are many who say they believe in the Bible and yet they do not comply to what it says. They are more inclined to follow man made customs, rituals and practices. On the one hand they profess to trust God, but on the other hand they are in need of money, they start begging. It is amusing that some people conduct healing campaigns and they say that they trust God to do healing on their behalf. Yet it is strange to note, that when it comes to the question of their finances, they do not apply the same faith, but at this point they look to man for financial assistance. The God who could heal, could He not also provide money for all their needs? They fail to follow the word of God implicitly. Only by obeying Him and His word implicitly can we see God working on our behalf. According to John 15:7 we should abide in the Lord Jesus Christ by keeping ourselves under His Lordship. By obeying Him in every step of our life. We must obey Him in all matters, only then can we see the fulfillment of His promise, namely: - “ Ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you”(John 15:7). Thus Nehemiah believed and then started to obey, and God on His part also started to work on his behalf. (c) PRAYER LIFE
Many people advertise their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ but troubles come they begin to weep. They give hints about their financial needs to other people in many subtle ways, sometimes even in their prayers they pray loudly. But in the case of Nehemiah we do not find anything of that sort. He did not make any request to the king even though he was the foremost among his servants, and had every opportunity for getting any of his petitions granted. Instead, he first prayed to God of heavens before he could express his request to his earthly king. He prayed that God would grant him wisdom to make his request in a proper way. Thus he depended upon God for each word that had to be spoken by him before the king, as a result of this when he made the request before the king, the king could see that he was a man of God and the words of God.
Nehemiah only requested the king for permission to leave, in exactly the same manner as government employees apply for leave when they need it (Neh.2: 5), at that time he was badly in need of a large amount of money for the work, which was before him. He could have easily requested the king for financial help, and the king too, being so great could have readily helped him. But Nehemiah did not want to depend upon king’s money for God’s work. And we see that the king was not only pleased to grant him permission to go to Jerusalem (Verse 6), but he also sent with him captains of his army and bands of horsemen for his protection on the way (Verse 9). Thus we see that when we go upon our knees with any burden, we not only have the privilege to be led and governed by Him, but also find every provision being made for our safety and success. So Nehemiah reached Jerusalem ready for the task before him.