Sermon Tone Analysis

Our gracious God and loving heavenly Father, we thank You for the provision of the abiding and altogether true word of God.

And we ask now for the blessing of the Holy Spirit.

Speak now, for your servant is listening.

Speak now, for your servant is listening.

— 1 And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king.

Now I had never been sad in his presence before. 2 Therefore the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick?

This is nothing but sorrow of heart.”

So I became dreadfully afraid, 3 and said to the king, “May the king live forever!

Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What do you request?”

So I prayed to the God of heaven.

5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”

6 Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), “How long will your journey be?

And when will you return?”

So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

7 Furthermore I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy.”

And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.

AMEN, may God bless the reading of His precious and infallible Word.

Four months passed between Hanani’s visit from Jerusalem to his brother Nehemiah (ch.

1), and the question of King Artaxerxes (ch.

2).

Meanwhile Nehemiah patiently waited and prayed for guidance from God.

Four months can be a long time when a Christian needs to know God’s will!

God’s time arrived for Nehemiah in Nisan,

the first month of the Jewish religious year,

equivalent to our months of March/April.

Now his prayers must be accompanied by vigorous activity.

God has promised to lead us — I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.

but once his will is known we must, like Nehemiah, be ready to follow!

He’s a bit like us.

Do you want to be useful for God

but don’t see how you can be in your present circumstances?

The section of Scripture that we are studying here is an example of what every Christian can do

regardless of how humdrum or constrained his or her present existence may be.

Meet Nehemiah: a man of immense integrity,

a gifted leader, a passionate advocate for the cause of God and his kingdom,

whose zeal could sometimes appear excessive, even intimidating,

but was always for the kingdom of God and

never for his own personal self-elevation.

Many of these qualities have yet to manifest themselves, of course, but already,

as “cupbearer to the king [Artaxerxes]” (), he has shown his heart:

he has shown his heart: to be trusted with the well-being of King Artaxerxes, ensuring that his food and drink were poison-free, was a task that could be given only to one whose trustworthiness was beyond question.

to be trusted with the well-being of King Artaxerxes,

ensuring that his food and drink were poison-free,

was a task that could be given only to one whose trustworthiness was beyond question.

Not just trustworthy, but a man of deep prayer and devotion to God.

That recent bad news delivered from his brother sent Nehemiah to his knees, beseeching “the God of heaven”

to remember his covenant love of his people, reminding God—

yes, prayer is sometimes that audacious—that he had “redeemed” them by his “great power” and “strong hand,”

as if to say, “Lord, if you don’t do something about this situation soon, it’s going to reflect badly on you!”

But the Lord has been teaching Nehemiah patience.

Even though the prayer had asked for an answer “today” (1:11), O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day,

God’s “today” is often on a different timetable from our own.

A thousand years is “but as yesterday” (; cf. ).

Waiting on the Lord is a characteristic of believers who

cast their troubles on the Lord and his timetable,

knowing that fretful anxiety accomplishes nothing and

is a sign of distrust and unbelief.

So now let’s read the account of this answered prayer.

As the account in Nehemiah unfolds, it moves from the private aspects of his life

to his public duties.

As Nehemiah’s story unfolds, it moves from the private aspects of his life to his public duties.

We turn from personal times of prayer and fasting to his daily work in a pagan environment, from what he prayed to God to what he said to the king.

Nehemiah knew how vital it was to disengage for a while from life’s pressures in order to spend time with God and replenish his resources.

Everybody needs that kind of spiritual ‘space’, quiet moments in every day for prayer, meditation and the reading of God’s Word.

But prayer must never be an excuse for indolence; rising from his knees, this man was better equipped for his everyday work.

That essential rhythm of withdrawal and involvement is a vital aspect of effective Christian living.

It was characteristic of the ministry of our Lord and is a pattern for all believers.

We turn from personal times of prayer and fasting to his daily work in a pagan environment,

from what he prayed to God to what he said to the king.

Nehemiah knew how vital it was to disengage for a while from life’s pressures in order to spend time with God and replenish his resources.

Everybody needs that kind of spiritual ‘space’, quiet moments in every day

for prayer,

meditation and the

reading of God’s Word.

But prayer must never be an excuse for idleness and laziness;

rising from his knees,

this man was better equipped for his everyday work.

That essential rhythm of withdrawal from the world and reengaging the world

is a vital aspect of effective Christian living.

It was characteristic of the ministry of our Lord and is a pattern for all believers.

Today we’re simply going to look at some dimensions of practical spirituality.

From the prayer closet and out the door, goes the servant of Christ, living for Christ.

Let’s ask, Do you as God’s servant, Trust?

Nehemiah as a man of decisive action, and when he prayed it was natural for him to ask God to provide an early, if not immediate, opportunity for him to speak to the king:

Remember “Give your servant success today” (1:11).

And for over 100 days Nehemiah waited upon the Lord.

The more he prayed, the more he realized that he must wait upon the Lord and trust in His unfailing promises.

After all, the early Christian mission had begun not in working but in waiting.

For almost six weeks the first Christians did exactly what Jesus had told them to do:

‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait’.

A vast world was waiting to be won but, at that moment, prayerful dependence and obedient listening was a greater responsibility.

— 2 Therefore the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick?

This is nothing but sorrow of heart.”

So I became dreadfully afraid, 3 and said to the king, “May the king live forever!

Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?”

On a human level, Nehemiah’s prayer was pointless.

Nehemiah was a servant to the most powerful man in the world.

To ask to be released from this position was a right that he did not possess, and requesting to leave could signal disloyalty—something that could result in his imprisonment or even death.

Given Nehemiah’s courage elsewhere, we must conclude that it was not possible for him simply to ask the king to send him to Jerusalem, or else he would surely have done so.

The odds that events would occur in the manner they did were so bad as to be slim to none.

From one point of view, Nehemiah had been praying the impossible.