HTC 1100, 13 June 2010
Nehemiah 2:1-10
Introduction
Here is the story so far of our Old Testament reading. We begin with Nehemiah, son of Hacaliah, an exiled Jew living in a country far far away from his homeland. Nehemiah rises to the very top of the civil service of the mighty Persian Empire. He is cupbearer to the king Artaxerxes – I had to look this up to find out what it meant – think of someone who is always close to the king, who is at the king's hand for every discussion, every council, who is trusted to ensure that the king's wines contain no poisons, who is responsible for the safety of the king's signet ring, and for the king's finances. Think of a combination of chief finance officer, presidential aide, and commander of security. Nehemiah has come a long long way.
Nehemiah will hear all the politics, know all the concerns, be able to name all the main players in the machinery that runs the Persian Empire. He will be aware that Artaxerxes has had to deal with two major revolts – one in Egypt that lasted 5 years, another in northern Mesopotamia in a highly sensitive region, close to the aggressive Greek city-states who soundly beat the Persians 35 years ago at Salamis, and who may be looking for an excuse for a further play-off.
Nehemiah will also know that someone who has risen so high is also someone who has far to fall. You'll remember similar Egyptian officials mentioned much earlier in the story of Joseph, a cupbearer and a baker who are cast into prison by Pharaoh when things go wrong. In that earlier story, the cupbearer is restored to his former high position, but the baker comes off very badly and loses his head literally. It is dangerous to be the confidant of a king.
And last week we heard of Nehemiah's reaction to shocking news from home, brought by his trusted brother Hanani (Nehemiah 1:2); his home city of Jerusalem remains a shambles, defenceless, walls broken down, gates burned to ashes; a previous attempt to restore the defenses has failed completely and indeed is now forbidden by imperial decree (Ezra 4:7-23).
1: Praying that feels
Nehemiah is shattered by this news, and in last week's OT reading we heard how he turned to prayer. Note the timing and the place: Kislev (Nehemiah 1:1) is a winter month, perhaps the end of November; Susa is the Persian winter palace, far to the East, perhaps 200 miles east of Babylon, four months hard travelling from Jerusalem. Nehemiah engages in focussed and determined prayer for some time, weeps, wonders what to do, worships, waits.
Nisan (Nehemiah 2:1) is a spring month, perhaps end of March. Nehemiah has waited four months, four months of distress and concern for his people, four months of wondering. The waiting and the weeping come at a cost; Nehemiah's face starts to show the strain. This is not cheap detached prayer, it is not an interesting intellectual or spiritual exercise. This is prayer that arises out of commitment, out of care, out of a deep and profound grief and sorrow. Suddenly, disastrously, unexpectedly, the king notices. Nehemiah's personal tragedy intrudes at the worst possible time, just as he is fulfilling his position of trust by bringing wine to the king.
Remember the Joseph story, and the sense that cupbearers and other officials can fall from favour suddenly and fatally. Ancient historians tell us, such people were expected always to show their joy at being in the king's presence. Bringing their personal concerns to the king's service was highly unprofessional, and not a habit that would at all recommend them to a life-insurance salesman. Nehemiah's head is still on his shoulders, but he may already be a dead man walking. Nehemiah 2:2b: “I was very much afraid”. All Nehemiah can do is tell the truth to the king about his sadness.
2: Praying that plans
When I was a very young Christian, a friend said to me, if I knew that my prayer was going to be answered then would I dare to pray at all? It's a thought to bear in mind, to help us focus our prayers on what is really on our hearts, to get to the connection expressed by our Lord when He encourages us to ask for what we really want (eg, Matthew 7:7). Here we see Nehemiah's committed and focussed prayers being answered before his very eyes. Firstly, the king responds not with anger but a question (Nehemiah 2:4, “What is it you want?”). Nehemiah clearly sees that this is the crucial moment, takes an instant to ask his God for help, and …
… suddenly the king and Nehemiah are engaged in sorting out a major renovation and re-ordering project, planning details, times, letters of instruction, letters of protection, everything.
It leads me to wonder exactly what kind of praying we should think Nehemiah has been doing in those past four months. My own picture of prayer is sometimes rather limited, constrained to set phrases, set patterns of behaviour. But when I see Nehemiah coming straight out with his shopping list, knowing exactly how long he needs, aware of all sorts of practical details, I just have to wonder whether much of those four months might have been spent by Nehemiah planning out matters in great detail before his mighty Lord. Something along the lines of, Almighty God, if somehow you were to choose me to do something about this, if somehow you were to make it possible for me to go, then I'd need such and such amount of wood for the gates, and I'd need letters of protection along the way, and the best place to get the wood is probably by contacting Asaph the local forest warden, and …
praying that plans, indeed.
Nehemiah knew the risks he was taking, bringing this matter before the king. But he would have also known there was a chance of being able to reverse the previous imperial policy, of getting the king to back the rebuilding of Jerusalem as an opportunity to build up a strong community loyal to Artaxerxes in a key area of his empire. I don't think Nehemiah left behind his knowledge and his experience when he got down on his knees. Nehemiah's praying was praying that planned.
My own view of prayer was greatly enlarged the other week when I visited the 24/7 prayer rooms in Priory Row. Let me recommend that to you, as we face our own challenging times here in Coventry. I found myself writing, and drawing, and covering my hands with sticky red paint, all in different kinds of praying; very liberating, very creative, very inspiring. Don't miss out on the 24/7 prayer room – it's a wonderful experience. Make time some evening this week to drop by for an hour (though if you are like me then to your great surprise you'll find yourself wanting to spend longer!). And let's all do prayer that plans, each in our own way, as we face change and opportunities in the next few years, because the Bible's story of this faithful man, praying creatively in a crisis, this story is there to encourage us to look and pray and plan beyond the crisis, to see what the Lord wants us to do here and now.
3: Praying that goes forth
And finally, Nehemiah's praying is the praying of someone who is ready to go forth. He sets out on a four month journey, leaving behind the comfort and privilege of a life at court, facing 12 years as governor rebuilding his city. There will be careful implementation of the original vision; dealing with a demoralized community always ready to turn against itself; night after night of anxious watching, dealing with disappointments and false prophets, seeking to restore a sense of commonwealth and (Nehemiah 2:10) always the deep jealousy and unremitting hostility from powerful locals who want the project to collapse and fail. Time and again in the remainder of this account, the personal voice of Nehemiah breaks through to say, remember me, oh Lord, remember how difficult it has been for me, remember how hard I have had to work and how lonely it has been, and don't let it all be for nothing.
I wonder sometimes how Nehemiah might have thought of himself and his own times. Nehemiah 1 conveys the sense of someone who is aware of how deeply his own people have offended the Lord God, how necessary Nehemiah finds it to repent. (As the leader of the 0930 service said today, in a phrase which for me had the impact of a word of knowledge, “we need to be honest about our brokenness, or else we only have a soft gospel”.) I think perhaps Nehemiah would have seen himself as simply not in the same league as the Bible characters who came before him, who worked miracles, and fought successful battles, and defied overwhelming odds. But when I think of what Nehemiah and his colleagues did, how they worked together to use the opportunities and trust they had gained by service in a huge empire, all to restore God's people and to deliver their city; when I think of the care and planning and commitment they showed, not in winning great battles but in careful and astute management to make sure the battles never happened, why then I think of them as absolute stars. So Nehemiah and his colleagues are a wonderful example to us today, both to each of us separately and also as the community of Holy Trinity in the heart of Coventry; to use the position and the voice we have gained in this city to recommend to people the Kingdom of God; to learn to work with other Christians in the Lord's service, to learn to pray with feeling, to learn to pray through planning, and to be ready to pray the prayers that go forth, into whatever future the Lord has planned for us.
I was going to say “Amen”,
but really this is only the beginning ...
but really this is only the beginning ...
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