Nehemiah 2 - Moral Imperative

“So the king asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart." – Nehemiah 2:2

The Book of Nehemiah is filled with leadership and faith lessons. But verse 2 shows the heart behind his journey. It shows the fact that Nehemiah’s desire to rebuild the wall was so strong, that it impacted his demeanor beyond his ability to conceal it. His passion was great.

We all have passions. Some are personal and self-serving. Some come from within ourselves and are for the greater good. And others are simply God ordained. How do we know the difference?

There are times we must take steps in the unknown, hoping that in faith we find our way. That’s part of the journey. But I also firmly believe that there is a place where faith in the unknown can be overtaken by a simple opportunity to follow in obedience. What I mean by that is when God makes it so obvious He is leading, that follow through becomes a moral imperative.

This is the place where passion is found. The place where the conviction is so strong, His hand is so evident, and His Word so clear, that it consumes us.

So what are we praying for? Are our prayers filled with the simple, mundane, or even selfish? While I believe God cares about the intimate details of our lives… we do not thrive in those things. We thrive in the areas of God’s great movement. We thrive in the areas where our passion focuses on something beyond us. We thrive in finding such a worthy calling as rebuilding the wall.

My wall has become obvious. It’s the bricks, the mortar, and the workers who have become my daily passion, and the city within.

“There was an immediate answer to his prayer; for the seed of Jacob never sought the God of Jacob in vain.” – M. Henry

2 Sam 21 - Lesson Learned

"During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the LORD. The LORD said, "It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death." - 2 Samuel 21:1

What do you do with the Gibeonites? They seemed like a fairly insignificant people, but also seemed to be in the middle of everything, for Joshua, for Saul, and now for David. Because of their location… Israel could not avoid them. There are many lessons that we can learn from Israel’s interaction with the Gibeonites:


(1) Negligence is no better than abuse: David made the connection between Saul’s abuse and his own neglect to do anything about it, and the removal of God’s hand of favor.

"The whole people suffered for Saul's sin; either because they approved it, or at least bewailed it not; neither did what they could to hinder it; whereby they became accessory." – Author Unknown

(2) Inquiring of God is not an option: Joshua’s men did not inquire of God in deciding what to do with the Gideonites, neither did Saul (as evidenced by his attempt to annihilate them) but David did. It made all the difference in the world.

“The men of Israel sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the LORD. Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them... – Joshua 9:14-15

“… so David sought the face of the LORD. The LORD said, "It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house..." – 2 Samuel 21:1

(3) An oath before God is an oath before God.

(4) Misguided zeal (Such as Saul’s) can quickly become sin and bring much calamity.

(5) The wages of sin is truly death (Rom. 6:23).

(6) God is just: The “injustice” that we may feel for the men who were given over can give us much perspective on how immensely Graceful the cross was. God cannot turn his back on the penalty of sin. While many are hard to understand under the New Covenant, the Old Covenant stories shed immense light on the necessity of the cross in respect to justice.

a. The method of death was important because it fulfilled the promise of Deuteronomy 21:23: “He who is hanged is accursed of God”. These descendants of Saul bore the curse Saul deserved and so delivered Israel from the guilt of their sin against the Gibeonites.

b. This promise from Deuteronomy explains why Jesus died the way He did. Galatians 3: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us: for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree".

There are many leadership principles that can be learned from this chapter. Most of them come with the hope (and probably agenda) of maintaining God’s hand on our life and our journey. They are very practical and true. But there is more to this story than a list on how to keep God’s favor.

Let’s make it a bit more personal: What do WE do with the Gideonites? From the moment they approached Joshua, to the time they were abused by Saul, to the season they were neglected by David… they were neighbors to the Israelites. Good or bad, and often overlooked, they were there.

And what Joshua, Saul, and David did with or to them mattered to God.

Just like the Gibeonites, there are many people, types of people, and groups of people that are in our “personal space”. Many that, if we’re not careful, can be easily overlooked and considered insignificant to our key pursuits in life. Maybe they are the homeless on the corner, the single mom down the street, the abused wife or neglected kid at the shelter, or the widow next door. Maybe they are our employer or employees. Maybe they are that girl we see every day that hands us a coffee at Starbucks. Maybe the cop who just wrote us a ticket. Maybe they are the “trainee” at HEB, who somehow got stuck working the express lane (while we were running late). Whoever they are, they are all around us.

And they are real people with emotions, struggles, fears, hopes, dreams, and needs.

Today I was thinking about Joshua’s original oath to the Gibeonites in Joshua 9 (Which Saul broke, and now David is reconciling for). While most of us have not made an oath directly with such people groups as was done in biblical times, we certainly have done the same when we step into a covenant with Christ to live as His disciples. By receiving His Grace, we are agreeing to His ways. This includes loving others… no matter the cost. It includes taking the focus off our selves. It includes fighting against injustice and fighting for the oppressed. Paul urged the Church at Ephesus, “to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Or as Jesus put it, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

Or as my wife puts it, “Be nice.”

When we wonder where the famine came from, whether it be emotional, spiritual, or physical, maybe we should inquire of God like David did, and see what oath we have broken.

2 Sam 7 - Ready, Shoot, Aim

“I’m gonna do this Lord, please bless it.” That’s out of order. However, we’ve all been tempted to do it that way. In fact, most of us have probably done things this way more than the other way. Maybe accidentally and we realized it later. Maybe it was intentional, whether consciously or subconsciously. Either way we tend to get our Spiritual cart before our Spiritual horse. That’s not good.

“After the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent."

“Nathan replied to the king, "Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you." - 1 Samuel 7:1-3

I’ve seen this passage of scripture used out of context a ton. “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it…” It’s similar to the Proverb that says, “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Our biblical interpretation and personal application is easily influenced by our heart intention. There are a ton of assumptions that aren’t seen in the words themselves, but if we look, the heart is obvious.

What David had in mind was to bring glory to God. What David had in mind was to chase after the very heart of God. What David had in mind was the perspective of an amazing journey that was at the center of God’s will. What David had in mind was only the best for the chosen nation of Israel. It was not about David, it was about God.

We know that directly after this the Lord reveals that it was not His desire that David move forward with the building project. So what was this all about? Once again, it's about the journey, about the willingness of the heart, the perspective of a man dependent upon God's presence, and the willingness to put his plans on hold (if not entirely change them), even plans to please God, when God leads elsewhere.