Part 2 - Nehemiah - Agent of SMASH

Read Nehemiah Chapter 2

So Nehemiah, armed with the promises of God, went in before "this man" (the king) to do his duty as cupbearer, but due to having spent several days "mourning and fasting" Nehemiah's face looked "sad." Unfortunately for Nehemiah, looking sad in the presence of the king could potentially carry the death penalty. That is why Nehemiah admitted in verse 3 of "being VERY much afraid" once the king questioned him about looking "ill from sadness of heart."

However, our Agent of Smash boldly told the king why he was sad and it incurred the response of "What do you want," (v4)  from the king. What I love here is how Nehemiah boldly asked not only to go fix the wall and the gates in Jerusalem, but also asked the king to supply the letters of passage to the area leaders and also a letter to supply the necessary materials to rebuild the wall, of course after a quick prayer to God for His help. (v4).

All his request were answered "because the gracious hand of God was upon him" (v8) and he was sent with his letters and even an armed escort to go rebuild the walls. Once he arrived, our Agent spent three days in the city before doing anything, and then he went out at night to survey the actual damage. I can promise you, no matter how bad he thought it was from he words he had been given, what he saw was much worse. (isn't that usually the case?) It was so bad in some places that his horse could not even make it through.

Up to this point Nehemiah had said nothing of his reason of returning to anyone, but after seeing the damage first hand, he came to the priest and the leaders and said, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” 18 I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.

Now the leader has emerged and his job was confirmed as the leaders replied "Let us start rebuilding!" (v18)

However, the process was not all glory and grace. In fact, the very first outside response from his enemies was mockery and laughing. Nehemiah had three "foes" who were disturbed by this rebuilding, and we will see them through out the story. Each time we see them, we see a different tactic in their warfare, something we will need to pay attention to and point out later. So stay tuned. 

Before we leave todays lesson, we need to see Nehemiah's response to this initial attack of his enemies. They were macing and laughing "You think you are going to rebuild this wall? Are you starting up a rebellion against the king? You silly people!" To which our Agent of SMASH responded....

“The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”

So our agent began his journey by having to be humble. But his humility was immediately turned into boldness and he told his enemy, "You have NO claim to this land nor historical right!"  And as children of God, when our enemy (Satan)  attacks, we need to remind him that he has no claim to this soul redeemed by God and he has no historical claim to it as well, for it began as a creation of God and God has now redeemed what once was lost, in shambles, and lay in rubble, unto himself and He is rebuilding us into His mighty wall! (free side sermon!)

So our Agent of SMASH we see is humble, contrite, and BOLD!