Nehemiah 1:11b – 2:10 GOD DELIVERS HIS PEOPLE IN HIS OWN TIME AND BY HIS OWN MEANS!

(1:11b – 2:1a) Rule #1: GOD is sovereign over the lives of HIS People… Rule #2: There are no exceptions to Rule #1.

“Now I was the king’s cupbearer. In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king.” (*Nisan is March – April)

Nehemiah was an Israelite slave!

Artaxerxes was a Persian King!

A cup bearer had the life of the King in his hands!

So, how does a Israelite slave get a job where the life of the King in his hands?

Theological Note: Remember that 14 years before this (478 BC), Artaxerxes’ Father, King Ahasuerus’ (Xerxes), life was saved by a Jewish man named Mordecai whose Cousin Esther was married to King Ahasuerus! (Esther 2:21-22)

(1b-2) Often, when GOD calls HIS People to do great things, the things HE calls them to do are fearful things!

“Now I had not been sad in his presence. (2) And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid.”

(2:3) It is always best to just tell the truth!

I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

Theological Note: We ought to feel the exact same way about Jerusalem!

(2:4-5) When seeking to do the will of GOD, GOD’s People should speak with both GOD and others who can help meet the need!

(4) “Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” “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, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.”

Theological Note: GOD answers every prayer in one of four ways!

Direct – YES! Nehemiah 2:6-8

Delayed – YES, but not now! John 17:20-21

(20) “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, (21) that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Different – YES, but not the way you want! Mark 10:38

“Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”

Denied – NO! Luke 22:41-42a

(41) “And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, (42a) saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.”

(2:6-8) REMEMBER – “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.” – Proverbs 21:1

(6) “And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So, it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. (7) And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, (8) and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city,

and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.”

(2:9) GOD accomplishes HIS sovereign works through means, including HIS promises of protection!

“Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.”

(2:10) Godless people have always hated GOD and HIS People and they always will!

 “But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.”