The Most Overlooked Story

David and Goliath, Daniel and the lion's den, Joseph and the coat of many colors, Adam and Eve in the garden, Abraham and Isaac, John the Baptist baptizing Jesus, Noah building the ark, The Ten Commandments, Zacchaeus climbing the tree, and the journeys of the Apostle Paul are all engraved in my mind.  For each, I visualize that Sunday School poster on the wall.  But I have no recollection of that poster of Nehemiah building the wall. It is the overlooked story that I will retell in this blog.

Nehemiah is in the Old Testament right between Ezra and Esther.  I have read it before but until this last week I have been fuzzy on the story.  As a part of my morning reading, I have seen Nehemiah's relevance in a new light. I see that it gives very practical instruction on living out our faith in a world that is divided. The story begins in a time period after the Israelites have lost it all: their family members, their city, and their temple. This happened because they lost their desire for following God. Nehemiah is a Jewish survivor who lives outside of Jerusalem. He is a cupbearer to the current ruling king.  He is concerned about the fellow survivors who are still in Jerusalem so he seeks out a report about them.  This is the report Nehemiah receives in his own words.

Nehemiah 1:3-4 New International Version (NIV)

They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

Can you see his God-given passion? His next reaction was to pray and fast over this matter. On behalf of the Israelites, he begged for forgiveness for their betrayal of God. God put in Nehemiah's heart a passion to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, a huge task for a guy who was a nobody in the current ruling system. However, he boldly went to the pagan king who he served and asked for permission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the king granted his request! This set off immediate resistance in the form of two men in power named Sanballat and Tobiah who, for whatever reasons, did not want the Israelites to rebuild the Jerusalem wall.

While Nehemiah was rallying the Israelites to rebuild the wall, the angry Sanballat and Tobiah were drumming up the resistance by plotting inside infiltration of the workers with lies and deception, and physical assault.  Wherever the workers turned, they were attacked by some method.  But the Israelites responded in this way.

Nehemiah 4:15-18 New International Version (NIV)
When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work. From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. 

Over and over again in the book of Nehemiah, they suffered both covert and overt attacks.  However, the Israelites continued to work with constant vigilance, sometimes with half of their work crew on guard while the other half continued the building.  They never let up their guard, always carrying a weapon with them even on the way to the water fountain.  In a subsequent attempt to stop the building, Sanballat sent a message to Nehemiah about Jews plotting to revolt.  Nehemiah's response was this.

Nehemiah 6:8-9 New International Version (NIV)
I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.” They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.” But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”

In yet another attempted to stop the building of the wall, messages were sent to Nehemiah of a plot to kill him.  Nehemiah's response was not to run away or hide but to realize that the messengers were sent by the enemy and not God.  Finally, the wall was finished and the enemies and surrounding nations lost their self-confidence because they realized that this work had been done by God.  

What an amazing story!  Retelling it moves me yet again. This story is so much like what we endure today.  Anytime there is an undertaking by passionate Christ-focused people, the enemy is there attacking in covert and overt ways.  Being in public education for 35 years, I see this vividly in the work that is done there.  I know many Christian educators who, like Nehemiah's crew, continue to do their job with passion while holding a weapon (sometimes literally) in the other hand.  There are powerful 'Sanballats' out there who, for whatever reason, want public education to fail.  I could name some of them, but I won't.

Public education is often attacked by ridiculous rules and regulations, lack of funding, ridicule, lies and deception. And we are seeing assault with physical weapons far too often.  Consequently, some educators are being trained to carry weapons. Yet while guarding against the enemy with their weapons, wisdom and voting rights, they continue to do their job to reach children. Why? They were given this task by God and they know God will see them through. 

Thank you Lord, for the victories we have had as educators.  We know it is all You.  Like Nehemiah, may we first seek you and second, be wise and vigilant. 

A memorial to educators who have given the ultimate sacrifice to their profession and students.
Picture by Jbaldwi1

All scripture references are from New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

God vs. Genie

I’ll bet you can name three or four incidences where you have lost relationships over misunderstandings.  This is so tragic, especially when friends or acquaintances never learn the truth in spite of your efforts to straighten things out.  This unnecessary loss...this craziness...is what drives me nuts in this life!  I spend way too much brain power trying to figure how to show people my truth. This is where the enemy gets his hooks in me. It was while worrying, mulling, and fretting over a particular instance where misunderstandings led to lost relationships that I read this passage.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV

[3] For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. [4] The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. [5] We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

I have read this passage many times before but today it pointed to something new.  This was the gem that I discovered. I am wasting my battles on a war that is insignificant. Our divine appointment is to demolish those mindsets that set themselves up against God, not against ourselves or our own reputation. Our battles in this life should be about helping people understand God for who he is.  So how about demolishing every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God? That IS what matters! So please play along with me in this blog as I follow God’s word to me.

When I began thinking about it, there are so many false things people believe about God, too many to mention. I will address one misunderstanding and call it God vs. Genie. By the name, you probably know where I’m going with this. A little known fact about me is that I have seen every episode of I Dream of Jeannie at least once. If you were not so fortunate, let me tell you about Jeannie.  It started with an unsuspecting astronaut who, in his space travels, stumbled across a beautiful bottle.  Of course this was the bottle of a real live beautiful bombshell genie named Jeannie.  The very kind astronaut who possessed quite a bit of integrity, decided to keep her but as a secret part of his life.  Gradually, the integrity of the astronaut deteriorated as he learned to depend on Jeannie's skills.  And worse yet, he sometimes forgot to let her out of the bottle except when he got into a jam.  Of course in the end, love overcame and they got married in the last season.  Then there was Dallas... But I regress.

So many times we treat God as a genie.  Oh yeah, we would deny this but think about the way we treat our relationship with God. We pray for something we want badly and if we get it, we attend church that Sunday and maybe even sing a little louder and wave a hand. This is us, mistaking our precious Savior for Aladdin's big blue Genie.  Tell me you have never used God when you were in a tight spot, then when things were good, you place him on a shelf to forget him until the next jam. Oh how we miss the point!  

What makes the idea of a Genie so appealing is that I am in control. He does what I tell him whether he likes it or not. But realize that the Genie is my slave and there is no relationship between us. It is an idol of my creation. Yes, I am in control but do I know what tomorrow brings? Neither does my genie. He is limited by my own vision. His protection is restricted to my awareness. He can only protect me from what I see coming. The more I depend on his magic, the more impatient and self centered I become.  He teaches me nothing. With him, knowledge is a one way street. Stick with the genie-god and I will never grow and mature. 

How do I go about letting God out of my Genie bottle and quit treating him like a forgotten bread machine I got for Christmas?  Jesus addressed this to his disciples in Matthew 16:24.  He said, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me". So this means to surrender your rights to control your life daily. 

What can I expect if I let God out of the genie bottle of my making? First and most importantly, He will be in control, not me. I cooperate with him in his plan. I am his child. He is my loving Father. He protects me and He knows what is coming. He works in ways I never imagined because his knowledge is not limited. He knows my heart better than I know myself. I get to have a relationship with him. He lets me learn the hard way. He is not pushy or manipulative. He does not control me past the point I am willing to allow. He teaches me. I will not be stuck in my ways. I get to grow, change and make a difference. He is patient with me. He has rewards for me.  He knows no boundaries or end. He existed before me and is eternal. And unlike a Genie, He is real and He loves me. 

Oh Lord, please forgive me for treating you this way.  I want you to be in control, not me. I surrender all.

Learning the Hard Way

Once upon a time many centuries ago there was a group of people who were singled out to be blessed by God.  They did nothing to earn this honor, they were just chosen to be blessed.  There was one big stipulation for this special group; that they follow only the One True God and not any other fake gods.  Sometimes they pulled this off and amazing timely rescues came to them. (Read Genesis and Exodus.) Then they began listening to other people among them who created and worshiped the fake gods. They neglected their relationship with God and gradually, they drifted away from the God who loved and blessed them so.  

God patiently sent them messenger after messenger to warn them what would happen if they continued to turn away from him. They not only didn’t listen to the messengers, but often persecuted them. They had the gift of free choice and they chose to worship the gods that they could create and control. It wasn’t long until, just as predicted by the messengers, this group lost everything to invaders. Many lost their lives, some were persecuted by the foreigners and some were taken captive.  Their beautiful place of worship dedicated to the One True God was raided and destroyed. During this time period, their Holy city was occupied and claimed by different invaders. After years of persecution and loss, God’s people came to regret their betrayal. 

Ezekiel 6:13 NIV

[13] And they will know that I am the Lord, when their people lie slain among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy oak---places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols.

This may seem like a harsh lesson, but I did not go into the depths of their depravity or the lengths God took to try to warn them. Humanity is stubborn, and most often, both individually and as a group, we learn the hard way. A small remaining group of this nation saw their error in worshiping idols and turned back to the God who they betrayed. 

This is where the point of my story begins. The foreign King at that time, Cyrus, made the decision to rebuild the temple for this remnant of survivors who decided once again to worship God. Not only did he allow the rebuilding of the temple, he returned the booty that was taken from them many years prior.  King Cyrus did not do this because he believed in God.  In fact, he acted like he revered every god. He liked to cover his bases so he tried to appease them all. As the story goes, the process of rebuilding the Temple took many years and evil men tried to stop it but still God’s will prevailed. 

Ezra 6:14 NIV

[14] So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.

This story showed how God worked through non-believing leaders to carry out his plan. While reading this story on the 4th of July, it occurred to me that we Christians in the USA get worried about electing a non-believer to a position of power.  Honestly, I have often voted based solely on the religious persuasion of a candidate and not on his ability to lead or his position on the issues.  I did not research, I voted with my “gut”. But I was wrong. I forgot that God is in control and he is capable of using anyone to accomplish his will. 

So since God is in control should we do anything about our leaders?  I cannot find anywhere in the Bible that lazy, mindless dependence is promoted.  Time after time God gives his people the ability and they have the choice whether to use it. So yes, I believe we as Christians are expected to act justly. (See Micah 6:8) Here are some points to consider. 

1. In the USA we are given a unique privilege to have a say in our leadership. It is a gift, so we should be wise with it. My New International Version of the Bible contains 187 verses referring to wisdom. God has always expected us to choose wisdom. We are not born wise, we must learn.  And that takes effort. We should do some work to research our future leaders, and not just from one point of view. We need to seek information from reliable sources with an open mind. 
2. And as a friend of mine pointed out in a tweet recently, don’t get entertainment confused with factual information. Today’s cable and network news is created to captivate and hold an audience hostage. To hold our attention, they must create drama rather than telling the factual truth that may be a little dry and boring.  That is how they make money. I have found some written news organizations to be more reliable sources of information because they do not appeal to our drama addictions.
3. Take your right to vote seriously. Voting is power. If you have never voted before and are nervous about it, find a buddy to go with you to the polls. 
4. Pray for your leaders especially if they are not doing what you like.  They will answer to God whether they like it or not.  And remember, like King Cyrus, God uses all, (D) and (R), to accomplish his purpose. 
5. Now that you have done your part, relax and trust God to do his thing even if you can’t see it.