Very Much Disturbed!

“And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests… ‘And may I have a letter…to the keeper of the king’s forest’…The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me. …they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.” Nehemiah 2:8-10.

Once Nehemiah had learned of the continued destruction of the walls of Jerusalem and the suffering of his people, he began fasting and praying with a broken heart. Through his tears and with passion, he asked God for both his forgiveness and the forgiveness of their people. He reminded God of past instructions with Moses regarding the Israelites, and future promises for those who turned their hearts back to Him. These prayers and fasts continued for four months until God opened an opportunity with His perfect timing. When Nehemiah approached the king, at God’s leading, he was not only given everything he requested but the king gave him more than he asked. He gave him an extra level of protection as he made his way back to Jerusalem. He was to pass through two regions where the leaders of those regions spent their focus jockeying for political power and influence. They were not happy that they had to grant passage to someone who might threaten their regions.

Where do I begin to draw application in a passage with so many Christian truths? Let’s begin with Nehemiah’s prayer. Once he felt compassion for a certain group of people, his first reaction was focus and faithfulness to approach God. He didn’t run off with a half-baked plan before sitting before the Lord. Scripture tells us that it was four months before God gave him the proper opportunity. His prayers not only focused on the suffering of others but began with his own need of repentance. God cannot use us effectively in our ministries until we become clean before Him. ‘…he was aware that he too needed pardoning…we have a tendency to measure everyone else’s ‘bigger’ sin against our far lesser sin…When we do this we set ourselves up for believing that other people need God’s grace and forgiveness much more than we do.’ Nehemiah – A heart that can break, p. 20. We see him giving God all the credit and glory as he states that everything was accomplished because he was operating in God’s grace and favor in his endeavor.

We must use this approach in our spiritual lives as we live to have eternal significance on earth in God’s kingdom. We must sit before the Lord with our passions and ministries, allowing Him complete license to move in and out of His ministries. We must confess our sins to clean our hearts in preparation for our ministries. Part of this confession must be a humbling of our hearts and a sincere attitude of gratitude with the place that God has assigned us. We must be attuned to His timing to not miss those windows of opportunity to move at His request. With all of these principles in place we are guaranteed to receive more than what we request. We are guaranteed success and provision in moving through our ministries. We can move with certainty that the enemy, who lives and moves within our regions, will be very much disturbed that we have come to promote the welfare of those who Christ Jesus loves!

Satan knows that we have been given a sealed note of passage through the King’s forest to pave the way to respond to the suffering people of God. Oh, he will be very much disturbed!