Nehemiah Chapters 1-3

1:4 - You can see clearly that the love that Nehemiah has for his people is great. He hears that the remnant in Israel have allowed the city of Jerusalem to fall into ruin and have shamed themselves and he weeps. Do I feel the same depth of love for the "Bride of Christ" - The Church? Do I weep when I see the shame that is sometimes brought to the name of God by his people?

1:11 - I really like the phrase "delight to fear in your name." Delight and fear seem to oppose one another, but Nehemiah is saying that it is really good to be under the rule of a loving and powerful God...they delight in the fact that their God is awe-inspiring. Kinda like the way you felt about your Dad as a child - he is huge and strong and kinda scary, but you also delighted in the fact that you felt loved and taken-care-of around him.

2:2 - This is a very dangerous situation. Pagan kings could kill their servants for anything! Artaxerxes could have had Nehemiah killed for daring to look downcast in his presence. Fortunately God uses a potentially dangerous situation as a spring board for bringing restoration to Jerusalem.

2:4-5 - I love that Nehemiah is clearly praying in the midst of a conversation he is having with the king. He sets a great example for us by showing that you can pray instantaneously at anytime - you don't have to close your eyes, clasp your hands and pray a form prayer. Nehemiah throws out a flash prayer to prepare for his discussion with the king. Because he keeps such an open connection with God, he is ready to boldly speak out when an opportunity presents itself. Hopefully we will all be prepared to jump on opportunities that God places before us.

2:17 - When I see Nehemiah talking about the state of Jerusalem, my mind is always drawn to the state of the Church today. I wish Christians would speak boldly to one another like Nehemiah did..."Do you see the state of the church? This is unacceptable! Let us work together to build a single unified body of Christ." We get so caught up in competing with one another and worship styles and theological differences, that we present a broken down image of the body of Christ to the world...and that is a shame.

3:5 - This does not bode well for the future of the Tekoites - their leadership refuses to get their hands dirty serving God?! That is not he kind of leadership I would want to work under. The description from the text is pretty brutal - it says they would not STOOP to serve their Lord. Mere created beings - finite and mortal - wouldn't bring themselves to serve their eternal, creator God...wow, not the place you wanna be.

3:12 - On the other hand we see the leadership of Shallum. He is out working with his own two hands and has set such an example for his people that even his daughters have come out to work beside the men. This would be pretty revolutionary in the male-dominated middle east thousands of years ago.