Discipleship

  Background: Now with his plan laid out before the king, Nehemiah moves forth with his agenda and the hand of God is with him. Firstly the king didn't take any action on Nehemiah for bringing his sorry countenance to work, but more than that the king gave Nehemiah the letters of permission he would need and sent him off to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem as Nehemiah had requested. A cavalry of the king's army also accompanied him. With the way Nehemiah's expedition goes, Nehemiah 2:7-20 gave me a lesson on, the life a believer experiences as he/she, seeks to walk with His God daily and obey His voice no matter what. It is not easy, but these verses give me hope that the Christian walk, though difficult, is not impossible. There are many more examples of such lives in the Bible too.

Here is what I learnt

1. Someone's never happy about our welfare-"v10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites." In the way Nehemiah had these guys fretting over the idea that he was going to bring welfare to the Israelites(children of God) we too have an enemy who's constantly thinking of our downfall. His ways may be either of deception, confusion, lies to dishearten us from the truth in our heart, bringing doubt, sometimes even physical harm to stop us.


2. There is a time(or people) to keep God's plan quiet from, there is a time(or people) to tell-"v11... I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem... ". Nehemiah had received a plan from God, he shared it only with the king so far. He could have called a big meeting with the Israelites and I think people would have even come out to help, it was for a good cause after all, but he did not. He was under the authority of the king and had to take permission to be relieved from his work as a cup bearer for some days until he could finish the work God had given him and he approached the right way of going about it, asking his boss first, and surely if God has given you the desire He will open the doors too(even as God gave Nehemiah favour before the king as Nehemiah had prayed before he approached his boss). Jesus gave the details of His purpose or God's plan for His life only before the real time had arrived. He did speak in parables about it, but no one could have understood then, now we do, because we have the whole picture in our hands. When God gives us a dream/plan/task it must be taken to the Lord first in prayer, then whoever is in authority over us, to be relieved from work if the case may be. Sometimes it may not require anyone else to know of it, but maybe a ministry of being a silent prayer warrior, and not an outstanding preacher, A quiet passionate writer and not a famous actor. Whatever be our call, the best guide for it would be our Lord who has given us that call.


3. Consider the cost of the task-Before the rebuilding began or the plan was shared with anyone who would be working at it, Nehemiah went up ahead and scanned the task before him. He checked every bit of the wall left to be built. He went up and examined the wall in the night and he was alone then and nobody knew where he had gone Nehemiah 2:16 says " The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work. " This reminds me of what Jesus said about being His disciple(under His discipline) it requires thorough evaluation of the cost as Jesus says in Luke 14:28-29 " 28"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' "


4. As we begin correctly, the work God has given us, He will grant success-"19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. "What is this you are doing?" they asked. "Are you rebelling against the king?" 20 I answered them by saying, "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." When the enemies came to mock and slander Nehemiah and his team of Israelites working to rebuild the wall, Nehemiah replied with firm knowledge Who he was working for and Who was his employer.

Conclusion:This experience from Nehemiah's life has taught me many things, but above all to depend on our God solely. Begin with prayer, establish the cost of discipleship, so that we may not return failures, but victorious in our calling.

Luke 14:25-33

25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
31"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.

33In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.