Do You Have Strategic Faith?
Do you have a shopping strategy? When I go into Costco, I like to hug the left side, avoid all the carts, get my fruit, my veggies, then head toward the back middle along a certain route and get my meats and eggs. Then I come down the far isle and get my frozen stuff and pasta and bread. My strategy and route are the best for avoiding the crowds. I’ve also got a strategy when I pack my car up. I used to have a strategy for mowing my yard. Maybe you have a strategy for your fantasy football team…if….you’re….that kind of person. You probably have a strategy for how to raise your kids, work out, and save your money.
But do you have a strategy…for following God? Do you have a strategy to accomplish what God has called you to do for him? Do you have strategic faith? In Nehemiah 2 we see that God wants us to have a strategic faith. We’ll see that strategic faith will lead to us accomplishing amazingly impossible things as we follow God. Nehemiah’s was a 10-step plan, and I’m sure that we need to grow in one or multiple of these.
Patience
In verses 1-2 we see that Nehemiah was patient. This happens about 4 months since he first heard the news, and this is the first he lets it be known to the king that something’s wrong. That’s pretty amazing. As soon as I hear bad news I text like 9 people to get their opinions, their sympathy, or whatever. I really struggle being patient. But God wants us to be patient sometimes guys. Maybe the amazingly impossible thing that God’s calling you to is on the horizon, but He just wants you to be adoring and enjoying him right now, like Nehemiah did for 4 months. Be patient, because God works powerfully in your patience before he works powerfully in your action. Be ok that the walls are broken down at this moment. Trust that God is transforming you, to make you the person to build them back up.
Tact
In verse 3, Nehemiah explains to the king why he’s sad. Now remember, Nehemiah’s talking to the King who made the law that the walls can’t be worked on or rebuilt. If Nehemiah just goes in and starts talking about the walls of Jerusalem, the king’s just going to think that this is a political conversation and Nehemiah’s disagreeing with him. Nehemiah’s not loyal, so the king wouldn’t have any use for him. That’s why Nehemiah says, “Let the king live forever!” I’m not against you, my king. And then he shares his sadness. But notice that he doesn’t mention Jerusalem. He doesn’t mention where his hometown is. He just says that it’s in shambles. He calls it the place of his father’s graves. So now the King’s heart hurts with Nehemiah. The King feels for him; empathizes with him. Nehemiah shows amazing tact here. I read something this week that said every Christian carries one of two things into a difficult situation: water, or gasoline. We, usually with our words, usually bring water or gasoline into a fiery, difficult situation. Nehemiah chose water. If you know you’re heading into a difficult conversation at work, or at home, or with your neighbor, do you have tact? Do you think through who that person is, what makes them tick, what they’re passionate about, and approach the conversation tactfully? Or do you just bust in without much thought and say what you want, however you want to say it? Marriages, friendships, jobs could be saved if followers of Jesus would have the tact of Nehemiah. But just like patience, it means we have to slow down a bit and think and pray and plan.
Dependence
There’s no slowing down once we get to verse 4. It’s game time. The king asks what Nehemiah wants. Now, Nehemiah didn’t say, “Wait, hold on” and disappear to pray for a few hours about his response. The moment was now. It’s time to act. And still yet he says a quick prayer first. This shows us Nehemiah’s dependence. His dependence on God was built back in chapter 1 when he spent 4 months in prayerful dependence. You see, we don’t head into doing the amazingly impossible and plan and strategize and then right before we do it, throw up a quick prayer. No, like Nehemiah we confess our dependence throughout the planning and strategizing and then when it’s time to act, we’re STILL dependent on God. This moment reveals so much about Nehemiah’s heart. Because he’s probably rehearsed this moment over and over in his mind. He’s already planned out what he’s going to say and do but yet he’s a guy who truly depends on God for everything. In trial, in difficulty, in a watershed moment, what runs through your mind? That probably conveys a ton about what you really depend on in life. Nehemiah was totally dependent on God here.
Ownership
In verse 5 we see that Nehemiah takes ownership of these walls. He could have asked the king to send some of his men, or send money, or just reverse the law. Or he could have just wined about the problem and hoped that the King would come up with a solution. But he took ownership. Send me. That shows us more of his heart here. He really cares about God’s glory and God’s people. You know every so often someone will come up to me and say that we should have this ministry or that ministry at our church. Someone notices some broken down walls that need to be built. And I usually say, “Great! Do you want to lead it?” And 9 times out of 10 I get, “oh no, I’m not gifted to do that, I just think it needs to happen in the church.” Nehemiah, a wine taster (!), took ownership to build some walls. What’s God calling you to take ownership of here at our/your church?
Detailed Plan
Nehemiah has a detailed plan in verses 6-8. He’s not flying by the seat of his pants here. During that 4 months of praying and fasting, he was also planning. He’d thought about the amount of time, the authorizations, and he knew the materials he’d need. Nehemiah had been praying and planning. He prayed for God to give him success, and then he worked hard. He had enough faith to make a plan for when God would answer his prayer. Guys I want us to see that those things go together. They aren’t at odds. God works in and through our planning. Some of you have been praying for your neighbors to come to know Jesus. Have you been planning for how you’re going to be a part of it? Some of us have been praying that our church would be a place where people can worship God in Ewa and Kapolei. Do you have a detailed plan for how you’re going to be a part of making that happen? Some of us have been praying for your marriage, that God would heal it and bring unity. Do you have a plan for how you’re going to work toward healing and unity within your marriage? To often I think we pray for God to do something, and then just sit back and wait for him to work. But God wants us to plan, he wants us to work, to have the faith that He’s going to answer our prayers through our work. Nehemiah laid out his detailed plan, and the king blessed it. God answered Nehemiah’s prayer, THROUGH Nehemiah’s plan.
Humility
In verses 9-10, Nehemiah takes off and starts to travel toward Jerusalem, and immediately we see opposition. These guys Sanballat and Tobiah don’t want the walls to be rebuilt. And you know, they could have planned to stop Nehemiah, or gone and complained to the King, or just offed the guy and got rid of him. But it says that Nehemiah took the escort that the King gave him. The king must have offered these officers and horsemen and Nehemiah said, yep, I’ll take those. Nehemiah wasn’t a rugged individualist who wouldn’t accept help from others. He’s accepting help from a pagan king who doesn’t worship God. Nehemiah showed humility in his strategy here. The humility to accept help. The humility to trust others. The humility to know that he can’t do it all and doesn’t have all the answers.
Rest
Verse 11 is pretty cool. Right when Nehemiah gets to Jerusalem, he rests. He must have planned to rest. He was there for three days before he started working. Even though he’d just traveled 500 miles across the desert, I’m sure he was pumped to get started. Nothing was stopping him, he could have started working and getting things done immediately. But he started it all out by resting. When we’re not well rested, our judgement is low, our emotional stability is low, we’re more focused on ourselves. You’re not going to be able to do the amazingly impossible things God is calling you to do unless you rest. Resting is us actually telling God that we trust him, we’re acknowledging that we’re weak and we can’t do it all.
Homework
In verses 12-16 we learn that Nehemiah did his homework. He inspected every part of the wall, looking for the weakness, the brokenness. But he was inspecting to build. That’s so key. He wasn’t looking for the problems just to point them out to the people who lived there. He was looking for the problems, the brokenness, that he himself could be used to fix. We need people like this at Harbor West; people who see the problems, see the brokenness, see the crumbled walls in our church and who are ready to build them up. God’s calling you to be that kind of person in your family, who sees the brokenness and doesn’t just expose it, but you dive in to repair it. The fact that Nehemiah’s doing his homework here shows that he’s going to be ready when the time comes to do the amazingly impossible.
Identify
Nehemiah enters into their brokenness in verses 17-18. In verse 17 he says to the people, “You see the trouble we are in.” We are in. How easy it would have been to say, “You see the trouble you’re in here, I’m here to fix it. I’m here to save you.” He saw himself just as much in the brokenness and in shambles as the rest of the people. That’s the next key here, he identifies with them. He entered into their brokenness and felt it with them. And then he calls them all to action. Come, let’s build. He looks for like minded people who are ready to charge, ready to build and battle with him, gives them a vision, and calls them to action. And they get all pumped man.
Conviction
Check out the conviction Nehemiah has in verses 19-20. Sanballat and Tobiah got this guy Geshem to join them, so the opposition is gaining steam, and they’re throwing accusations at him about rebelling against the King, but Nehemiah stands firm. He trusts God. He trusts that God really has called him to do this amazingly impossible thing, so he has the conviction to speak against these attackers, to be bold and stand for who his God is and what He’s called Nehemiah to do.
God’s calling you to follow Him with your life. He’s calling you to follow him and let him do the amazingly impossible through you. Some of you have been following God for a while, but you haven’t seen him do many amazingly impossible things. It might be because you don’t have a strategic faith. You’re just wondering around hoping that God will do something in your family, with your friends, with your sin problem.
Today it’s not walls and city and temples. It’s us, the church, Jesus’ followers. So what walls are broken down? Your marriage? Your children? Your eyes? Life in ruins? Feel helpless to put out the flames destroying you? The good news is that there’s a greater leader than Nehemiah who can deliver you and build you back up!
Nehemiah’s strategic faith was an example of Jesus’ strategic faith. Jesus, who was patient and worked as a carpenter for years. Jesus who showed tact when people attacked him, who was dependent on God all throughout his life, who took ownership of our broken walls by coming into our world and living in our brokenness. Jesus, who had a detailed plan for how to rescue us, who came in humility as a servant. Jesus who rested, who identifies with us, and who had the conviction to go the cross for us.
Jesus didn’t stumble into the incredibly impossible task of purchasing our salvation. It was a strategic faith. Let’s follow our Savior with the same kind of faith.