God is the Creator of us all. In addition to us, He also instituted success, prosperity, healthiness and other material or emotional states we desire. God has His own idea as to what we should do to attain success. And it is interesting to note that His requirements are not far-fetched. They are unbelievably simple, perhaps, that is why we often do not give them a thought; as they sound just too simple to be true.
Nehemiah was not the only person who was agitated about the ruins of Jerusalem; there were probably other people like him who were equally burdened. But he was the one who was bothered enough to express his concern. He might not have staged a protest, but the frown he wore was expressive enough to get him the attention of the king who could make a difference. And he got the royal pass he needed to legitimise his agenda.
Clarity is a virtue, and vagueness is a vice. It pays to be clear about what you want at any point in time. In the passage above, when asked about what he wanted, Nehemiah was unambiguous in his response to the king. He did not bore his listeners with elaborate background details before stating what he wanted, by so doing wasting their time. On the contrary, he was unequivocal in his statement of intent. He wanted to go back to his native land to rebuild the ruins.
The interesting true-life conversation below between a father and his five-year-old son underscores the importance of running our good idea on the litmus of divine will and agenda. The dialogue was narrated by the father:
The passage above starts with Jesus introducing Himself as a good Shepherd who lays his life for His sheep. Now, ‘He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?’ (Romans 8:32) It was this assurance David had that made him make bold claims about what the Shepherd did for him. Let us consider that psalm in detail:
It is not enough to know that you have a God who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent; to whom the whole earth and all its fullness belong. You also need to know who you are to this God.
