I thought of Nehemiah this week, in the midst of a Christian wedding ceremony attended by several thousand, in a country with the world’s largest Muslim population. The wedding was like a light shining bright, and I could only look up and see the hand of God at work on behalf of his people and his gospel. I pictured Nehemiah serving in the Persian court, finding favor from King Artaxerxes as he presented his plan to visit and help his people in Jerusalem. “The king granted me what I asked,” Nehemiah reports, “for the good hand of my God was upon me” (1:8).
Nehemiah reminded me to see through—to the invisible reality of the good hand of God actively shaping the course of the nations, for his sovereign, eternal gospel purposes. The tumultuous events in Ukraine are being directed by God’s good hand. North Korea and South Korea are in God’s good hand. And the United States too. All the nations are finally his. I love getting glimpses of this truth—and being reminded of it even in the dark.
I thought of Nehemiah this week, as my husband and I chatted with our driver on a traffic-filled trip to a dinner on the other side of the island where we were staying. Not only did our friendly driver want to practice his English; he also enjoyed talking about his Hindu faith. We asked him lots of questions, and lots about various religious figures, including Jesus—all of whom, he confidently asserted, are manifestations of the one god. Do the gods ever fight with each other, we asked? “No no no . . . they never fight,” he said. “They live up in the mountains where it is all peaceful.” As we talked, my husband and I found ourselves sending up “bullet prayers,” the kind Nehemiah reports praying in the midst of his interchange with the king (2:4). Those prayers are incredibly comforting, as you’re searching for the next comment, the next available opening to point to the Lord Jesus.
I thought of Nehemiah this week, in the midst of various Indonesian worship gatherings filled with many wise elderly people and even more strong, winsome young men and women who are being educated on the foundation of God’s Word for their various callings. Into my mind came the magnificent scene in Nehemiah 8 with that great gathering in Jerusalem’s square before the Water Gate, where “men and women and all who could understand what they heard” assembled at sunrise and stayed for hours to hear and learn the Book of the Law. This is what we need to do, I thought. This has always been what we need to do, as God’s people—worship with the Word at the center, and pass on that Word faithfully to the next generation.
I thought of Nehemiah this week, in witnessing Christian leaders here in Indonesia working with all their energy and hearts and hands for the sake of gospel witness. Some here have the means to sit back and simply enjoy life in this beautiful country—but they are right in there laboring with their brothers and sisters day and night in order to accomplish gospel work during an open window of opportunity. I pictured the high priest and priests in Nehemiah 3 getting their hands dirty building that sheep gate, along with all the others lined up in section after section of the hard, rushed, messy work along Jerusalem’s wall. I was convicted by the call to be awake and faithful now, with the day at hand. I remembered the Tekoite nobles who by contrast “would not stoop to serve their Lord” (3:5).
I thought of Nehemiah this week, reading in Hebrews about the confidence we believers enjoy as we enter the holy presence of God by the blood of Jesus (10:19). Nehemiah put forth unrelenting effort to re-establish Jerusalem with its temple as the center of the ceremonial worship system, according to the Law given by Moses. Nehemiah loved God’s Law, and he helped the people celebrate in worship according to it, with priests regularly offering up those sacrifices, spilling the blood of all those animals—pointing forward faithfully to the only blood of the only Lamb of God who could take away sins, through his death for us on the cross.
Why Nehemiah? It speaks right into today. In any corner of the globe. Of course it does; it is the living and active Word of God.
Is there enough evidence for us to believe the Gospels?
In an age of faith deconstruction and skepticism about the Bible’s authority, it’s common to hear claims that the Gospels are unreliable propaganda. And if the Gospels are shown to be historically unreliable, the whole foundation of Christianity begins to crumble.
