This morning my reading was in Nehemiah. One thing I really appreciate about reading through the Bible every year is how something different always jumps out at me.
Today I wondered about the months. Hanani came to visit Nehemiah in the month Chislev and told him of the sorry condition of the people of Judah and the destruction of the wall around Jerusalem. The scripture says that Nehemiah was completely cast down by the news. He was grieving and praying.
Reading on we see that Nehemiah had the important job of cupbearer to the king. He went to serve the king his wine in the month Nisan. The king noticed his sadness and questioned him.
I expect that all of those who are reading this are familiar with the story. I began to wonder just how far apart Chislev and Nisan are. In all my readings of this book I never really thought about the time.
I looked it up and found that Chislev is the ninth month of twelve in the ancient Hebrew calendar. Nisan is the first month. Nehemiah waited FOUR months before appealing to the king. Why?
He spent his time in weeping, mourning, fasting and praying. He was waiting on the guidance of the Lord. I can imagine him grieving and trying to figure out what he could do. When he finally did talk to the king, he had a clear plan ready to present. He said the hand of his God was on him for favor.
How often do we rush ahead without waiting on the Lord? That doesn’t work out very well. Consider when Saul got impatient for Samuel to come and offer the sacrifice to the Lord. He got tired of waiting and offered the sacrifice himself. Nothing good came from that.
Nehemiah was highly successful at the task he was given. He succeeded against terrible odds in rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. He did not let anything get in the way of doing his job. I believe that his time of waiting on the Lord was the reason for his success.
No matter how difficult it may be, wait on the Lord, but don’t wait without weeping, mourning, fasting and praying.