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Wednesday, February 19, 2003 This is often a difficult point for me to grasp: I don't have to do everything on my own; in fact, I can't. If I'm faithful to doing what God wants me to do, the burden of success is no longer on me--it's on God himself. What a cool partnership. From July 13, 2002 Nehemiah One of the thoughts I'll take away from this week--Jeff Boucher's talk on God-sized dreams and Nehemiah. Nehemiah was the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes when the Jews who survived exile (in Babylon, I think) were trying to return to Jerusalem. However, the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and after 92 years still hadn't been rebuilt--in that time period, walls were best means of defense for a city. Without walls, the city was deserted because people didn't feel safe and the Jewish nation was scattered. Nehemiah longed to restore the city and his people and prayed that God would use him to make it happen. At that time, the law said that everyone had to act happy in the king's presence or face the punishment of death. After all, who would want to be troubled with the petty problems of his subjects? Nehemiah knew the law--he was a trusted official. (The easiest way to kill a king? Poison his food. Enter the cupbearer, who eats portions of everything. Everyone waits for a half hour or so to see if the cupbearer is still alive, and if he is, the party can begin.) However, he needed to get the king's attention: "I had not been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, 'Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.' I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, 'May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?' The king said to me, 'What is it you want?'" Not only did he live, but Nehemiah was allowed to go to Jerusalem with a contingent of officers and calvary--and took a long "leave of absence" from his job. He kept praying and seeking God, and even though he was not a builder, he managed to gather the support of the Jewish people and rebuilt the wall in 52 days amongst military threats from other nations. Application? Some dreams seem impossible because they are--for us. But with God anything is possible. If a project costs $90,000 and you only have $60,000, if the project really belongs to God then it's his problem that the money isn't there and he'll resolve it. That's not to say that we can sit back and do nothing--Nehemiah risked his life and poured his own time out--but God's dreams are bigger than ours and even though they can seem crazy, he is fully capable of making them reality. As long as we're faithful in our part, the burden of making things happen is not on us. ^ Top | 2:14 AM | | | 
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