Thayer Thursday – Nehemiah
Chris Thayer is the Director of Discipleship at Good Shepherd Church in Charlotte, NC where he oversees adult life groups and Biblical education. On Thursdays I share his weekly “Thayer’s Thoughts” for small group leaders, which are based on the previous Sunday’s sermon. Click HERE to watch or listen to the accompanying sermon.
One of the most formative periods in my life as a Christian was a weekly meeting I had with a local pastor named Sandy Young. While I was in college he met with several of my college friends and me to read the Bible, pray, and share his life with us. I remember many of the lessons he taught us about reading scripture properly to this day. However, the strongest impact he had on my life was the last time I met with him before I graduated. He invited my wife (then fiancé) and me over to his house to have lunch with him, his wife, and his two children. As we sat in their backyard at a table—I remember the fondness in his eyes as he looked out at his children playing in the backyard and the gentle strength in his voice when he spoke with them. I knew at that moment that the most influential part of our meetings together didn’t come out in what he told me, but in what he showed me. I’m sure much of this has to do with my personality and how I learn—but isn’t it true that seeing somebody live an exemplary life in Christ encourages and challenges us in ways that words never can? It is one thing to hear how you should live—and another thing entirely to see somebody actually accomplish what you hope to. To be the kind of person you want to be.
This is one of the many reasons that stories (and I don’t just mean the fictional ones from fairy tales, but also—and even more so—the real ones rooted in actual history) are so powerful. They teach us how to live and challenge us with the reality that it’s possible to actually do it. This is one of the main reasons I love the Old Testament so much—it is full of stories of people who live the way God wants them to.
Last week we found out how Nehemiah, an Israelite, ended up as cupbearer to the King of Persia. This was an incredibly influential and powerful job for anyone to hold no matter who they were, much less for an Israelite whose ancestors had been conquered and put into exile a hundred years prior. Nehemiah had it made. If given the choice between the hard (and criticized!) work of rebuilding the walls to a destroyed city, or maintaining a position of high authority and dignity—most would choose the latter (especially since the first required inspecting something called the “Dung Gate”!).
However, this is not the choice Nehemiah made. He remains loyal to his people, and ultimately his God by returning to the city of his ancestors to rebuild the wall—becoming part of the grand story told throughout the Old Testament that God would rescue the entire world. Through his faithful obedience in the face of adversity and at the cost of complacency—he plays a part in the setting of the stage for when 450 years later Jesus came to perform His role in God’s great story of rescue and deliverance.
The story of Nehemiah isn’t simply a story of a man who helped rebuild walls. It’s the story of one who was faithful to His God while in a land not his own. He follows in the footsteps of great men and women before him who made the same decision such as Joseph, Moses, Daniel, and Esther. They are our ancestors in the faith. People we can look at the lives of to be encouraged and challenged whenever we face adversity or are tempted with complacency.
Chris Thayer
Categories: Biblical Theology, Blog, Hebrew Bible, Thayer Thursday