Easter Collection



Lessons from Nehemiah

Posted by Diana Ainebyoona on

Over the last few weeks I have been reading the book of Nehemiah. I had probably never read it in its entirety and only read portions of it. The character of Nehemiah has really stood out for me.

Nehemiah was a Jew who was serving King Artaxerxes as a cupbearer. He heard about the suffering of the Jews back home in Jerusalem and it affected him so much that he fasted and prayed, crying out to the living God for help.

The king seeing sadness on Nehemiah’s face, which was unusual, asked him what the matter was. Nehemiah first prayed to God and then told the king of the suffering of God’s people and the destruction of the city. God in His mercy granted Nehemiah favor before the king who allowed him to go and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem which was successfully done in just 52 days, again the favor of God. Nehemiah faced much opposition through the building process but he stood his ground, persevered and trusted God and it was successful.

Nehemiah served as governor in that time and he was entitled to receive portions from the people, but seeing that they were already oppressed he chose to take nothing from them.

Nehemiah stands out to me as an exceptional man for these reasons:
1. He was not self-centered. He cared about others. When he heard about the suffering of the Jews, he did not ignore it but cried out to God for help and went ahead to act.
2. He fully trusted God through the opposition while building, the provisions to build and when he stood before the king.
3. Nehemiah had a compassionate and generous heart. He did not take anything from the people when he served as governor even when he had every right to do so.

I pray that you will be encouraged to read the book of Nehemiah and go ahead and emulate him. If you would like to read up on the different characters of the Bible, check out our Men of the Bible Devotional and our available Bibles if you do not have one.

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