Nehemiah’s family has been living in exile for generations. This creates tension and ambiguity for Nehemiah—he is living and prospering in the powerful Empire of Persia, yet his core identity is that of Jew.

When he receives word that the people of Israel are not faring well in Judah, Nehemiah’s heart is troubled. He recognizes his responsibility in the situation. In the same way, we are responsible for the burdens of fellow believers.

As he cries out to God in prayer, Nehemiah speaks with boldness and humility. He repents of his sin and affirms God’s faithfulness.

We often view the church as a place to go and get something to make our lives better. However, the church is about our interconnectedness as believers. We take on one another’s burdens because Jesus took on our burdens.

Even though Nehemiah has been living in comfort, his new awareness moves him to take a step that is risky and disruptive to his life. We should also value the glory of God over the comforts of our daily lives.

Nehemiah’s story is a prelude to the great story of the Bible. Jesus also leaves a glorious palace to identify with a lowly and obscure people.

Nehemiah has been prayerfully waiting for months after hearing of the plight of his people in Jerusalem. He knows that he cannot control his situation, but he does put himself in a position to take advantage of the opportunities God brings him.

Just as Nehemiah focuses his energy on building up God’s people, so must we be constantly working to move God’s mission forward.

Artaxerxes is a powerful king; however, God is truly in control. Nehemiah is oriented to God’s empire, which gives him boldness when he asks the king for help.

Nehemiah both trusts God and takes action. This is how we elevate God’s spiritual empire while living in this earthly empire.

Our identity in God’s empire should affect how we think and what we do in this earthly empire.

When Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem, he takes time to gather firsthand information about the situation. He is patient to wait, learn, and discern the nuances of the circumstance before he casts vision for the work ahead.

Jerusalem’s wall is significant not because of what it excludes, but because of how it functions to identify God’s place among his people.

In our current time and culture, believers function as the wall and temple of God. As God’s people, we are the gateway for others to find God since he lives within us. We should therefore live in such a way that we are easily identified as God’s people.

Nehemiah is able to connect the dots between the truths in the Scripture and what is happening in the world around him. Likewise, we should be alert and aware of what God is doing around us and how it connects to his Word.

The Israelites in Jerusalem are willing to obey God and follow Nehemiah, and their work will expose their flaws. We must also be willing to serve and give our lives away—for only when we get exposed will we actually grow in faith and maturity.

Jesus’ trust at the end of his earthly life was a result of an entire lifetime of trusting God. We cannot think that we can walk through life not trusting God with difficult things and then be able to trust him in that final moment.

In Nehemiah’s context, the work he is doing to rebuild the wall is utterly unimpressive. However, obedience to God is rarely impressive to the world on its terms. It takes faith to see the significance of what God is doing.

Rather than trying to impress the world, we should be driven to be part of something that only God can do. Just as Jesus came to earth in an obscure way, so must we be willing to work and live in obscurity and obedience.

We are all called to serve God by serving others. Like the people of Jerusalem, we must be willing to pick up a rock and get to work quickly even when the task seems small.

God also calls us to submit to his ordained leadership and come under their authority. This may not always be easy, but it is a necessary element of following Jesus.

The Scriptures are full of lists. God and his angels are always watching us and taking note. This idea should both humble and comfort us.

In this passage, those who did the work of rebuilding also reaped repentance in their hearts. As a result, they saw revival in their midst, and God’s glory was revealed. Likewise, we must move towards God and his work as an act of repentance—this is how we manifest his glory to the world.

Nehemiah and his followers are being opposed by both external and internal forces. They will have to trust God in a way that they have not previously had to.

When mocked by his enemies, Nehemiah prays and places the burden on God. Rather than engaging them himself, he humbly acknowledges that the battle belongs to God.

As they continue to work in the face of opposition and even death, the Israelites are exposed. In the same way, God continually brings difficulties into our lives in order to humble and teach us. This is part of the Christian journey.

Having to trust God with an outcome we cannot control is an important shaping experience for believers. Like Nehemiah, we must both trust God and take action according to his will.

The world is a challenging and difficult place. We have to work hard and fight hard in the areas where God has given us responsibility. But, we also have to maintain a deep sense that everything we build belongs to God.

Although the wall has progressed, there is conflict among the people of Jerusalem. It comes to Nehemiah’s attention that the wealthy are exploiting the impoverished, and he takes swift action.

When Nehemiah tells the nobles and officials that their use of interest against their fellow Jews is the opposite of what God is doing, they respond in obedience. What they were doing was culturally acceptable, but it did not honor God.

In Leviticus, God is clear that his plan is to protect and uplift the poor as well as check the power of the wealthy. We must also follow this concept of caring for our fellow believers.

Generosity is essential in the Christian life. We must trust God enough to deplete ourselves for the good of others. Then, we will look to God for comfort, status, and significance.

We are responsible to address division, bias, or prejudice within the church. It is our nature to create division among ourselves, but God calls us to strive for compassion and unity.

While our first priority is caring for the body of Christ, we should also use our resources to uplift the oppressed in the world. We will not “fix” the brokenness around us, but we can build inroads for the gospel.

As we give towards and advocate for those in need, we look to Jesus—the great advocate who completely depleted himself for our redemption.

Three governors who oppose the rebuilding of the wall try various methods to entrap Nehemiah and put an end to God’s work. However, God grants Nehemiah clarity, steadfastness, and discernment to handle this opposition.

Because Nehemiah fears God above all else, he doesn’t feel the need to vindicate himself. He realizes that his integrity and even his life is not at greatest risk in this situation—God’s work is. He is not overwhelmed by fear because he fears rightly.

It becomes clear that a segment of God’s people are informing and enabling the outside opposition. We must also consider if we as believers are acting in ways that oppose God’s work.

Fear of man can be a powerful influence in our lives, and we often fear man more than God because we lack an understanding of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.

Fear of the Lord will give a deeper satisfaction and freedom to serve him than anyone’s approval. We must therefore pursue understanding who God is through studying his Word and asking him to reveal himself.

When we fear God above all else, we will be free to do the good work he has called us to do. Only then we will be effective as catalysts for life change in those around us.

Now that the wall around Jerusalem has been restored, God prompts Nehemiah to create a record of those who are present and committed to the work at hand. This is how he will establish and mobilize his people.

After the census, both the leaders and all of the people give towards God’s work. In the same way, we should be fully committed with our money, time, and energy to the local church.

Scripture is clear that at a future time, Jesus will divide and separate his people from the rest of the world. Those who trust in his work of redemption will be included, and all others will be excluded.

God also uses division throughout Scripture and in our present time to create boundaries and carve out a people for himself. This is why we practice church membership. It’s important to know who is fully vested and committed to God’s work.

As God’s people, we should be clearly distinctive from the world. Those around us should see that something is different in the way we live and how we are motivated. We embrace this distinctive identity by following Jesus and committing to the work of discipleship.

As God continues to establish his people in Jerusalem, they come together to listen to Ezra read the law of Moses. This shared experience is integral to how they learn who God is and who God wants them to be.

In the same way, our lives should be bracketed by Scripture. Corporately—as the church—we must continuously affirm God’s Word and work it out in our individual lives.

The people in Jerusalem already had knowledge of religious behavior and a veneer of reverence, but they had to come together and truly experience God’s Word in order to grow in genuine faith and understanding.

The Israelites’ initial reaction to understanding their sin is despair, but Nehemiah encourages them to rejoice in the reality of who God is. We also should allow the truth of who God is to impact our affections.

Our faith involves thinking, feeling, and acting. As God forms our thinking through his Word, our feelings must also change. And ultimately, his truth is evident in our lives through our actions.

As God’s people, we should be clearly distinctive from the world. Our life choices should beg the question, “Why do you do this?” This distinction is a powerful part of how we further God’s kingdom here on earth.

As the Israelites gather to confess their sins corporately, they begin by exalting God as the Creator and Sustainer of all things. This practice is vital to the act of repentance.

For generations, the Israelites have been in a complex cycle of prosperity, pride, sin, discipline, humility, repentance, forgiveness, and obedience. Every time they fall into sin, God is faithful to discipline and then ultimately restore them when they repent.

We must be particularly mindful of how we handle seasons of prosperity. Our culture makes it very easy for a sense of self-sufficiency, control, and entitlement to creep into our souls.

When we do fall into sin, it’s vital that we quickly recognize God’s discipline, come under his authority, and repent. Only then can he restore our souls.

Genuine repentance means that even though we face consequences from our sins, we are not frustrated or bitter towards God. We must recognize that he is both just and merciful.

Our only hope to break the cycle of sin is to engage the gospel. While we naturally promote and fill ourselves, Jesus did the opposite—he emptied himself, releasing all he had to the Father in order to redeem us.

Following Christ requires intentionality, accountability, and sacrifice. The Israelites promised to obey and took action to help them stay committed.

We should be bound to people who share our agenda—a desire to follow Christ wholeheartedly.

Disentangling ourselves from things that encumber us involves prayer, counsel, and action. It may take time and intentionality to unbound ourselves from them.

It is necessary to live as if all of our springs are in the temple of God and not in places or things of this world.

Not leveraging every asset requires us to limit the opportunities we take to bless and take care of ourselves in order to bless and care for others

God calls us to obey everything he says, not just a portion of it.

As the Israelites gather to celebrate the completion of the wall and dedicate it to God, they acknowledge their dependence on God and commit themselves to his purposes.

Many of us celebrate ourselves or fail to pause and celebrate what God has done in our lives. Both of these tendencies reflect our arrogance, for we ruin the opportunity for God to receive glory for the work he has done

Failure to joyfully celebrate God indicates that we are either bitter or believe we are sovereign.

Part of the Israelites’ celebration includes sacrifice. The act of sacrifice—for them and us—acknowledges that our sin brings death into the world and we cannot resolve it on our own.

As the ultimate sacrifice for sins, Jesus must be both fully God and fully human. Only a perfect human is free to pay for the sin of others, and only God is fully perfect.

Joy reveals what you believe about God. Only someone who believes that God is fully sovereign and able to provide for all their needs will have deep, abiding joy

After a brief time away, Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem to find that the Israelites have already fallen into sin and compromised their commitment to God.

God uses both Nehemiah and the Scriptures to confront his people. Although often painful, confrontation is a redemptive act wherein God works to restore us to himself.

The Israelites’ compromise had been incremental. This is the nature of sin—we make small, sinful choices that seem insignificant. But over time, it leads to death.

Nehemiah has spiritual power to confront the Israelites because his conscience is informed by God’s Word and clean of sin.

Not only does compromise lead to further compromise, but it also affects future generations. In the same way, our present choices will affect those who come after us.

Although it seems that the story of Nehemiah ends in failure, it reminds us that the only One who can truly finish the work of redemption and restoration is Jesus.