Also, what I find remarkable about the life of Nehemiah and this whole book is how God works. Consider this, Nehemiah was doing his normal thing, protecting the life of King Artaxerxes with his own life, this was his job as a cupbearer.
 
And then on an ordinary day, a message is given to Nehemiah by his brother which seems to wreck him.
 
It really did.

This wrecking was intended by God to produce a call on his life to restore Jerusalem. Have you ever considered this regarding your life? Sometimes we try to avoid wrecks (as we should) and even after them, we still try to avoid that they happened through numbing the pain or diverting our attention away.
 
Nehemiah felt the pain and I am sure at first, he felt so helpless to do anything about the condition of his friends and family back home. The Lord had it all planned out. Everything, the king, resources, even the opposition was planned by the Lord…yep, I just said that.
 
God was leading all His people to a place of intimacy and dependence upon Him. And He was using Nehemiah (and Ezra) to do it. He was filtering out those who weren’t His and those who were. He was allowing the people of Israel to take part in His plan of revitalization and restoration.
 
What if your last wreck was God’s call?
 
What was your last wreck?
 
What hit you so hard when you heard it that you like Nehemiah, just sat down and cried?
 
Nehemiah could have thought that his wreck was an ending, a termination of something. But he didn’t. The Lord birthed a call in Nehemiah to start something, to rebuild what was ruined. He had no idea what he was getting himself into, but that didn’t stop him, because it was God’s call, God’s plan, and God’s man.
 
Open up your mind right now. And while you are at it, open up your heart too. Hey, let’s not stop there, open up your spirit to the Lord talking to you.
 
Ask the Lord, “Lord, in this wreck of mine – did You have anything that You wanted me to do?” It took Nehemiah four months to sift through the wreck and figure out what he was supposed to do. And then He patiently waited for the Lord to open the doors for him to begin to execute the plan.
 
Nehemiah prayed and waited on the Lord for everything to fall into place. He had the faith to trust God would provide what was needed. After all, it was God plan to begin with.
 
What is the Holy Spirit whispering to you right now?     
 
 Isaiah 61:1-4 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
       to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
       to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
²    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
³    to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
       the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
       that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
⁴    They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
       they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
 
God is not done with your wreck. Listen to what He has to say.
 
Father, thank You that You love to fix broken things. Thank You that Your Son Jesus went first and did the most work of all. We gladly join in His efforts to restore the breaches and broken places in people’s lives.

Blessings,

Pastor D