Speaker 1
0:01 Welcome to the Daily Blade. 0:03 The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. 0:11 Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. 0:17 Let's sharpen up.
Speaker 2
0:19 We were introduced to Nehemiah yesterday. 0:21 Out of reverence for God and trusting in God's provision, nehemiah fervently prayed for the land and the people of his forefathers. 0:28 So the first chapter ended with us being told that Nehemiah's job is cupbearer for King Artaxerxes. 0:33 So not only would he do what he could to make sure that the king did not have his food or drink tampered with, because poisoning was a common assassination tactic in those days he would actually do that duty for the entire royal court. 0:45 Okay, so, needless to say, he was a really, really important person that had a really important job that required a lot of trust from the king. 0:54 So let's go back to the text here. 0:55 We're going to go. 0:56 Nehemiah 2, starting in verse 1. 0:58 In the month of Nisan in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, 1:10 when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. 1:11 Now I had not been sad in his presence and the king said to me why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? 1:14 This is nothing but sadness of the heart. 1:15 Then I was very much afraid. 1:17 I said to the king Let the king live forever. 1:20 Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of my father's graves lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire. 1:28 Then the king said to me what are you requesting? 1:32 So I prayed to the God of heaven and I said to the king If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's graves, that I may rebuild it. 1:44 And the king said to me the queen sitting beside him, how long will you be gone and when will you return? 1:50 So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. 1:53 And I said to the king If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me, to the governors of the province beyond the river, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, 2:11 that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress, of the temple and for the wall of the city and for the house that I shall occupy. 2:14 And the king granted me what I asked for. 2:16 The good hand of my God was upon me. 2:19 Okay, guys. 2:19 So let's talk about this. 2:21 King Artaxerxes fancied himself a god. 2:23 Okay, a living, breathing deity. 2:26 That's what he thought he was. 2:27 So if you were to be granted access to the presence of, you know, a living little g god, then you would have no reason to be sad, right? 2:36 So just by looking sad, nehemiah was literally risking his life. 2:41 So we can see that in the text, because Nehemiah said that he was very much afraid after Artaxerxes directly asked him why he looked so sad. 2:49 So Nehemiah does some cleanup work, but then eventually tells the king that there is no way he can avoid the sadness because of the state of Jerusalem and her people. 2:58 Then, perhaps shockingly, king Artaxerxes asks Nehemiah so what do you want to do about it? 3:04 And what does the text say? 3:06 Go back to verse four. 3:07 So I prayed to the God of heaven. 3:11 Now, because of how we see Nehemiah operate throughout the rest of the narrative of the book of Nehemiah, I think it is safe to assume that Nehemiah already had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to do. 3:21 This guy seemed to have a plan for just about everything. 3:24 But what does he do? 3:25 First 3:27 he prayed. 3:29 He stops himself from just coming out with his request, with his plan, in order to pause and consult with the creator. 3:39 So here's my question for you to ponder today. 3:42 Do you default to prayer or is prayer just a last resort? 3:48 Honestly, I'll say, for me I tend to lean on my own wisdom because I believe and others do as well that I've been given the gift of discernment right, so I kind of have an out right. 3:58 But even if that is the case right, even if I'm right and a lot of those other people are right, all of us certainly me included would do well to pause and pray to the God of heaven before we act, wouldn't you agree? 4:11 I challenge you to do that today. 4:14 See you tomorrow.