Bible Reading: Nehemiah 2:1-8
Key Verse: Verse 1 – “And it came to pass in the month
Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up
the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.”
Key Words: Artaxerxes the kingIn Nehemiah 2:2 we read, “”Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy
countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid.”
Artaxerxes was the Persian king who
reigned for forty years. He is the king
that appointed Nehemiah as the governor of Jerusalem and authorized him to rebuild the
walls and provide for the Jewish people.
Did you know, though, that Artaxerxes was the son of Ahasuerus according
to Herbert Lockyer in his book, All the
Kings and Queens of the Bible? If
this is the case, then Esther would have been Artaxerxes’ stepmother, which no
doubt played a role in why the king allowed Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
We do serve a wonderful God! Surely Solomon was right when he said, “The
king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it
whithersoever he will” (Proverbs 21:1).
As I study, I again come to the
realization that there is nothing God cannot do if I will just get out of the
way and let Him do it.
I read this article recently:
“Fizzit, Mommy. It’s Broked.”
“My friend Cici recently shared a little ‘parable in real life.’ When her son was quite small, he had a small
stuffed gorilla that he dragged around with him everywhere – and I do mean
EVERYWHERE – he went. She could
sometimes sneak it away for a quick laundering during nap time, but Heaven help
her if her son awoke before his friend ‘Rilla’ was out of the dryer! As such ‘loveys’ will do, Rilla’s seams
gradually began to weaken and his stuffing began to leak. As she tells it, ‘Poor old Rilla was in
desparate need of some corrective surgery, not to mention a stuffing
transplant. One day John waddled up to
me and held up his battered, beloved Rilla and said, ‘Mommy, Rilla’s
broked.’ I explained that I would be happy
to fix Rilla up – a little new stuffing, some seam reinforcement, and he would
be ‘all better’ again. John held Rilla
out toward me and said, ‘Fizzit, Mommy!’
But when I reached down to take the little gorilla in my hands, I found
that it had a two-year-old firmly attached to it. As all parents know, a tug-of-war with a
two-year-old is frequently a losing proposition, and is frequently accompanied
by loud cries and copious tears. Finally
in exasperation, I said, ‘I can’t fix it until you let go of it!’ And just at that moment, the Spirit of God
tapped me on the shoulder, as it were – and I realized that God was waiting for
me to let go of several things, too.’
This is one thing that I suspect will always be a struggle for many of
us. It’s so hard for us to get out of
His way and let our Creator ‘fizzit’ in His own good time, because we’re living
in the present moment and he is living in eternity.”
What to do:
✞
Get out of the way and let
God fizzit.
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