GOD’S WORK DONE ‘PRUDENTLY’

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on November 8, 2023 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: November 8, 2023 from Nehemiah 2:11-20

Theme: Nehemiah is an example of how to do God’s work ‘prudently’—that is, with thoughtful prayer, careful planning, informed persuasion, and determined protection.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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Nehemiah was a great leader—a man of character from whom we can learn a great deal.

In the first chapter, for example, we learned from him how a man of godly passion behaves. It was there that we read of how his heart was broken over the needs of his people …. and also for the honor of God. He had been far away, serving as the cupbearer of the Persian king Artaxerxes. But he still could not bear the thought that the wall of Jerusalem remained broken down and burnt, and that the people of God still bore dishonor. Then, in the first half of the second chapter, we learned from him how a man of faith prays. It was because of his faithful prayers that God granted him favor in the sight of the king; and that God demonstrated His ‘good hand’ toward him in that the king gave him support in his desire to rebuild the wall.

And now, in the second half of chapter two, we learn from him how a man of prudence acts. ‘Prudence’ is not a word that we hear used much anymore; but it’s a thing that is very much needed today—especially among those who serve in our Lord’s cause. To be ‘prudent’ means to be skillful and wise in the management of a task or of resources. Proverbs 18:15 says, “The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” A prudent man is a man of wise caution. He doesn’t rush into situations, or perform his tasks recklessly. Such a man also practices shrewdness. He thinks ahead and is circumspect in his work. Both Proverbs 22:3 and 27:12 are identical in telling us, “A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.” Nehemiah proved to be a prudent man.

Now; Nehemiah must have been a remarkable man anyway to have been the cupbearer of the king of a world empire. He must have already grown to be a ‘prudent’ man in that secular role. And that may be why God raised him up for the sacred work of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. Nehemiah 2:11-20 tells us the story of how Nehemiah began the great work of leading his people in rebuilding the city wall; and in it, we find that he showed himself to be an outstanding spiritual leader who did his work with sanctified ‘prudence’. In it, he says;

So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one on which I rode. And I went out by night through the Valley Gate to the Serpent Well and the Refuse Gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to pass. So I went up in the night by the valley, and viewed the wall; then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the others who did the work.

Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.” And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. So they said, “Let us rise up and build.” Then they set their hands to this good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?” So I answered them, and said to them, “The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem” (Nehemiah 2:11-20).

Looking carefully at Nehemiah’s actions in this passage, we find that he went about God’s work in a truly prudent way—that is, with thoughtful prayer, careful planning, informed persuasion, and even determined protection of the work from those who would harm its progress.

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Notice first how Nehemiah demonstrated prudence through …

1. THOUGHTFUL PRAYER (v. 11).

Admittedly, this is something that we can only recognize in this passage by inference. But it would be a very valid inference—given what we already know about this man Nehemiah.

Back in verses 9-10, we’re told that Nehemiah began his journey to Jerusalem from the king’s palace in Shushan. In Ezra 7:8-9, we’re told that this journey took 5 months. It may or may or may not have taken Nehemiah that long; but we can be sure that, in any case, it took several months. And we can also safely assume that Nehemiah—an already-established man of prayer (1:4-11; 2:4)—would have spent much of the time of his journey praying for God’s good hand of success upon the work. And now, when we come to 2:11, we read, “So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days.” We can also safely assume that those three days were not spent idly. Nehemiah gave himself a few days of settling in before beginning the work; and they were—no doubt—characterized by deep prayer for the city that he had come to serve.

The Bible tells us, in Psalm 37:5, “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” The word “commit” here means ‘to roll off onto’ the Lord. And what better way could we do that than through our prayers? Indeed; it’d be foolish to do otherwise! As Psalm 127:1 says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” May we learn to imitate Nehemiah’s proven practice of faithful prayer. It’s a key characteristic of godly prudence.

Another way Nehemiah demonstrated godly prudence was through …

2. CAREFUL PLANNING (vv. 12-16).

You see; even after Nehemiah spent three days in the city (spending much time, we can safely assume, in prayer), he still did not simply jump up and call everyone together to begin the work. Even though he had the full support of the king of Persia, he didn’t rush in hurriedly. It would have been reckless to have done so. Instead, he took the time to gather accurate information and assess the true condition of things.

In verse 12, he wrote, “Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one on which I rode.” It may be that some of the people of Jerusalem were curious about why he had come and what his plans were; but he still didn’t say anything about his plans. He was careful not to bring extra animals so as to avoid drawing undue attention to himself. He even went out in the evening—when he could be alone—to investigate the situation:

And I went out by night through the Valley Gate to the Serpent Well and the Refuse Gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to pass. So I went up in the night by the valley, and viewed the wall; then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned (vv. 13-15).

It’s hard to trace Nehemiah’s exact route many centuries after the fact. But he appears to have started on the south-western side of the wall, traveled through the Valley of Gehennah in the south, and then northward again up the eastern side near the Kidron Valley (as shown on the map taken from Derek Kidner, Ezra & Nehemiah, TOTC [Downers Grove, IL, 1979] p. 85):

Nehemiah would then have been able to see, first-hand, the sad condition of the wall. And even then, he still didn’t make any public announcements. We’re told in verse 16, “And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the others who did the work.”

Nehemiah shows great wisdom in all of this. To have run off to the leaders uniformed—and especially since they may not have been familiar with him yet—would have been reckless and ineffective. Proverbs 13:16 says, “Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool lays open his folly.” Time spent gathering accurate information before beginning God’s work—sanctifying that information-gathering with prayer—is always time well spent.

Next, we see that Nehemiah demonstrated prudence in his work through …

3. INFORMED PERSUASION (vv. 17-18).

There came a time when the work of information-gathering was sufficient. Nehemiah and those who were with him now fully understood the situation. They had looked carefully at the condition of the wall. And so, he gathered together the Jewish leaders, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the others would do the work;

Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach” (v. 17).

Do you notice that when Nehemiah gave a careful analysis of the situation—and called the leaders to acknowledge the state of things—he did not say, “Now; why don’t all of you guys get to work?” Instead, he used the powerful and persuasive tactic of saying, “Come and let us build the wall”! “Let us …” is a far more inviting, encouraging, and respectful call than “You all should …” They would not be doing this alone. Nehemiah—who felt the burden—would be doing the work with them. (Try that sometime! Instead of telling someone to do something that you want them to do, say, “Come, let’s do this together!” The difference is amazing!)

Nehemiah’s time spent investigating the physical situation paid off in the form of credibility. But he did more than that. He also informed them of the spiritual realities; and told them what God had done in bringing all of this about. Verse 18 says, “And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me.” How encouraging that must have been! Note the careful order of things. It was God who first put this upon Nehemiah’s heart and who opened up the way for him; and then, it was the king who was moved upon to provide the support. What a great proof of God’s sovereignty!

And Nehemiah’s prudence worked to persuade the leaders. They echoed Nehemiah’s call; “So they said, ‘Let us rise up and build.’ Then they set their hands to this good work” (v. 18). They now owned the task—along with Nehemiah. And isn’t this how the Lord Jesus leads us? In the Great Commission, He said;

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you …” (Matthew 28:18-20a).

But He didn’t leave it at that. He also added,

“and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (v. 20b).

Now; all of this did not mean that Nehemiah invited or welcomed everyone’s involvement indiscriminately. A leader who is characterized by godly prudence would never welcome just whoever it might be that wanted to be involved. Some people would harm the work if they were permitted to join it. And some would intentionally act to harm the work that they couldn’t stop. So, we see finally that Nehemiah demonstrated prudence in the work through …

4. DETERMINED PROTECTION (vv. 19-20).

In verse 19, we meet up with some individuals we encountered in verse 10—along with the addition of one more. Nehemiah writes, “But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, ‘What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?’” Sanballat is a leader from Syria—up in the north. Tobiah is from among the Ammonites along the east of the Jordan River. And historians tell us that Geshem was from the Arabian regions of the south. And so, this plan to rebuild was met with hostile enemies that completely surrounded Jerusalem. They even sought to threaten the people with false reports—that this rebuilding project was all about rebelling against the king of Persia (see Ezra 4). With the city wall kept in broken condition, these enemy regions may have hoped to eventually take possession of the city of Jerusalem itself.

Nehemiah responded in a way that showed the exclusivity of God’s work: “So I answered them, and said to them, ‘The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem’” (v. 20). These three individuals were leaders from the enemies of the Jewish people. When it’s God’s work, God entrusts it to holy hands; and a wise leader in God’s work will not allow ungodly and hostile hands to touch it. In speaking to His people at the time of their restoration to the land, God told them;

Who is wise?
Let him understand these things.
Who is prudent?
Let him know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right;
The righteous walk in them,
But transgressors stumble in them (Hosea 14:9).

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Now; as we read on in this ‘diary’ of God’s work through him, we will find later that Nehemiah repeatedly showed these same characteristics of godly prudence: (1) thoughtful prayer, (2) careful planning, (3) informed persuasion, and (4) determined protection. What an example he sets for us.

May we also follow Nehemiah’s good pattern of ‘sanctified prudence’ in the tasks that God gives to us!

AE