Nehemiah Part 9: What is your work ethic?
Nehemiah Series, continued...
And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.
So the king said to me, "Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart." Then I was very much afraid.
I said to the king, "Let the king live forever Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?"
Then the king said to me, "What would you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.
I said to the king, "If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it."
Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, "How long will your journey be, and when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time.
Nehemiah 2:1-6
The King had never seen Nehemiah like this. He was usually flowing and in a good mood. But the King, the ruler of the whole area gave Nehemiah supernatural favor. I believe for Dove World Outreach Center, no matter how much they don’t like us, no matter how much they hate us, God is going to give us supernatural favor. Supernatural favor from God! Everything that we want, everything that we need, God is going to give us.
He asked Nehemiah, “What would you request?” This is the ten million dollar question. This is what you want to hear. Wouldn’t that make your heart happy? You have a job and a boss, and this guy is more than a boss - he is the King, he holds your destiny, your life in his hands - much more than just the boss of a company. Here he asks, what would you like to have, and he really meant it. That would be the magical question. Think of that! Your brain would just start buzzing. You would ask for a raise, a big raise! I would like to have some time off, a vacation. I would like to have this and this and this!
But what did Nehemiah do? This is also Nehemiah’s character. Most people are not unsuccessful because they are stupid or they have no talent, most people are not successful because they have no character. What did Nehemiah do? Did Nehemiah shoot off a bunch of stuff? I’d like to have a new house, new car, new chariot, new horse, some new clothes, a couple of weeks on the beach?
What did he do? “So I prayed to the God of heaven.” Wow! He asked God. He did not shoot his mouth off about what he wants, how he has been mistreated as a cup bearer. He asked God what do you want me to say? What do you want me to answer? God, what do you want? What do you want me to do? What is your will? He did not take the easy way out, which is what most people do, to satisfy his own will and desires. He asked God, what do you want me to do?
Here is an answer that will blow your mind. Look at what he answered. I love verse 5! Nehemiah did not actually demand anything. He leaves it up to the King. “If it please the King and if your servant has found favor..” If I have been pleasing to you, if I have been a hard worker, if I have done what I have been told… How many of us could say that to our boss? If you are happy with me, if you are happy with my work, then bless me, then let me go, let me go to that City, let me do that job. But if not, just tell me and I can’t go. If we had a real honest inspection of our heart, how many of us would pass? How many of us could go with full confidence to our boss, to our overseer and say, “How’s my job, how’s my attitude? Have I found favor?”
That shows a little bit why God chose Nehemiah. God chose Nehemiah because he did it. Nehemiah was not checking the clock, he was not counting how many times he served the King, he was not looking for the easy way out, he was not hiding in the bathroom. Nehemiah was serving and working to such an extent, with such confidence, that he could say, “I will leave it up to you.” I won’t tell you I am doing a good job. You tell me I am doing a good job.
Can you imagine if the United States of America returned to that work ethic, what we could do and accomplish? If we did that even as a church? Everything we did, we did thinking, would my boss like this? Am I doing this with my whole heart? Is this what he wants? Will this find favor in his eyes? Wow!
In verse six he was talking to the king and the queen sitting beside him. He was definitely in there. He was in with the top dealers and pastors, he was there. He was with the cream of the crop. God had brought him in to that position. He was just a normal person, a normal man, and God brought him there.
