Nehemiah was governor of Jerusalem for 12 years before he returned to his post as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes in Persia. It only took 3 months for him to complete the rebuilding of the wall, but he stayed 12 more years to make sure that the spiritual rebuilding of the people was going on as well.<\/p>\n
Nehemiah was a man of character, who understood clearly the principles of God’s kingdom. Chapter 5 tells how Nehemiah stopped the people from collecting interest from their fellow Israelites who were struggling to survive, a practice forbidden in Deuteronomy 23:19\u201320. Nehemiah also tells that he was careful not to personally profit off the people while governor. He didn’t even collect the governor’s allowance for food, as the governors before him had, because he knew it would be too much of a burden on the people.<\/p>\n
Nehemiah never heard Jesus’ words in his lifetime, but he certainly practiced them: “And [Jesus] sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all’\u201d (Mark 9:35). We notice that Jesus didn’t say there was anything wrong with the disciples’ desire to be great in His kingdom, but merely that the true method of acquiring that greatness was the exact opposite of the world’s way and the way they had been arguing and thinking about it. Nehemiah became great by being a servant to all. We should aspire to greatness, but not the kind of greatness the world promotes. We need to look to someone like Nehemiah as our example. He had fame and great influence, all the potential trappings of power, but his ambition was to serve his brother and to be great in the eyes of his Lord.<\/p>\n
“LORD, put us in the right place, at the right time, with the right attitude of heart to be used by You this day.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nehemiah 5 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters,\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>many: therefore we take up corn\u00a0for them\u00a0<\/em>, that we may eat, and live.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0Some\u00a0<\/em>also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth.\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king\u2019s tribute,\u00a0and that upon\u00a0<\/em>our lands and vineyards.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0Yet now our flesh\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and\u00a0some\u00a0<\/em>of our daughters are brought unto bondage\u00a0already:\u00a0<\/em>neither\u00a0is it\u00a0<\/em>in our power\u00a0to redeem them;\u00a0<\/em>for other men have our lands and vineyards. 6<\/sup> And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them.\u00a0\u00a08<\/sup>And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing\u00a0to answer\u00a0<\/em>.\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0Also I said, It\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0I likewise,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>my brethren, and my servants, might exact of them money and corn: I pray you, let us leave off this usury.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth\u00a0part\u00a0<\/em>of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0Then said they, We will restore\u00a0them\u00a0<\/em>, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise.\u00a013<\/sup>Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the\u00a0LORD. And the people did according to this promise.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king,\u00a0that is\u00a0<\/em>, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0But the former governors that\u00a0had been\u00a0<\/em>before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land: and all my servants\u00a0were\u00a0<\/em>gathered thither unto the work.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0Moreover\u00a0there were\u00a0<\/em>at my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, beside those that came unto us from among the heathen that\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>about us.\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0Now\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>which was prepared\u00a0for me<\/em>daily\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>one ox\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this required not I the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0Think upon me, my God, for good,\u00a0according\u00a0<\/em>to all that I have done for this people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nehemiah was governor of Jerusalem for 12 years before he returned to his post as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes in Persia. It only took 3 months for him to complete the rebuilding of the wall, but he stayed 12 more years to make sure that the spiritual rebuilding of the people was going on as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7385"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7385"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16407,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7385\/revisions\/16407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}