Nehemiah - The Civil Servant

While meditating on the Book of Nehemiah. the Spirit impressed a few things on my mind. Nehemiah was not a prophet, priest or a king. He was a civil servant yet God chose to use him, in spite of the fact that there were, at least priests, still around in Jerusalem. Why would God honour a layman above the established executives of the spiritual kingdom, namely the kings, prophets and the priests. When the established order, the so called "called ones", slacken or fail in their appointed duties, God will rise, even the stones, to sing forth his praise.

The first thing that struck me was that Nehemiah mentioned in 1:1 - "while I was in the citadel of Susa". He was in the place of the king, and there for a purpose. He was occupied in the king's business. No lazy people are found loitering near any king's palace. He was gainfully employed, albeit secular, yet in a senior cabinet position. It only goes to show that God does not use lazy people. In spite of his secular engagement, a terribly busy preoccupation, he still had time to be concerned for the welfare and the affairs of God's people and God's city, the dwelling place of God. "I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem". For those of us in the secular, its always easy to give excuses for not getting involved in ministry. NO TIME....Nehemiah proved us wrong. He went on to accomplish great things for God, a feat even the machinery of the spiritual kingdom failed to do.

Application: You can be in a secular job and yet can be used mightly by God. Being in a secular job is no excuse for lack of prayer or for not getting involved in God's business or for not doing it well.