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I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on. By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work. - Nehemiah 2:11-16
It is fascinating to me that after 5 months of prayer, Nehemiah confronts the King and asks for permission and provisions to go back to Jerusalem and begin rebuilding the wall. He travels 800 miles from Susa, the capitol of the Persian empire, to Jerusalem. This journey would have taken him over 2 months! He finally arrives with a caravan of timber and supplies and a royal military escort...what does he do? "I went to Jerusalem and after staying there three days I set out..." He does nothing! He stops for three days. Nehemiah does not make some grand entrance, flash the flags, bands playing, ride in on a white horse. He doesn't proclaim, "I'm here to save the day. Now get to work!" When he arrives in Jerusalem, he didn't even announce why he was there. He did nothing for three days.
He arrives with a king's escort, into a town that is defeated and discouraged. He goes to his home and says nothing for three days. Don't you think that caused a little curiosity? Do you think the existing power structures in Jerusalem said, "What is this guy here for? What is he going to be doing?" For three days the speculation, and the “buzz” is rising. What is Nehemiah doing? By the third day everybody has heard of Nehemiah. He's actually using the delay to his advantage. He's using it for psychological build up so that when he presents the proposal, they'll be ready to listen.
Ecclesiastes 3:7 says "There is a time to be silent and a time to speak." Ecclesiastes 8:6 says, "There is a right time and a right way to do everything." If you're going to share in changing a life or a situation, you've got to wait for the right timing. Jesus had a profound sense of timing in the ministry. At various times in His life He would say, "It's not time yet. My time has not yet come."
In verse 12-16 we have Nehemiah's research party of actually going out and inspecting the walls of Jerusalem. You've heard of Paul Revere's midnight ride. This is Nehemiah's midnight ride.
In v. 12 he says, "I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding. By night I went out through the Valley Gate to the Jackel Well and the Dung Gate examining the walls of Jerusalem which had been broken down and its gates had been destroyed by fire."
He goes on and explains how at midnight he's out traveling around the walls of the city, actually inspecting. He is personally inspecting the damage in the middle of the night. He only takes a small group with him. He obviously didn't want to attract attention.
Every good leader knows exactly what Nehemiah is doing here. He is doing his homework. His background checks. This is the lonely part of leadership, the unglamorous part of leadership. It's the part nobody ever hears about. It's the guy doing his preparation, checking out the situation, getting the facts. Verse 14 says there was so much rubble he even had to get off his horse and walk through it. At this point the size of the project probably starts to sink in and he thinks, "This is worse than I thought. Why did I volunteer for this? I've never built anything in my life."
Verse 16 says "The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews, or the priests, or the nobles, or the officials or any other who would be doing the work."
Why is he being so secretive about this survey? Because he didn't want the plan to be stalled before it got out of the starting gate. There had been over 100 years of discouragement and defeat for the people living in Jerusalem and he didn't have all the facts yet. Is it easier to promote a good idea or kill a good idea? Have you noticed that negative people tend to be more vocal than positive people? After months of prayer, preparation and travel, Nehemiah has learned the secret of waiting on God’s timing.
Jeff Frazier
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