Fresh Eyes

Don’t you hate those moments when someone blurts out the most painfully apparent statement? “Boy, the sky is blue.” Duh. “Our team will win if they just score more points than our opponent.” Thanks, Captain Obvious. But there are also times when someone steps into a situation with a fresh set of eyes and points out something that the rest of us no longer see. The problem has become so much a part of our everyday routine that we’re blind to it. We walk right past the crisis so often that we fail to notice. That’s what Nehemiah does for the city leaders of Jerusalem (Neh 2:17-18). He says out loud what they’ve been ignoring. God’s glorious city is in a world of hurt. The walls are a pile of bricks. The gates are charcoal. He gives them the great news that they not only have the support of King Artaxerxes but the King of the Universe as well. With the blindfold off and hope back in the house, it’s time to get busy. 

Nehemiah makes his first ever visit to the capital of Judah. This all started about three months ago when he was pulling his regular shift as the Persian king’s cupbearer back in Susa (Neh 1:1, 11). His brother Hanani and some his boys were fresh back from a trip to Jerusalem with some bad news (Neh 1:2). Very bad news. The situation in the city is so awful that it’s become a punchline (Neh 1:3). The huge walls are flattened. The massive are charred. After most of several days praying, fasting, and crying, God moves child of Israel to do something (Neh 1:4-11). Before you can say Cabernet Sauvignon, King Artaxerxes wants to know what’s got his wine steward all upset (Neh 2:1-2). At this point, Nehemiah politely and boldly walks through the door that God opens and tells his boss about the crisis in Jerusalem (Neh 2:3-6). Artaxerxes asks him how long this project will take and what he will need (Neh 2:7). At this point, Nehemiah goes for it and asks the pagan dictator for all the necessary paperwork needed for the 1,000 mile trip and purchase order for lumber (Neh 2:8). After he finally gets to the city, he sees the situation firsthand. He needs to observe for himself exactly what he’s up against. He needs to check out exactly what God had called him to do. He takes a midnight ride to recon the damage (Neh 2:11-16). While I can’t be sure, I suspect it’s worse than he thought. For Pete’s sake, the destruction is so bad in some spots that he had to get off his mount and walk.

So after three days and midnight ride, Nehemiah finally meets with the local leaders of Jerusalem. “Then I said to them, ’You see the trouble we are in’” (v17). There’s trouble here in Zion City. Big trouble. The Hebrew word he uses here (Heb. ra’) means evil, affliction, wickedness, malignancy, and adversity. The city doesn’t just need a coat of paint and some fresh flowers. It’s WAY worse than that. “Jerusalem lies in the ruins with its gates burned” (v17). You might think that Nehemiah is playing the role of Captain Obvious here. But he reminds these local officials just how awful the problem really is. They’ve become blind and numb to the rubble all around them. Sometimes I need someone to step into my life and put fresh eyes on the situation. Sometimes I become blind to the problems in my life. To the sin in my life. There’s garbage in our lives that we see so often that we don’t even see it any more. We can become “sin blind.” We need someone to snap us out of it. We need someone to tell us to wake up and smell the coffee. We need fresh eyes. 

Nehemiah doesn’t just point out the problem. Too often that just makes things worse. But he doesn’t stop there. He offers hope. He offers a plan. “Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem” (v17). These folks had lost hope. And you can certainly understand why. After several fits and starts, Zerubabbel eventually rebuilt the temple (Ez 6:14-15). Ezra had returned with some of the best Bible teaching that folks had heard in years (Ez 7:6-10) and eventually leads Israelites to stop shacking up with their pagan girlfriends (Ez 10:10-17). But 13 years after Ezra’s return, the wall remains in rubble. Inertia had set in. People have lost hope. This is the way it’s going to be. God uses Nehemiah to bring hope back to God’s people. It’s time to do something about the walls. It’s time to rebuild them. Justin Timberlake is bringing sexy back. Nehemiah’s bringing hope back. 

Once the walls go up, the jokes will stop. He tells city leaders that a key reason to rebuild is so “that we may no longer suffer derision” (v17). This is the word cherpah. It describes disgrace, reproach, rebuke, and taunting. It’s the same word his brother Hanani drops when he tells brother about the city being in “trouble and shame (Heb. cherpah)” (Neh 1:3). God’s glorious city on a hill is nothing more than the butt of the joke. That stops the moment the walls go up. 

Nehemiah reminds city leaders that he didn’t simply roll into town with his own crazy dream of rebuilding the wall. He had cred. He had support. He had the backing of some real heavy hitters. First of all, he didn’t cook up this cockamamy idea after a bad pizza. This was God’s idea. He’s the One who’s behind the entire project. “And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good” (v18). Many super smart folks believe Ezra and Nehemiah to be a prequel and sequel written by the same author (probably Ezra). In these two books, we see this idea of God’s good hand on the events seven other times! (Ez 7:6, 9, 28; 8:18, 22, 31; Neh 2:18). Just in case they think he’s hearing voices and off his Hebrew rocker, Nehemiah lets them know that God’s fingerprints are all over this effort. The LORD has tapped Artaxerxes on the shoulder. He tells them “of the words that the king had spoken to me” (v18). Inspiration from the King of Kings. Affirmation from the king of Persia. Yeah, I think God has His kung fu grip on this whole joint. 

It’s at this point that local Jewish leaders could go either way. They could laugh in Nehemiah’s face and tell him to take a long run off a short pier. Or they could step up to the rather considerable challenge ahead of them. They chose Door Number Two. “‘Let us rise up and build.’ So they strengthened their hands for the good work” (v18). They were in. They were ALL in. Nehemiah knows that their response is not up to him. He simply delivers the news that God has placed on his heart. He speaks the truth to the situation. He opens their eyes to the destruction to which they’ve become blind. He reminds them that God hasn’t forgotten them and fully backs this massive effort. According to the Life Application Bible, leaders frequently underestimate people and fail to challenge them with the work that God has for them to do. Too often we shrink back and don’t present opportunities for people to really step out in faith in God’s goodness. It’s time to rise up. It’s time to rebuild. It’s time to go to work.