In the past couple of weeks, we have looked at what got Nehemiah started on a pretty
amazing journey that would change and then redefine an already significant life. You see –
Nehemiah, when we meet him in 445 B.C., had already been living a productive life. He had
ascended to the trusted role as the Cupbearer for the powerful Persian king Artaxerxes. This
position was very important, as secretly poisoning food or drink was a common way of
assassinating influential leaders. As perhaps the most trusted aide in the king’s court, Nehemiah
was in charge of making sure that everything that the king ate or drank would not be harmful. Of
course, this seems like a very hazardous position for obvious reasons. Nehemiah may have done
the ‘tasting’ himself, or he may have been in charge of a stable of men who would have done the
actual ‘taste testing’.
Whatever the case, we can’t underestimate the high level of trust that the King would have
placed in Nehemiah. Here Nehemiah, a Jew, was able to move into the Persian government. Like
his predecessor Daniel, he was able to exert, and earn, great influence with national and kingdom
leaders (the Medo-Persian empire would reign as the world’s dominant force from 550 until 330
B.C.). It is obvious that for Nehemiah to get to this position, he would have had to serve the King
with great distinction.
We saw a couple of weeks ago Nehemiah’s initial response of mourning and grief when he
learned of the broken down condition of the old city of Jerusalem since the exile of the Jews
from the southern kingdom to Babylon some 150 years earlier. A faithful follower of Jehovah
God, Nehemiah knew of the importance of the great city to the spiritual well-being of the people
of Judah. He also knew how his fellow Jews had faltered spiritually without this cornerstone city.
He wanted to see that the city would be re-established, and that Jews would return there to live.
This obstacle of a broken down Jerusalem, which Jehovah God would use to birth a vision in
Nehemiah, had become a burden for him.
Nehemiah’s burden for the city of Jerusalem and his people continued to grow until it became
what seemed like an obsession for him. His prayers to God took on an even greater sense of
desperation….. Then I said, “O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his
covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, listen to my prayer!
Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have
sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! We have sinned terribly by not
obeying the commands, laws, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.
Nehemiah 1:5–7 (NLT)
Real Passion is a concept that can be difficult for us to grasp nowadays. For example,
passion is a word that is thrown around a lot in commercials and advertisements for things like
automobiles, cosmetics, your preferred television programs, etc. The word itself has become
cheapened significantly.
However, in the world of Christianity, God (appropriately so) encourages us to find our
Kingdom passion and to live in to it. Our passion is to drive us—motivate us—in discovering His
plan for our lives. I buy in to all of that part of it, for sure. How can we define passion? Turning
to the American Heritage Dictionary again, we find this definition:
A powerful emotion, such as love, joy, hatred, or anger…. Ardent love…..Boundless enthusiasm
Nehemiah’s prayer reveals strong emotion, great love for his homeland and his people, a
boundless enthusiasm, and a willingness to make happen what he was praying about. His burden
had clearly become a passion.
How do we know when that movement from burden to passion has taken place in us? It will look
different for different people, based on their personality, temperament, level of initiative, etc. A
general rule of thumb says: A burden becomes a passion when a) you just can’t shake it, and b)
you become consumed with the idea of doing something about it.” Also remember – the word
Passion has its root in the idea of sacrifice, i.e. I care so much about this issue or cause that I am
willing to sacrifice for it. (Remember The Passion of the Christ?)
Nehemiah prayed and fasted for days and days—we don’t know how long. He just couldn’t
shake it. What he had learned about the state of Jerusalem tore him apart. He went a step further.
He was ready to do something about it. He realized that the sins of his ancestors had caused the
city to be sieged and the ancestors to be uprooted. God was just in allowing the Babylonians to
take over Judah, just as He had been just in allowing the Assyrians to take the Northern
Kingdom, Israel in 722 B.C.. So Nehemiah went right to the heart of the issue: In his prayer, he
asked God to allow him to take the responsibility of the sins of his people (v. 6–7). In his heart,
Nehemiah was willing to go and do something about it.
Passion has arrived when we care so much about something big and impactful, and that will
impact the Kingdom of God with eternal purposes (see this past weekend’s message on 1
Corinthians 3 and how ‘…Our behavior in the life determines HOW we spend eternity….’), that
we actually go out and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
I hope and pray that your life is full of passion – passion that will lead to earthly behaviors that
amount to gold, silver and precious jewels!
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