What is My Calling? Brave Lessons from Nehemiah

Calling. Am I the only one who finds that word a bit, scary? Some people can throw it around as easily as smiling at a baby, “I’m just following my calling” or “I was born to do this”. While when I even think about making such remarks it feels so presumptuous, so pretentious.

How do I know what my calling is?  Am I brave enough to even ask that question?

First of all, I’ve never known what a calling looks like exactly. I’ve read about it in books. Read about people who were “called” to adopt or “called” to leave their job. It makes for a great story.  But for most of us, it seems like a bit of a moving target. Something we can’t quite put our finger on.

How are some people so confident in knowing what they are called to do while others seem to spin in circles and spend their lives just surviving? If it’s true that a calling might be a series of events or circumstances, how do I know which ones to add up? These circumstances, or those ones.

Because honestly, if I add up yesterday I get something that looks like homeschooling the kids who didn’t really want to learn, throwing in a load of laundry, cleaning up a Play Doh mess left by the two year old, throwing in a load of laundry, trying to make dinner with meat I forgot to thaw properly, throwing in a load of laundry, followed by hauling kids to soccer, back home and to bed.

Add those events together and I’m not seeing a calling.  I’m seeing a messy house and three loads of laundry that apparently never got dried, folded or properly put away. Ugh. And let me tell you, tomorrow’s schedule doesn’t look all that different.

My pastor spoke on Acts 9 last Sunday. The story where Saul is blinded on the road to Damascus. Now I’m sure that whole going blind experience wasn’t all that pleasant for Saul. But, with all due respect, God spoke to him. Audibly! I don’t think you walk away from that experience wondering what your calling might be.

Even Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter 6, saw the Lord and some angels when he said his famous, “Here am I! Send me” line. I’d like to think I’d be pretty eager to jump in the fray if the Lord appeared to me as well.

Moses? Burning bush.

Ezekiel? Major vision.

I love these stories. They’re awesome. These people are heroes of the faith. And yet, reading over their stories I’m left feeling like they kinda had it easy. Not their tasks, of course. Standing up against Pharaoh, prophesying to crowds who want to string you up, trying to preach to the people you were out to murder, just yesterday? No, these people did not have easy jobs, but the calling part seems a bit easier to understand.

But then there is Nehemiah. Thank God for the story of Nehemiah. A brave soul who had to figure out his calling a bit.

You see Nehemiah’s story is a little more relatable to me.  He was a guy who seems to have worked hard and was well liked.  And he was passionate about something – the fact that Jerusalem was still in ruins from the Babylonian invasion.

One day Nehemiah gets really fired up about this and takes it to God.  I love his prayer (Nehemiah 1:5-11).  His intensity is clear.  You get the feeling that he knew exactly what the author of Hebrews was talking about when he told us to “go boldly before the throne of grace“.  Nehemiah was all over it.

He is reverent, direct.  He confesses, he’s honest.  And he believes.  This prayer is nothing if not fervent.

Matthew Henry says Nehemiah prays “with a Holy confidence in His grace and truth.” I love that.  Holy confidence.  Yes, sir, sign me up for that.

So Nehemiah talks to God.  And next he talks to the king.  See, Nehemiah, he’s passionate about this mess in Jerusalem and the king can tell so he asks Nehemiah what’s up.

Did you catch that?  Nehemiah is in a conversation with the king.  The king asks why he is sad and what he wants to do about it and Nehemiah’s knee jerk reaction is to pray.

Now the Bible doesn’t say much about that prayer, so I’m going out on a limb here, but I think this may have been an “Oh God, help!” prayer.  Seriously.

The conversation didn’t end, it continues, it’s fluid.   And right in the middle of it Nehemiah gets asked a questions that he’s not sure how to answer, a questions he really wants to answer well.  Can you feel that tension?  Do you know that tension?

I can tell you from experience, in a situation like this, a whole lot of words start coming out of my mouth before a prayer does. I start fumbling around, choosing my words carefully, retracting and doubling back, all in my best used car salesman voice.  Have you been there?

But Nehemiah, the very first thing he does when he senses that tension, smack dab in the middle of an important conversation, is take a personal time out to talk to God. I want that reflex.  Oh, how I want that to be my reflex.

So how do we get there?  Here are a couple things that I think are true of Nehemiah.

1. He knows God.  He has put the time in.  Along with a boldness, there is a familiarity in Nehemiah’s conversation with God.  He is aware of who He is and knows, without a doubt, of His power.  This can only come from relationship.

2.  He was passionate.  Nehemiah cared deeply about Jerusalem and the Jewish people.  He wasn’t indifferent or desensitized.  He was hungry for information about what was going on in Jerusalem and the news that it was a mess further lit his fire.  This man was ready to act.

3. He was patient.  He prayed before he acted.  He talked to the king, even waiting for the king to ask, before bringing up what was burning inside of him.  Nehemiah knew the proper channels to go through and was patient and careful in securing the king’s favor.  I don’t know about you, but when I get excited I tend to spill out over everything.  I get convinced that if my idea is good then doing it right this minute is even better.  Nehemiah, as well as my own personal history, proves otherwise.

4.  He was a man of ideas and action.  There was no burning bush in this story.  He wasn’t swallowed and diverted by a whale or blinded as he was walking along the road.  Nehemiah was passionate about something and when he felt the timing was right he sought God for it and moved.

In chapter 2, verse 12 Nehemiah tells us “I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem”.  This verse gives us insight to this communication that Nehemiah has been having with his God.  He is a man of ideas and action because He has been working this out with God all along. His confidence comes directly from his communication with God.

 

5.  He was brave.  Crazy brave.  The next couple chapters of Nehemiah tell us about his plan.  About some haters who don’t believe in his calling, who laughed at him, despised him and later plot to kill him. But Nehemiah was unrelenting because he knew his calling.  He knew his God and was prepared for action.

But what does that look like for us?

Well, we can either hope for a burning bush or we can boldly take our passions before the throne of grace.  And here’s the thing, Moses wasn’t sitting around hoping for a burning bush either.  He was doing what he felt was the right thing to do at that time as well and God got his attention to move him otherwise.

That can happen and when it does, I suggest you listen up.  But when there is no burning bush in sight that doesn’t mean it’s time to take a nap.  Nehemiah, petitioned God for what was burning in his heart, what he was passionate about.  He had an idea and asked God to use him.

I fear that too many of us are taking a nap these days.  Becoming indifferent when God has a mind to use us right where we are at.  Busy moms?  He can specifically use you.  Damaged goods?  He can specifically use you.  Worn out and tired?  He can specifically use.  But only when you seek Him, know Him and are patient, yet ready for action.

That fires me up, friends!  I want to be Nehemiah when I grow up, don’t you?  Make time to read Nehemiah this week.  It’s a short book; it won’t take you long.  And I’d love to hear your take on it.