Nehemiah served in the palace of King Artaxerxes as cupbearer, a high position at a time when kings were afraid of being poisoned.
He is a man whose future is assured: yet, he leaves everything to serve God.
Nehemiah’s vocation comes from:
His great trust in God’s promises.
An understanding of history which only a believer can have: Jews need not blame anyone else for their difficult situation. Their own sins are the cause of their misfortunes. They must not expect their national restoration to come from the kindness of more powerful countries, but from their own conversion.
Nehemiah is an example of all those who are able to recognize the voice of the Lord through events and who do not wait for a special call to get to work. There is no doubt that every Christian, trusting in God, is called to discover and achieve what God expects for the salvation of the world, just as Nehemiah did.
NOTE: excerpted from the introductory material for this book.
