Character is Everything

Nehemiah is cup-bearer to the king. He was master of the table, in charge of all the beverages in particular that were served the royal party. He had to be a trustworthy person and was sometimes required to be an official taster in order to either prove his loyalty or to be the "canary in the coal mine" to ensure that all was on the up-and-up. He was a person who had to be trusted by the king to have his best interests at heart. In some ways he was like a secret service agent, always setting the king's safety as his highest priority instead of his own. As a foreigner there must have been something special that allowed the king to choose Nehemiah for this important position. His job would bring him into close contact with the king, the royal family, and those who were entertained by the king. He would necessarily be a man who was able to move about in such society.

Nehemiah prayed and then he waited for the right time to bring up the subject of his native land to the king. It is hard to tell if he intended to do so on the day in question in Nehemiah 2 or whether his thoughts were simply preoccupied with his concerns for Jerusalem and his face betrayed him, but the king noticed his sadness. It was not a good thing to be sad in front of the king, he was God's representative on earth and, after all, how could anyone be sad in the presence of the king? Nehemiah, however, was primarily concerned with Jerusalem and his face showed it. He was right to be afraid and his response was quick and right, "Long live the king!" Once his loyalty is established he can be honest for a minute about his concerns.

In the midst of his conversation there are eight important words, "So I prayed to the God of heaven." He wasn't alone in this conversation, God was there also. He was in over his head, he hadn't prepared for this but God threw it into his lap and he dove in head first but he brought God with him. He took the risk of using his position of trust to ask the king for a favor. Because he had served well and loyally, the king hears him out and his first question tells us much about their relationship, "How long will you be gone, and when will you return?"How sweet those words must have been to Nehemiah!

Nehemiah had proven himself to the king to be trustworthy and loyal. He had never been sad in the king's presence and he had never asked anything for himself. The first thing we must do in positions of worldly responsibility is the same, we must prove ourselves to be trustworthy and true. As Christians we should distinguish ourselves with respect to morality, ethics and virtue in the eyes of the world, we are to be above the reproach of the world. We must be the kind of people others know to be different and we must do so out of an ethic of service that reveals a higher call on our lives so that if we ever need to ask, the world knows what kind of people we are, even if they don't particularly care about our agenda, they will invest in us.