Feeling Overwhelmed?
Nehemiah 2:9-20
Tuesdays are often rough for me. Mostly because I have to get up at around 5:15 am to be at Elder prayer. I know you might wish you had a pastor who is always up at 5 to pray, but you don’t . Sorry. Another reason I believe Tuesdays are hard is because they are begun with the heaviness of the prayer needs of the church body. I know you might wish that you had a pastor who is always full of smiles and mirth, who doesn’t get ‘down’ because of the burdens of spiritual warfare, but you don’t. Sorry. Tuesdays are rough as well because they often feel relentless in their pace. We pray for the church from 6 to 7, the pastors meet from 7 to 9, the staff meets from 9 to 10 or so, then I meet with individual pastors and staff from 10 till lunch. Now, when I say ‘rough’ what I mean is really ‘overwhelming’. There is just so much to do, so many people who need to be met, ministries that need planning, crises that need resolving, books that need studying, sermons that need preparing, emails that need corresponding, mail that needs shuffling. (Not necessarily in that order.) You might say, “Erik, dude, you need to reschedule some of those things!” But, that’s not the point.
I read of the account of Nehemiah’s night journey to inspect the walls of Jerusalem and wonder what it was like for him to stand at the rubble and consider the task that God had laid before him. It had to be overwhelming. I’m sure he must have said with the Apostle, ‘who is sufficient for such things?’ (2 Cor. 2:16) He was to lead the exiles out of Babylon, he was to rebuild the wall, establish worship, and fight the enemies both without and within the camp. He was called to be a politician, prophet, pastor, teacher, general, builder, reformer, and man of God. What an overwhelming prospect.
Life is overwhelming. Ministry is overwhelming. God’s purpose and calling upon us is overwhelming. I take a few lessons from Nehemiah 1-2 as I consider the overwhelming nature of ministry and life in general.
First, we find that it is impossible to face the struggles of life in our power. The calling, the equipping, and the doing of it must come straight from the sovereign of the universe. Nehemiah tells us in 2:12, “And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem”. God put this overwhelming calling before Nehemiah. Nehemiah wasn’t contriving these things. It wasn’t his pet agenda. It wasn’t his own ‘vision’. All this was by the word of God through the prophet. All this was by the design of God. And God led Nehemiah in the dead of night to see that this was a God sized task. I think of one of my favorite verses from the letters of Paul, “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me” (Colossians 1:29). Paul places the work of ministry soundly in the hands of our all powerful and gracious God, yet he doesn’t remove the means by which God accomplishes this work, namely, us.
Second, note where it is that Nehemiah goes when he is faced with the devastation of Jerusalem and the trouble that faces God’s people. In Neh. 1:4 we find Nehemiah weeping, mourning, fasting, and praying. God thunders in His grace and power in such places. If you think God’s right arm flexes in your comfort, then you are one who needs desperately the story of Ezra and Nehemiah. God works wonders through these men, not primarily in their building and working, but in their prayer and fasting. I believe that I will not know the goodness and grace of God without the daily reality of the overwhelming nature of ministry driving me to my knees. God overwhelms me so that I might run to the words of Jesus, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). If you are not overwhelmed in ministry and in the calling and demands of God upon your life, then perhaps you are not in a good place. It is a hard lesson, but still wonderful and glorious, to learn ‘affliction without being crushed, confusion without despair, persecution without being forsaken, being struck down but not destroyed’. Great men and women of God do not accomplish great things without these lessons.
Lastly, we see the response of Nehemiah after his night journey to Jerusalem. He is resolute in his proclamation of God’s purpose for his people, “Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision” (2:17). Nehemiah rallies the people behind God’s cause, and he faces down the naysayers with the truth of God’s promise, “the God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you will have no right or portion in Jerusalem.” He is steadfast in the cause that God has placed before him and unwavering in his fight against those who oppose it.
Learn these three things from Nehemiah 1-2:
Be overwhelmed by the call of God through the gospel and know that it is a work of grace or nothing at all!
Fall on your knees and beg for the Lord’s help and power if you are to accomplish anything of value for the kingdom!
Rise up, anoint your face with oil and be glad! God is for us, who can be against us?
Tuesday is looking better already.
Tuesdays are often rough for me. Mostly because I have to get up at around 5:15 am to be at Elder prayer. I know you might wish you had a pastor who is always up at 5 to pray, but you don’t . Sorry. Another reason I believe Tuesdays are hard is because they are begun with the heaviness of the prayer needs of the church body. I know you might wish that you had a pastor who is always full of smiles and mirth, who doesn’t get ‘down’ because of the burdens of spiritual warfare, but you don’t. Sorry. Tuesdays are rough as well because they often feel relentless in their pace. We pray for the church from 6 to 7, the pastors meet from 7 to 9, the staff meets from 9 to 10 or so, then I meet with individual pastors and staff from 10 till lunch. Now, when I say ‘rough’ what I mean is really ‘overwhelming’. There is just so much to do, so many people who need to be met, ministries that need planning, crises that need resolving, books that need studying, sermons that need preparing, emails that need corresponding, mail that needs shuffling. (Not necessarily in that order.) You might say, “Erik, dude, you need to reschedule some of those things!” But, that’s not the point.
I read of the account of Nehemiah’s night journey to inspect the walls of Jerusalem and wonder what it was like for him to stand at the rubble and consider the task that God had laid before him. It had to be overwhelming. I’m sure he must have said with the Apostle, ‘who is sufficient for such things?’ (2 Cor. 2:16) He was to lead the exiles out of Babylon, he was to rebuild the wall, establish worship, and fight the enemies both without and within the camp. He was called to be a politician, prophet, pastor, teacher, general, builder, reformer, and man of God. What an overwhelming prospect.
Life is overwhelming. Ministry is overwhelming. God’s purpose and calling upon us is overwhelming. I take a few lessons from Nehemiah 1-2 as I consider the overwhelming nature of ministry and life in general.
First, we find that it is impossible to face the struggles of life in our power. The calling, the equipping, and the doing of it must come straight from the sovereign of the universe. Nehemiah tells us in 2:12, “And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem”. God put this overwhelming calling before Nehemiah. Nehemiah wasn’t contriving these things. It wasn’t his pet agenda. It wasn’t his own ‘vision’. All this was by the word of God through the prophet. All this was by the design of God. And God led Nehemiah in the dead of night to see that this was a God sized task. I think of one of my favorite verses from the letters of Paul, “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me” (Colossians 1:29). Paul places the work of ministry soundly in the hands of our all powerful and gracious God, yet he doesn’t remove the means by which God accomplishes this work, namely, us.
Second, note where it is that Nehemiah goes when he is faced with the devastation of Jerusalem and the trouble that faces God’s people. In Neh. 1:4 we find Nehemiah weeping, mourning, fasting, and praying. God thunders in His grace and power in such places. If you think God’s right arm flexes in your comfort, then you are one who needs desperately the story of Ezra and Nehemiah. God works wonders through these men, not primarily in their building and working, but in their prayer and fasting. I believe that I will not know the goodness and grace of God without the daily reality of the overwhelming nature of ministry driving me to my knees. God overwhelms me so that I might run to the words of Jesus, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). If you are not overwhelmed in ministry and in the calling and demands of God upon your life, then perhaps you are not in a good place. It is a hard lesson, but still wonderful and glorious, to learn ‘affliction without being crushed, confusion without despair, persecution without being forsaken, being struck down but not destroyed’. Great men and women of God do not accomplish great things without these lessons.
Lastly, we see the response of Nehemiah after his night journey to Jerusalem. He is resolute in his proclamation of God’s purpose for his people, “Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision” (2:17). Nehemiah rallies the people behind God’s cause, and he faces down the naysayers with the truth of God’s promise, “the God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you will have no right or portion in Jerusalem.” He is steadfast in the cause that God has placed before him and unwavering in his fight against those who oppose it.
Learn these three things from Nehemiah 1-2:
Be overwhelmed by the call of God through the gospel and know that it is a work of grace or nothing at all!
Fall on your knees and beg for the Lord’s help and power if you are to accomplish anything of value for the kingdom!
Rise up, anoint your face with oil and be glad! God is for us, who can be against us?
Tuesday is looking better already.
Labels: Nehemiah
posted by Pastor Erik at
1:38 PM
1 Comments:
Thanks for this Word Erik. I called three people to day and said, "I am so overwhelmed"! I was looking at the fall schedule and feeling ever one wants a piece of me and there just is not enough time in the day..and just praying for some encourgement and direction...I just love when God answers prayers so quickly and encourages me. This did. Thanks Krista Bump
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