Sufficient Testimony
I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me Nehemiah 2:18
Favorable – Nehemiah’s problem was not his vision. He knew what he was supposed to do. He was sent to rebuild Jerusalem. If you are clear about your vision from God, then you face the same problem that Nehemiah faced. Not the goal, but the means. Nehemiah came to ruined Jerusalem with letters of authority, legal permission and resources. But he lacked the labor to complete the task. No amount of stone, no land grant and no regal stamp of approval would get the job done unless men rose to follow. Without volunteers, his dream – and God’s intention – would never be fulfilled.
So, Nehemiah gave a recruitment speech. He testified to God’s favor on him. He said, “Don’t you see? All of this has happened only because God is behind it. How else can you explain the circumstances? Now, are you going to join me in completing God’s plan, or are you going to ignore God’s visible favor and pretend it doesn’t matter?” Nehemiah told a story about the only thing that mattered: what God had done! Nehemiah’s testimony was a personal account of God’s intervention in his life. That was enough. What God can do for one man, He can do for all men. Then they said, “Let us arise and build.”
God’s favor (in Hebrew tov) was the deciding factor. It’s great to have a wonderful restoration project. It’s fabulous to have authority and resources. But without God’s favor, it a “no go.” No matter what the venture, unless God is behind it, it’s a fruitless enterprise. And the leader who shows up without tov is not a leader worth following, no matter what he inspires us to do. What Nehemiah understood, we need to contemplate. There are many, many projects waiting for human hands and feet. And human beings are quite capable of accomplishing these projects under their own steam. In fact, we are all tempted to do exactly that: find something great and glorious and go to work on it. But in the end, great and glorious belongs only to One Person and anything accomplished without His favor is not just a little lower than angels, it is rubble and chaff.
Leadership today seems much less about God’s favor and much more about glorious visions. You might want to ask why that is the case. Are you following the man who can testify to God’s good on his life for God’s purposes? Are you working on projects that cannot be explained except by the hand of God?
