It’s the year 426 BC and it’s a time of despondency and discouragement.
The story starts not with a call to a prophet or a builder, but someone who is some distance away – a thousand miles away – who hears the news.
And it’s not good news.
Nehemiah is not a priest, nor a prophet, nor a governor. He is ‘just’ a cupbearer to a foreign king, working for the ‘civil service’.
But when he hears the news, he knows 2 things:
- He needs to pray.
- He is in the right place.
What can we learn from his response for ourselves today?
