A Look Into Nehemiah : Part Two
My greatest desire in this life is to be a good and faithful servant of Jesus Christ. I think it’s safe to say that for the born-again believer, he or she should have some sort of an ache in their heart and a motivation in their soul to someday hear Jesus’s words in Matthew 25:21, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Not Just in Full-Time Ministry
Currently, I am in a completely new season of life where I often have days where I don’t feel like a “good and faithful servant.” Maybe you can relate to this. My husband and I recently followed God’s calling for our lives and moved to Costa Rica, leaving behind Cities Church, family and friends, and a job in ministry I absolutely adored.
When I worked in ministry full-time, it was a lot easier for me to wake up every morning feeling productive for the Lord because I was spending my days sharing the gospel with unbelievers, teaching Bible study and discipling women who had experienced trauma. Every day felt like it carried Kingdom-building purpose and a very real and tangible opportunity to be a good and faithful servant.
The stark shift from me working full-time in ministry to now me praying that some sort of ministry happens during my day (LOL), has left me often feeling as if I am not doing much of anything for God’s kingdom. Of course these feelings of failure are tied to a false identity I still struggle with, believing it’s the things I do for God that earn me favor with Him instead of resting in His grace that’s been given to me based on nothing I have done or will do. I have to remind myself often that God loves me (and you) the same whether I am working in full-time ministry or not.
Help from Nehemiah
A couple months ago I wrote part one of four reflections on the book of Nehemiah (you can refer back here for the book’s context and why I chose to write about it). Thankfully, God doesn’t leave us hanging wondering what a good and faithful servant looks like. We see examples all over Scripture, including Nehemiah, who wasn’t holding down a full-time ministry job but was working for the secular government.
I think sometimes it’s easy to feel far removed from the “great heroes of Scripture.” We can think it’s impossible for us to be the kind of believer Jesus would call a good and faithful servant. Moses? Of course, the guy parted the Red Sea. Kassie? I can barely part my hair! But when Jesus tells the parable in Matthew 25, he tells it to encourage His listeners (everyday folks like you and me), to pursue hearing such a sweet declaration from his/her Master because it’s doable.
Delighting in God Above All Else
My goal for this second post is to focus on the nugget I read in Nehehmiah 1:11 where Nehemiah prays,
“O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”
The word “delight” in that verse absolutely struck me. It should be jarring to hear the word “delight” with “fear” as those are not commonly two words we see together. I want to be like the servants Nehemiah prays for. If when I die people remember me and think “that Kassie lady was someone who delighted to fear God’s name.” My life will have not been wasted.
Think about it. God could have easily left the word “delight” out of that verse and it still be powerful. It’s significant that God didn’t just have Nehemiah pray, “your servants who fear your name.” There is a difference, you see, between simply fearing God and delighting to fear God —the former does it out of a sense of dutiful obligation to God while the latter does it out of a sense of joy and love for God.
So, what does it look like to delight in fearing God’s name? Well, I think it looks a whole lot like being a good and faithful servant. I am emphasizing “delight” in God because John Piper hasn’t done it enough (just kidding), but really, because I think it’s the foundation for what makes a good and faithful servant. You can’t be a good and faithful servant and not delight in God. It’s impossible. A good and faithful servant isn’t just obedient to God for fear of punishment from Him, but he/she delights in being obedient to the Master they love and adore. And it’s delight in God from which all of our God-glorifying heart postures and good works spring. Delight comes first.
Is There More?
The below list is not exhaustive by any means (look these verses up in your own time as a Bible study), but these are all heart conditions or faith-filled actions we see from the person of Nehemiah, and I think, are attributes of a good and faithful servant:
Delights in God (1:11, 8:10, 8:17, 12:27)
Loves God’s people (1:4, 2:5)
Prays often (1:4-11, 2:4, 4:4, 4:9, 5:19, 6:9, 6:14, 13:14, 13:22, 13:31)
Repents of sin (1:6-7, chapters 8-9)
Believe’s God is faithful (2:20)
Fights sin (6:13)
Obeys God’s commands/will (2:12, 7:5)
Loves the poor/is angry at injustice (5:1-19)
Trust’s God and believes His promises (1:8-11, 4:14, 5:9 and 5:15)
Is bold in the face of the world/danger (2:1-10, 2:19-20, 4:19-23, 6:16-7:3)
Holds to God’s sovereignty/that He is the giver of all things (2:8)
Encourages brothers/sisters to faith in God (2:17-18, 4:13-14, 4:20)
Sacrifices his/her own comfort for others (5:14-19)
Obeys the Word (5:9, chapters 8-9, 12:45-47, 13:30-31)
Exhorts others with the Word (8:9-10)
Hates evil (4:4-5, 13:6-31)
Always Growing
I don’t know about you, but when I look at this list, it’s easy to suddenly feel like I have a lot of work to do. But when we feel this way, we must remind ourselves that every Christian is in a different place in their walk, that sanctification is progressive and won’t be complete in this life, that we don’t do these things as a means of earning God’s salvation or favor, and most importantly, doing all of these things is absolutely impossible without the Holy Spirit. He leads us. We simply respond in faith and walk out the good works He has already planned for us (Eph. 2:10). God is the One who makes us good and faithful servants.
Nehemiah wasn’t even close to perfect, but he was faithful in following God’s calling wherever it took him. But I find it helpful to look at this list and see areas where, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I can grow. Where can you grow?
So even though I am no longer receiving a paycheck to work in full-time ministry, I can still be a good and faithful servant here in Costa Rica. It will just look different. Right now for me, delighting to fear God’s name may look like being faithful in going for long prayer walks on the beach, singing along to worship music while I’m sweeping my condo for the upmteenth time that day, giving my neighbors rides into town for groceries, writing a blog for my sisters back in Minnesota, teaching English to the locals or inviting a neighbor over for dinner. What does it look like for you?
We simply need to do the best we can in being faithful to God in whatever circumstances He places us. That’s being a good and faithful servant. And we must always worship, love, and rest in Jesus, giving him thanks. He is the One who began a good work in us and will bring it to completion at His return (Philippians 1:6) — because He is the ultimate Good and Faithful Servant.