FAITH CAPSULE: Nehemiah feared God and was not self-centered.
Nehemiah 1
Indeed, life should not be only about self but considerate of the people around oneself.
God testified concerning David: “I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” (Acts 13:22)
One with the character after the heart of God is not with self-motives, that is, not self-centered, but rooted in the Fear of God.
One who keeps God before self is bound not to be self-centered.
Nehemiah demonstrated what it means not to be selfish and experience the lift of God over His life.
Nehemiah was an ordinary cupbearer to the king in the Persian palace.
He got to where he was because he was a captive.
One thing was clear about Nehemiah: he was concerned for the welfare of Jerusalem and its inhabitants at heart.
Nehemiah was a cupbearer who desired a better life for his brethren.
Nehemiah was not self-centered. Who are you? As a cupbearer, he wanted a change for others but not to be a liar or manipulator in the name of God. God saw the heart of Nehemiah, and He acknowledged him. God invested in the life of Nehemiah as a vessel to reconstruct the broken wall of Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 1:3-4 was the report that burdened Nehemiah, “And they said to me, ‘The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.’ So it was, when I heard these words that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.”
Nehemiah poured out his heart in prayer on behalf of his people and his homeland.
He asked for nothing for himself, but petitioned for his people to have a better life.
Nehemiah feared God.
The heart of Nehemiah was in line with what God looks for.
Who are you in the eyes of God, who is traveling over the earth, searching for a heart that lines up with His glory?
Jeremiah 17:9 confirms: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?”
God alone knows every heart, and He will not overlook both the good and evil of the heart.
All should not be of selfish motives.
All should center their hearts on all that will glorify God, and God will not limit such to excel for His glory.
Nehemiah was not self-centered but set himself for his people, and God deposited in him what it takes to bring glory to the name of God. Nehemiah, as a cupbearer, turned the issue of his nation around.
Life is not to be about self, but to the glory of God in all life endeavors.
Prayer for today: Ask to be enabled not to live life as a selfish one.