The Truth and Validity of Romans 8:28 Exemplified With Nehemiah
When you read Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” How do you understand the way it applies to your relationship with Jesus? How does the way you understand this verse compare with the lives of those who loved God that you read about in Scripture?
When answering these questions, it requires us to intently look at our relationship with Jesus, the past events of our lives, and our knowledge of the Word of God.
The last two weeks we have been looking at the life of Nehemiah and how it relates to Romans 8:28. We saw in chapter 1 Nehemiah’s deep concern for, “the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.” Nehemiah 1:2. We saw how his concern was expressed in his prayer for them in verses 5 to 11b. And finally, we see his faith in God to answer his prayer in verse 11b, “Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”, “this man” referring to King Artaxerxes.
Nehemiah 2:1-4
2 In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before; 2 so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” I was very much afraid, 3 but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” 4 The king said to me, “What is it you want?”
What we read in 1:11b was, that Nehemiah expected to receive the answer to his prayer immediately. “Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.” Four months after Nehemiah prayed, he finally received the answer to his prayer, verses 2:1-8. Why did he have to wait so long for the answer to his prayer of chapter 1? Nehemiah does not tell us what transpired during those months. He does not say if God spoke to him or how he continued to pray to God.
Jesus also teaches us to continue to pray in the parable of Luke 18:1-8, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” Also, Hebrews 6:12 tells us something we all need to learn concerning waiting for God to answer our prayers. “…imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” Simply meaning it is by our faith and patience, waiting and trusting God to answer our prayers we will receive what is promised to us in His Word and or what we have been asking Him for in accordance to His will and purposes.
Another important point we all need to understand and learn in our relationship with Jesus is that, even though God gives us an issue for us to pray aboutwhich causes interest and or concern, it does not mean that we are ready to receive and or be part of the answer. There might be some issues that God needs to work on and perfect in our spiritual lives before we are ready to receive the answer and be used by Him as with Nehemiah.
The commentator Warren Wiersbe says the following. “We must know not only how to weep and pray, but also how to wait and pray.” When you wait on the Lord in prayer, you are not wasting your time; you are investing it. God is preparing both you and your circumstances so that His purposes will be accomplished. However, when the right time arrives for us to act by faith, we dare not delay.
Having the faith to ask God in prayer for something is the first important step. Then to patiently wait for the answer is the next important point. However,when the time comes for us to receive the answer to our prayer, do we have the faith and confidence in God to act to receive it?
After the king asked Nehemiah the first of the three questions, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill?” (ver. 2a), we read in verse 2c, Nehemiah’s first thought was openly speaking about himself, “I was very much afraid…”. This shows us his transparency and honesty about himself. Even though the king answered his own question, Nehemiah out of fear very easily could have given a different answer than he did.
Nehemiah’s continuous faith and trust in God to answer his prayer allowed him to be ready when the opportunity with the king finally came to be able to act and do his part. If Nehemiah did not have faith in God to trust him, he would not have been ready to answer the king’s question with confidence as we read in verse 3. “…but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
Nehemiah’s answer to the second question the king asked gave him the opportunity to say what God had prepared him to say during the four months of praying and waiting. 4 The king said to me, “What is it you want?”
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.”
Many of us can identify with what Nehemiah said in verse 4b, “Then I prayed to the God of heaven…”, some call this “telegraph prayers” others call this “spontaneous prayer,” “meaning that it is a prayer (usually short) spoken to one self, on the spot in a particular situation.” Whatever we might call this kind of prayer in this situation, we must take into account, “that these “emergency prayers” were backed up by four months of fasting and praying.” This sincere and quick prayer of Nehemiah is a clear indication of the confidence in God that Nehemiah had. It indicated a total reliance and trust of God for what he was going to reply to the King.
In verse 5 we see Nehemiah very confidently tells the King what he wants. “5 and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.”
Then when he was asked the third question in verse 6, “Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.” he gave the king and the queen the answer to their question and received the answer which was the fruit to his months of praying.
Ephesians 3:20 NLT
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us (prayer), to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
It is important to always pray with faith trusting God for the answers to our prayers. However, if we are praying with the confidence that God is going to answer our prayers according to His will, we need to act in faith and seek God’s guidance and wisdom to know what we need to say and or do when our prayer is answered. In other words, do we know God’s will and what He wants us to do to carry it out? This is what we read Nehemiah doing in verses 7 and 8, he had a plan, he knew what was going to be needed to accomplish God’s will which was placed in his heart months before. “7 I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? 8 And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?” And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests.”
When we read Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” We now can see as in Nehemiah’s situation what are some of the things that are involved to experience the truth of this verse.
Pastor John
