XIX.

NEHEMIAH.

NEHEMIAH, chap. vi., part of 9th ver.

"Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands."

So prayed Nehemiah, and the LORD answered his prayer. His hands were strengthened. Great was the work in which he was engaged, a work undertaken, not for his own profit, but for the glory of God, and he was prospered therein. The wall of Jerusalem was broken down, the gates thereof burned with fire, the enemies of the Jews triumphed, and God's people were distressed; and Nehemiah's heart was stirred to care for his brethren, to restore the temple, to rebuild the walls of the city. "His labour was not in vain in the LORD." Difficulties seemed but to call forth his energies; he pressed through them, he overcame them, he persevered unto the end. But the secret of his success is opened to us in our text,-"Now therefore,

O God, strengthen my hands." By faith, he looked and behold a door was opened in heaven." He had access to a throne of grace. He used the privilege, and found the blessing. Men knew not wherein his strength lay, and spoke perhaps of natural gifts, and of the favour of the king; but Nehemiah sought and found help of" One That is Mighty," he traced all to the "good hand of his God upon him," and gave glory to Him to whom it is due. May the example of this man of God be instructive to us, as we trace his character developed in his zeal for the LORD.

I. One special characteristic of Nehemiah, which gave a tone to all he did, was his sympathy. His was a tender heart; a heart that answered to the calls made on it by the woes of others. The tidings that came of the affliction of his brethren, effectually awoke him, aroused his best sympathies, and gave him no rest till he had "put his hand to the plough," and was himself engaged in efforts for their relief. No sooner did accounts reach him of his countrymen at a distance, whom probably he had never seen, and needed not, in the world's reckoning, ever to see, than he "sat down and wept,-mourned certain days,and fasted and prayed before

the God of heaven." The affections of a heart enlarged by the love of God at once adopted their cause as his, their interests as his. He waited on the LORD continually, that he might, under His guidance, learn how best to put forth his efforts in their behalf. Brethren, we believe that much of Nehemiah's usefulness, much of the influence he gained, and the improvement he wrought, is to be attributed to this. He felt for others, and with others, and they were conscious he did. It is not enough that aid is given by us, whether in money or in personal exertion. Sympathy, fellow-feeling, doubles the aid, and the lack of it mars the gift. Our LORD spake with full knowledge of the heart, when He bade His followers, by the apostle Paul, to "weep with those that weep, and to rejoice with those that rejoice." Alas, the icy coldness that gathers round us! we are not warm, because we warm not others. You think you have little to bestow,-nothing, because this world's wealth is not yours; there are treasures inexhaustible that you might lavish, and be richer in the giving. Love, sympathy, feeling,-ask the God of grace to shed abroad these in your heart by the Holy Ghost, and then to call them forth for others. The smile, the tear, that spring from

these will be as sunbeams imparting rainbow hues to gladden and tosoo the; they will "make the widow's heart to sing for joy." You, again think that you give much, for much is yours, hoard it not. But do you and you give sympathy? Is the stone rolled from the well of your heart? then only can you water others, then only will they be refreshed, then shall "the blessing of those that were ready to perish" come upon you; "you will condescend to men of low estate," you will "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." Thus did Nehemiah; his heart responded to the cry for help, he encouraged by his presence and kind words, the faint-hearted.' His words reached the hearts of others, for they came from his own heart in sympathy and love, they failed not of their aim.

II. But Nehemiah was also a man of courage. His was not that rashness which in ignorance of difficulties, rushes on heedless, and is cast down by disappointment. Calmly did his mind's eye view the obstacles in his path, but he quailed not before them. "Strong in the LORD, and in the power of His might," he pressed on, and found that which he had received on the warrant of God's word made

'Nehemiah ii, 18.

clear in his own experience, that "all things are possible to him that believeth." Jerusalem was a desolation, "Let us," saith he, "arise and build." The enemies of God opposed, misrepresented his attempt, sought to work on his fears, and to draw him to show mistrust. "Should such a man as I flee, and who is there that being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life?" Thus he rejected their attempts, and "stayed himself upon his God."... Those who had brought their brethren into bondage for debt, called for his rebuke; he weighs not consequences, but sets himself to reprove their sin. Those that had married strange wives, contrary to the law of God, stand in the way of the return of the people to JEHOVAH; firmly does he call on them to yield themselves unto the LORD, and to put away the evil from them. Oh for this courageous spirit wherewith to oppose each and all that "exalts itself against God." Would that we sought, not so much to calculate probabilities, to measure difficulties, as to know the LORD's will, and to do it. How many a great "stone" that, viewed at a distance, seems likely to resist all the efforts that might be brought to bear upon it, would be Nehemiah vi. 11.

1 1 Isaiah xxvi. 4; 2 Chron. xx. 20, etc.