Let’s read two verses from this passage first: “I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem” (verse 12) ; ” The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work” (verse 16).
My brother, my sister, keeping silence while God is working in us and through us is avoiding delays and problems and that can even create confusion in the camp of the enemy as the time that the enemy wanted to use people against Nehemiah’s mission, they could no longer succeed. Many believers speak too much, too quickly, unveiling God’s plans before the right time, but also suffer quick aftermath when their plans fail. Can God change His mind when He wants to do something with us? Can God lead us to failure? The answer to both questions is: NO! So, why do we sometimes suffer failures? Let’s receive the Lord’s teaching through the experience of Nehemiah.
Nehemiah has a mission to accomplish, after praying and fasting for months and God gave him the favour of the king to help him. Now, he kept his mission a secret and surveyed the walls by moonlight to avoid unhealthy gossips about his arrival and to prevent enemies from being alerted to his plans. Only after planning carefully would he be ready to go public with his mission from God. My friend, when you seek God in secret for Him to do something in your life, keep that secret until the right time comes because a premature announcement could cause rivalry, gossips or jealousy from people around you in a way to distract you from your mission… and most of time, that is where failure comes from. You see, Nehemiah did not need a tedious planning of the sessions or stages of his mission; all he needed was one plan that was going to bring quick action. And it worked, because he arrived quietly in Jerusalem and spent several days carefully observing and assessing the damage of the walls he wanted to rebuild. The time he was acting secretly was was him to get information and carefully consider the situation… once ready, he presented a realistic strategy that people could follow to help carry out his mission while the enemies had nothing more than their mouth to speak. My friends, let’s learn from Nehemiah that it is important to observe and evaluate things in a secret communion with our Lord if we want to experience success in our undertakings both in our private lives and in the work we do for Christ … Stay blessed in Jesus’ name.