A Sorrowful Heart Satisfied

Nehemiah 2:1-10

Nehemiah Sent to Judah

1 And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. 2 Therefore the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.”

So I became dreadfully afraid, 3 and said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?”

4 Then the king said to me, “What do you request?”

So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”

6 Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), “How long will your journey be? And when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

7 Furthermore I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy.” And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.

9 Then I went to the governors in the region beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. 10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of it, they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel.

Nehemiah had his sorrowful heart satisfied when the king he attended observed his sadness and asked what was bothering him so much.  He told of his city and the house of Gods there in ruins as dishonoring to the LORD and how that made him filled with grief.  The king satisfied his request to go and lead the rebuilding in Judah and then return to his duties there in the royal house.  Then after giving the king his itinerary with an estimated time it would take, the king was pleased to send him.  Nehemiah knew the opposition he would face, so he asked for letters of safe transit and for supplies of wood to rebuild the house of God.  It was granted because the good hand of God was on Nehemiah to complete the work even in the face of opposition to the LORD and His people to worship Him there.  We also have sorrow in this world but find our heartfelt requests to honor Gods satisfied in His work for the house of God which we are, just as the apostle Paul (Acts 20:24, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, 7:5, 8:2, James 1:2) often wrote about.  As we go about our Father’s business of building His house (Ephesians 4:12-13), we find consolation as our sorrows turn (Psalm 126:5-6, John 16:20, 1 Peter 1:6) to joy!