Skip to main content

Plan

                I  was cupbearer to the king.

 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, 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, but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” (Nehemiah 1:11b-2:3)

 

First, two historical notes: 1) The cupbearer was a trusted servant. After all, it was his duty to risk his life every time a bottle, glass, cup, or bowl was brought before the king. 2) Apparently, for much of history, servants of rulers were required to keep the rulers happy. Long faces could be punishable by death in some cases, so when Artaxerxes commented to Nehemiah about his sadness, Nehemiah had reason to be afraid. But beyond that, this was what he’d been praying for. Here it was! And if he screwed it up, the king might associate him with the request and reject anyone else’s appeal as well. Everything hung on what Nehemiah said next.

Nehemiah’s answer was shrewdly phrased as a question. If he’d said “I’m sad because the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins…” the king could have waved it off as an excuse. Instead, he asks a question that required the king to think. Why shouldn’t he be sad? The question put the king in a position to make a choice, which required at least a moment’s more consideration than a challenge (though it was actually a challenge.) It left the king feeling in charge.

I probably wouldn’t have handled the situation as well, but I suspect that Nehemiah did what I don’t do. He prepared. He knew his audience, and he may even have practiced his approach. That may have been part of his prayers. So when the king asked, Nehemiah knew what to say.

When it came to identifying what people Nehemiah needed to approach and win to his side, it was easy. He needed the king, a man who already liked and trusted him. For you to achieve your goals, to whom will you need to turn? How can you express your desires in a way that will provoke both thought and cooperation? Hint: one of the people is you/.  Will talking to the person whose help you need require a phone call or do you see them in the course of the day? Do you have the supplies you’ll need? Make a plan to get them.

If you do not plan and prepare to succeed you are planning and preparing to fail.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more