The transforming vision wasn’t what he saw with his eyes but what “God had put in [his] heart” (Neh 2:12).
News of Nehemiah’s formidable plans reached Jerusalem before he did. But it was not God’s people who seem to have heard first. “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” (Neh 2:10). Someone has to be distressed in this broken world— God’s people or God’s enemies. Horonaim, Sanballat’s hometown, was in Moab. Thus the two sons of Lot return to plague Israel, just as they did when the nation arrived at the border of Canaan. This was a portend of the external opposition Nehemiah would face. But first, what about the internal troubles? After three days recovering from the long journey, Nehemiah “arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem” (v 12). Before making any comments, he wanted a first-hand survey of the damage caused by years of sin and neglect. Appropriately, he rode out and then back through “the Valley Gate” (vv 13, 15), the lowest place in the city. The next morning, he spoke to the city leaders. “‘You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.’ And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me…” (vv 17-18). There were no snide comments about them getting used to living in the rubble, no harsh criticisms of past failure. He assumed they could see the problem. He included himself in their distress. He called for united action. And he encouraged them with a testimony of God’s faithfulness already displayed. Now the question: How would they respond?