Is the glass half full? Serving God realistically

I hope you have found time to read the second chapter of Nehemiah. We are looking this week at pessimism, optimism, and that "happy medium" that my grandma always talked about. The spot right in the middle, where we are looking realistically at what God would have us to do.

Chapter two begins with a note about timing.

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, 2 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, 3 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?”4 The king said to me, “What is it you want?”Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.” (Nehemiah 2:1-5)

The scholars tell us that this means four months had gone by since Nehemiah heard the report from Hanani. Four months had elapsed since he heard about the situation in Jerusalem; he'd not had an opportunity, or the time had not "been right" to speak to the king. During that time, Nehemiah had been so burdened by this news that he had wept, mourned, fasted, and prayed for God to do something about the grievous situation.

We might wonder why he waited four months. But four months was a pretty short wait, compared to other men in the Bible whom God used.  Abraham waited more than twenty-five years for God to give him his son, Isaac. Joseph spent time as a slave, and then in prison, too, before being elevated to a position where he could save his family by moving them to Egypt. The children of Israel were enslaved for four hundred years before the exodus. Moses spent forty years in the desert before God used him to bring His people out of Egypt. Remember how David spent his youthful years running from Saul? And Paul spent three years alone in Arabia, learning and waiting before God would use him.
Long story short, if we want to be used of God, sometimes we must learn to wait.
Waiting is hard!
Life is too short! Let's get going! As grandma said, "Time's a-wasting!"
But sometimes in His wisdom, God puts us on hold.
What do we do while we wait? Let's "ask" Nehemiah . . .
While waiting, he prayed. I guess y'all think I'm really pounding on this concept this week, but you know what? IT'S IMPORTANT!! (Grin)
The prayer in chapter 1 was not a one shot deal for Nehemiah. It appears to be a summary of what he prayed over and over again during those four months of mourning and concern for God's glory and for His people. In the book bearing his name, Nehemiah is shown praying eleven times in thirteen chapters!
Many of these prayers are extremely short, like the one in verse four above. They have one important thing in common: they reflect the fact that in any (and every) situation, Nehemiah looked to God in prayer. He depended on God and is an awesome example for us of a man who did this:

pray continually, (I Thessalonians 5:17, NIV)pray all the time (MSG)Pray without ceasing. (KJV)

The Greek word translated "without ceasing" in the KJV doesn't mean without any break. That's just not possible. That Greek word can be used for a hacking cough that won't stop, and also can be used to describe repeated military assaults. (Caro, correct me if I'm wrong here, OK?) It means this: prayer should be something that we return to; something that we do again and again until we obtain an answer.
In our focus passage, the king notices that Nehemiah looks sad in his presence. That in and of itself was a breach of etiquette! Kings prefer to be surrounded by happy people, and this could have cost Nehemiah his job, or even his life! With those penalties in mind, I don't think that Nehemiah staged this, or looked sad on purpose. It seems more likely that he inadvertently allowed his sorrow to show on his face. After all, the verse says he was afraid when the king noticed. Just like us, in our Christian lives, we pray for something and hope, but when the opportunity comes, we are sometimes surprised, and sometimes apprehensive!

This had to be a silent, instantaneous cry of "Help me, Lord!" don't you think?
Or, "Give me your wisdom now!"
It was based on those four months of praying. And we see that Nehemiah knew it -- he didn't attribute the king's response to good luck:

And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me. (v8b)

I truly believe that Nehemiah knew and remembered this:

In the Lord’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water    that he channels toward all who please him. (Proverbs 21:1)

One reason why God makes us wait on Him is to teach us this concept: to teach us to depend on Him in prayer. If He immediately granted everything that we ask for, like a kind-hearted neighbor filling our trick or treat sack, we would grab those goodies and run -- and forget God.
But when we wait on God in prayer, we learn to seek God Himself and to depend on Him. When the answer finally comes, we realize it is because of one reason . . . the good hand of our God was upon us.
And we give Him all the glory that He deserves!
That's the first step toward looking at the situation realistically, and serving Him well.
We'll look at step two tomorrow!