Asking for What the Mission Requires
Nehemiah 2:7-8a; Philippians 4:19
I’ve had the opportunity to travel to Indonesia a few times over the last 15 years. The people are wonderfully gracious, the landscape is beautiful, and the food is delicious. But one of the things that I loved so deeply about my visits there was the sense of community that comes from living in close quarters. In most of the small villages on the island where I visited, there aren’t subdivisions with garages and half-acre plots. No, within that half-acre, you might find 8–10 families living in small bamboo homes in pretty close proximity. Part of what this brings is an intense sense of togetherness and a constant posture of teamwork.
When I compare this against how we tend to live in America, the contrast is significant. We worship our ability to take care of ourselves and see it as weakness to ask someone else for help. This creates two problems. First, when we worship our ability to take care of ourselves, money can quite easily become our god, because money does a lot of heavy lifting in the venture to provide for self. Secondly, our inability to ask for help destroys community and teamwork, because we actually enjoy helping one another and build bonds when we do.
And so, as Americans, we might find it a bit surprising that Nehemiah is so bold to ask the king for what he needs! I mean, the king had already given him permission to go back, now Nehemiah is asking for more?! The nerve of this guy!
And he doesn’t bring some sheepish, general, “um, if you could please help, anything you can offer would be great” kind of request. He has thought carefully about what the mission will require, and then he asks for it clearly.
And the king says yes.
But notice how Nehemiah interprets what happened. He knows that the king and everything he owns belongs to God. Who provided the timber? Asaph did. Who authorized it? The king did. But who does Nehemiah say provided for the mission? God did.
Nehemiah understood something we can easily forget: God owns everything. In this case, God used a pagan king. Artaxerxes was not part of the covenant people of God. He had not suddenly caught Nehemiah’s vision for rebuilding Jerusalem because he wanted to advance the kingdom of God. And yet God moved through this king to provide permission, protection, and resources for the work He had called Nehemiah to do. The resources were in the king’s hands, but they belonged to God.
Psalm 24 tells us that “the earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” Everything already belongs to Him. Every dollar. Every building. Every piece of property. Every skill. Every connection. Every hour. Every opportunity. Every resource that might be necessary to accomplish the mission of God already belongs to God.
The question is not whether God has enough. The question is whether we are willing to ask Him for what the mission requires—and whether we are willing to let Him use us to provide it. That second question may be the more uncomfortable one. If God was willing to use a pagan king to provide timber for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, how much more should the people of God be willing to place what He has entrusted to us at His disposal?
Maybe one of the reasons we struggle to ask is that asking forces all of us to confront the illusion of ownership. When I ask you to help carry something God has called us to do, I am acknowledging that I cannot do it alone. And when you respond with generosity, you are acknowledging that what you possess was never ultimately yours to begin with. That is how the kingdom works. God gives the mission, owns the resources, and places those resources into the hands of people. And then God moves His people to release what He has entrusted to them for the sake of His purposes.
So as we pray and fast, we should not be embarrassed to ask God for big things. We should ask for the people we need. Ask for the leaders we need. Ask for the opportunities we need. Ask for the buildings, finances, creativity, courage, and relationships we need.
We should ask boldly and expectantly for whatever the mission requires. And then we should hold everything God has already placed in our own hands with open hands. Because sometimes you are Nehemiah, asking God to provide. And sometimes you are the person God intends to use to answer the prayer.
Question to Consider
What does the mission God has given us require that we need to boldly ask Him to provide? And what has God already placed in my hands that He may be asking me to release for the sake of His mission?
Prayer Prompt
Ask God to give us the humility to admit what we need, the faith to ask Him boldly for it, and the generosity to recognize when He intends to use us as part of the answer.
