January 11, 2011

Nehemiah 1
When your team is being beaten, it is hard to claim your coach as #1. Oklahoma State University finished an almost fairytale football season this year. What was supposed to be a rebuilding season ended up being a record season for OSU. For a little while we even had a glimmer of hope of being #1. But then we lost to Nebraska and then to the University of Oklahoma. It was impossible to claim the #1 spot after those two losses. But we had the greatest year that OSU has ever had. Mike Gundy was named Big 12 coach of the year as a result. Wouldn’t the most natural thing be to proclaim the coach of the number one team as the coach of the year? Well that depends on what the coach had to work with. A coach who produces a dream team out of a bunch of unproven talent is quite possibly a better coach than a coach who produces a dream team out of a lot of greatly talented players.
Nehemiah’s team was being beaten. The gates and walls of Jerusalem were lying in ruins. Before the invention of gunpowder, if you did not have city walls and gates, you had no security. They were defenseless. How could they have a good coach when the coach did not provide the needed defense? But Nehemiah is still convinced of his coach’s great ability. He knew that his God was great, fearsome and faithful. So he acted upon that knowledge and asked his coach/God for a game plan to improve the defense. He held God to His promises and made sure that he performed what was necessary at his end of the promise. He was willing to take the risk and do what the Lord prompted him to do. It was a risky plan. He could be killed for doing what he planned to do. But he knew the strength and power of His God, and he was willing to risk it all to see that strength and power displayed.
Am I willing to risk it all to see God’s strength and power displayed in my weakness. Now that is a weird game plan. But it is the only one that works because it is the only one that displays His glory. Everything else honors my name, not His name. Lord, put me in places where only your power can deliver for only then will your glory be exalted. Glorify Your name! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john