Transcription:

Emily: Welcome back to the 4:18 podcast

Doug: Hi, I’m Doug Reed, and today we have the pleasure of diving into the book of Nehemiah. 

Emily: We are here for part two with Martin Simiyu. If you missed part one, you don’t want to miss a minute. We are jumping right back in where we left off. I watched a Bible project video on YouTube about the book of Nehemiah and it was talking about this concept of how this book is starting with hope and then ending with disappointment, and the narrator of this video argued that the reforms that Nehemiah brought about don’t actually address the core issues of the heart. This book points to the need for a holistic change in people’s hearts and of course, when I heard the word holistic I was like oh, this is so cool because possibilities Africa is on a mission of holistic transformation and when I heard that word holistic I think my heart and mind were… just like, yes, this is it. This is a beautiful picture of God’s design and life with Jesus. And it went on to talk about how our obedience comes from love and not just changing our habits, but a heart that has been transformed and that informs every area of our life. So with all that being said, I have a two-part question that I’d love to hear from both of you if you both have thoughts, but how do we as the people of God, whether it’s in Africa, or the U.S. address the human heart holistically? 

Doug: Martin, I’ll let you start. 

Martin: Doug says it’s beauty before brain, so I’ll go first. So, um, I think that’s a good question, Emily, and you know, Jeremiah tells us, and as Doug was introducing, he told us that Jeremiah was a contemporary of Nehemiah and he tells us in chapter 17, verse 9 to 10, how the human heart is deceitful beyond all things and desperately wicked and we can never know it. I think when ministers of the Gospel go out there and preach their heart out and teach the Word of God faithfully, believing that transformation will happen, you know, you never know, you know, how every heart will respond in the short term and even in the long term. You hope for the best. I think we see this in scripture again and again, especially God giving us the example of the children of Israel who will repent in this season and then they will fall back again in the next season. Because our hearts, the human heart is desperately wicked. And so that I think would be my first point. 

But because our hearts are desperately wicked, we have to understand that only God knows the heart. We have to also understand that only God and his word can pierce through the heart. As Hebrews will tell us, separating the bone and marrow and judging the intentions and the motives of the heart. Only God can do that. I think the only way we can continue to contribute to preserving the holistic lives before God, the holistic transformation and focus on what God’s agenda for man is, is to continue teaching the Word and believing that the Word of God will continue to be sharper, a double-edged sword that is able to pierce through the heart of man constantly and continuously to bring that change. And even as we do this work at Possibilities Africa, we’ve been very aware that it is not the projects that the people start. It is not the activities that they do. It is the word of God changing their hearts and their minds. And so we set our foundation of whatever we teach on the Word of God. We constantly teach the word of God. It is the reason why we work with the pastors who join our programs and ask of them to organize their church members into shalom groups, and in those shalom groups, Bible study is encouraged to happen. Prayer is encouraged to happen. It is the reason why we challenge pastors to have opportunity for them and their families to do Bible study and to pray together constantly. 

Why? Because we believe that it is the entry of God’s Word that brings light in our hearts. And so the constant entry of God’s word will bring the constant light in our hearts and then preserves us from the corrupt world that we are living in; from the corrupt nature of who we are as human beings. So we believe that there is no shortcut. It is to teach and continuously teach the Word of God and hold it up before people as the mirror that they look into on an ongoing basis so that they don’t say, you know, we looked into the mirror yesterday, we don’t need to look into it today. No, that constantly they are looking into the mirror and therefore allowing God’s Word to sanctify them through and through again. 

So a long answer, Emily, but I believe that it is just the constant teaching of the Word and not replacing anything else, not replacing it with projects or businesses. Those are important. Those are necessary for human life, but they are only of value as long as they are contributing to the improvement of human life which is rooted in the truth of God’s Word. 

Emily: Yeah, I feel like that’s so cool because I was thinking about chapter eight of Nehemiah, and in that chapter, Ezra reads the book of the law, and that is kind of what starts this turning point for the people. They read scripture for hours, and then people just have this beautiful response. They listen closely as they explain what’s being shared, and then they go on to confess their sins in chapter nine and return to God, and all that they do is read the Word. So when you said that, I was like, man, this is so cool, because that just mirrors this book once again, and it’s a beautiful thing that speaks to the power of God’s Word. And I think a lot of what you shared aligns with the character of God that we see in this. What’s so beautiful to me about the life of Nehemiah is how he knows his God and we see him talk about God personally. He calls God “My God” in these verses a few times. And then when he is faithfully praying, I love in chapter 2, verse 20, it says, “The God of heaven will help us succeed.” And he just has such confidence in his God and I just feel like it’s so awesome that he knows God well enough to know that he will come through for him, that he’s a promise keeper, and that he’s committed to his people. So that is just a really beautiful theme in all of what you shared. 

Martin: I just remembered of my trip to Malawi last week and going into these poor villages and meeting Shalom group members. These are life groups that pastors who are going through our programs have formed and meeting with them and just asking them, you know, what are you learning and what are you putting in practice and what is changing? And they are talking about their small businesses and the fact that they are meeting together to have Bible study and prayer and so on. And then we talk to them and say, what are some of the challenges you’re facing? And in my heart, I’m expecting them to say, you know, we wish someone will come and give us more money. But in like almost all the groups that we went to, these old women and young men and different people in these groups will stand up and say, our pastors have encouraged us to meet weekly to do Bible study. And in our groups of 10 or 20, we have a problem because only two of us have a Bible in a big group like that. We are praying that we find a way to get Bibles. And so I think one of the things I left Malawi just burdened about is how we can work with these pastors to make sure that these people who are hungry for the Word of God can actually get the Word of God. So we’re currently praying for over 15,000 Bibles just for for some of these people that are in our groups in Malawi, who are so hungry for the word of God, they are meeting weekly, but in their groups only two people have Bibles. And so that’s just kind of part of what we are seeing happening and the things that then Possibilities Africa starts to think, how do we respond to this? How do we connect with the pastors to make sure that this is something that is addressed in a responsible manner, so that people have a Bible in their hands?

Doug: Thanks for sharing that, Martin. That is just such a challenge to think that there’s people–we know there’s people that don’t have Bibles, but just people that you’ve met with just last week that only two out of ten people have a Bible. And we talk about the importance of understanding and reading God’s Word and reminding ourselves of God’s faithfulness. But if they don’t have the Word of God, it’s very difficult to do that. 

Just to comment on this question you’ve asked, Emily, you know, I look back at Nehemiah’s life and you know, one of the things that I had not said is King Artaxerxes–prior to Nehemiah asking to go back and rebuild the wall, he had not been for that. In fact, the king before him had actually told people, no, they could not do that. And so, you know, for him to go and ask the king, who could have had him executed, just this optimism of thinking that this is what God wants me to do. and not taking no for an answer. I was visiting with a friend yesterday, he’s very optimistic, and he said, when somebody tells him no, he just thinks that’s a strong maybe. And I kind of think maybe Nehemiah had that perspective of, you know what, even though the kings have said no to rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem in the past, I believe that God wants me to ask, and he’s gonna say yes, and God did say yes. And so to go back and look at challenges of God’s people throughout the centuries and how God has stepped in and answered prayer, it’s just so important to remind us when we go through a short-sightedness of a challenge that we have. I mean, you talk about the drought in Malawi, and that is so difficult. But to remind people that, yeah, we go through difficult times, but God is still God. He’s still sovereign. And so to keep doing what God’s told us to do is so important. 

Emily: Yeah, that’s also incredible to see that come to life of what you said of following through with what God has said and put on–in this story, it’s what he’s put on Nehemiah’s heart. And something that also sticks out to me from chapter four is when they face opposition from the enemies and Nehemiah says, “But we prayed to our God.” And that sentence is so powerful. And then he tells the people, remember who God is and don’t be afraid. And he goes on again in verse 20 and says, God will fight for us. So, this book is just rich of what it looks like to trust God in really difficult circumstances. And even going back to chapters one and two, when Nehemiah first prays to God after hearing about the walls falling down, he asks God at the end of his prayer to grant him success by making the king favorable to him. And the king grants his request to let him go back and be part of rebuilding the wall. And he calls himself a servant once again. Nehemiah is so bold and he asks this man to write letters to governors of these provinces so that he can go there and travel safely. And then he even asks for a letter to get timber from the king of this forest. And… God grants him immense favors. So I think, Martin, even in what you shared, it just reminds me of how powerful it is for God to be at the center of this because He is far above it all and He can provide in ways that we couldn’t ask or imagine. And even when there are circumstances like extreme drought or like Cyclone Freddy that happened last year in Malawi, God is the one who is going to see people through it and the best gift that can be given to them is knowing life with Jesus and knowing their God through life in Jesus. So I just feel really encouraged despite the adversity that you’re facing and people are facing there, again, it’s just powerful to see what scripture tells us about this God who is a God of hope and a God who can provide for his people despite their circumstances. 

Martin: I think this is–I found this encouraging, just the fact that we can reflect on this and hopefully that it can be an encouragement to someone to know that our God is a God of promise and if we take Him by His Word and trust Him, we can not only experience His blessings and promises, but we can also be, you know, His hands and legs and His channels of helping other people to rebuild their lives, you know, to rebuild whether it is their marriages or rebuild their homes or rebuild their businesses or rebuild their ministries or rebuild their communities. So it’s been an encouragement, an encouraging session. 

Emily: I think that’s all we’ve got. I think that’s a wrap. 

Doug: Thank you, Martin. It’s always fun to talk to you. 

Emily: Yeah, we enjoy it so much. 

Martin: Thank you guys. 

Emily: Thank you for being here. We appreciate your partnership in prayer and in giving. If you’re interested in partnering financially, be sure to head to usa.possibilitiesafrica.org and hit the donate button. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share with a friend so we can grow this podcast and share this good news. Thank you so much for being here. God bless you!