NEHEMIAH 11 - MAKING DIFFICULT DECISIONS

Nehemiah 11

The law of God was rediscovered and the people of God were renewed. The problem was that the rebuilt city of Jerusalem lacked inhabitants. No one wanted to live there. People had their cities and their homes and no one was interested in laying down new roots. However, the holy city needed to be populated. A fortified city with no one to defend it would only be conquered again. 

The solution was that the leaders would go in first (v. 1). By nature that is what leaders do. Leaders have a pioneer spirit. They see a need before others and they take the initiative to attend to it. Leaders often have to forsake their own comfort, start small, and do the things no one else wants to do. 

Even still, the leaders alone would not be enough to fill the city. A decision was made to have a lottery system – sort of a “tithe of the people.” Ten percent of the people would have to leave their current dwelling and move to Jerusalem (v. 2). This was decided by casting lots, which was a common way of deciding matters in the Bible. The modern equivalent would be something like drawing straws, flipping a coin, or rolling dice. This seems like a faulty way to make difficult decisions. But isn’t it true in life that decisions are sometimes very hard to make?

We all want to know what Gods will is for our lives and God has given us a certain level of decision making in life. We want to walk in God’s will, but sometimes decisions that we don’t want to make need to be made. And there are times when it seems like life’s next step is simply left to chance. No one wants life to be left to chance. We want God to spell it out and we want to make willful and purposeful decisions. This practice of casting lots seems like a cruel reliance on chance.

Proverbs 16:33 - The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.

When difficult decisions are made sometimes they are done in ways that are not perfect. Yet, ultimately the people of God could trust that there was a sovereign God in charge of their destiny. If the lot landed on them, they could have confidence that God would go with them. Some families took the bold and sacrificial step of willingly offering to make the move (v. 2). Many saw their faith and sacrifice and called them blessed.

Once the decision was made about who would go, the people moved forward in obedience and faith, trusting that God would continue to restore the promised land to his people (v. 3-36).