The rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls began with two questions the king asked Nehemiah. The first question was ‘What is bothering you?’ (see v. 2). The second question was ‘What is it you want?’ (v. 4 NIV). Nehemiah replied, ‘Send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it’ (v. 5 NIV). Nehemiah knew exactly what he wanted, because a passion for it had been conceived in his spirit. He had been thinking and praying about it for quite a few months when the king asked him what he wanted. A pastor writes: ‘Few things are as miraculous as the moment of human conception. A sperm penetrates an egg, and all the genetic data that determine who you will become – everything from facial features to personality traits – is encoded within that single cell. And it begins a nine-month process of gestation. The mother’s body starts producing hormones before she even knows she is pregnant. The baby’s heart starts beating on day twenty-two. At four weeks, that single cell has grown ten thousand times larger. At around day forty-two, neurons start multiplying at the astounding rate of approximately ten thousand per second. Everything from the optic nerve to the auditory cortex to the respiratory system is being formed in the womb.’ And a God-given vision is conceived the same way. It begins small and keeps growing within you until the time of delivery. That’s why the Bible says, ‘The vision is yet for an appointed time…though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come’ (Habakkuk 2:3 KJV). So, the word for today is – want what God wants.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.