Oxymoron

Oxymoron

     

      Early the following spring, in the month of Nisan, during the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes' reign, I was serving the king his wine. I had never before appeared sad in his presence. So the king asked me, "Why are you looking so sad? You don't look sick to me. You must be deeply troubled."
     Then I was terrified, but I replied, "Long live the king! How can I not be sad? For the city where my ancestors are buried is in ruins, and the gates have been destroyed by fire."
     The King asked, "Well, how can I help you?"
     With a prayer to the God of heaven, I replied, "If it please the king, and if you are pleased with me, your servant, send me to Judah to rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried."
     The king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked, "How long will you be gone? When will you return?" After I told him how long I would be gone, the king agreed to my request. (Nehemiah 2:1-6)

        An oxymoron (from the Greek word, ὀξύμωρον, meaning "sharp dull") is a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms. (Since when has a word been defined by the word? Now that’s an oxymoron!) But here’s a few examples: original copy; jumbo shrimp; pretty ugly; found missing; definite maybe; only choice; freezer burn. Oh, yeah, here’s another: short prayer! “Short prayer?”

Really, is there any such thing as a short prayer? Because when you think about prayer, what comes to mind? Yeah, I know – the kind of prayer that goes on for hours and hours, says the same thing over and over again, and throws in a lot of "thee's" and "thou's" for good measure just to impress the crowd. Frankly, I don't know the last time I've heard one, much less said one.

Sometimes, however, we make too much of prayer by making it far too complicated. Here’s what I mean. God’s our father, we’re His kids, and you can talk to your dad any time about anything you want. Sometimes you talk to Him for a long time, sometimes you just give a little shout out, “Hey, Dad.” You know, just a quickie. Sometimes you pour your heart out to God through tears. Then again, sometimes you just say, “Thanks.” There are all kinds of prayers: long prayers, short prayers, in-between prayers.

Our man, Nehemiah, prays throughout the book repeatedly, and it’s one of the great threads that weaves the whole book together. And in our particular passage, Nehemiah offers up a quick little prayer because, well … you know, certain decisions in life, even certain opportunities in life, are strategic. If you miss it, it’s gone. For instance, are you going to an important job interview? Pray. Taking a test? Definitely pray. She’s cute, you’re scared and hoping she’ll go out with you? Pray – a lot! So, here, Nehemiah sends up a prayer, something along the lines of, “God, give me the right words, give me the right spirit, give him the right attitude, and please don’t let him kill me. Amen.” A quick little prayer.

But who’s this Nehemiah character, anyway? Well, the first chapter of the book bearing his name provides some pretty important details. The year is 446 B.C., and Nehemiah is living in one of the Persian capitals, Shushan. Artaxerxes is the king of the Persian Empire, and Nehemiah is on the state payroll: he’s a cupbearer. (Oh, I see. So he just kind of hung out and threw a few back with the King?) No, not really.

Actually, the cupbearer was an officer of high rank in the Egyptian, Persian and Assyrian empires. In those days, one of the best ways to get rid of a king was to poison him. So, to prevent a catastrophe from happening, the cupbearer would taste the wine before the king drank any of it. That way, if the wine had been poisoned, the cupbearer would die instead of the king. It was a very admirable, but risky, profession. (Think of it like test-driving a Merlot without any brakes) Because of the constant fear of plots and intrigues, a person had to be regarded as thoroughly trustworthy to be a cupbearer. And because of the job’s close relationship to the king, it was often a position of great influence.

So, Nehemiah’s life was centered on serving and pleasing the king. Still, as a Jewish man living in exile, Nehemiah’s thoughts were on home. We know this because, at the very beginning of the book, we see Nehemiah asking about the state of Jerusalem, including the condition of those who remained. The report was pretty grim: the survivors were seriously depressed, and the wall around Jerusalem was nothing but charred rubble. In other words, the most precious monuments of Nehemiah’s homeland had been completely destroyed, and many of his friends and family murdered. Making matters worse, Nehemiah was some 800 miles from home when he got the news. Think of it this way. It’s September 11, 2001, and you’re living in California, some 2,800 miles away from ground zero when you witness the complete annihilation of the twin towers. And with it? The loss of 2,740 American lives. That might have been a lot like Nehemiah’s thinking, who sat down and cried for days after getting the news.

But can we relate to his response after receiving the bad news? You see, Nehemiah not only wept and mourned, but he also fasted and prayed. And, as we’ll see, Nehemiah was prepared to do more than just pray; he was prepared to act. Here’s an example.

There was this guy who prayed each week, for years, asking God to help him win the lottery. In exchange, the man promised God that he would give a lot of his new-found wealth to the church. After months of praying, he began to question if God would ever answer his prayer. So he cried out, “Lord, aren’t you going to help me out here?!” To which God responded, “Hey, you’ve kind of got to meet Me half-way on this, OK? If I’m going to answer your prayer, you’ve got to purchase a lottery ticket.” Not great theology, but the point is that there’s an intersection between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. Let me explain.

God doesn’t need us to carry out His will. Really, He doesn’t. It’s not as if God is somehow handcuffed by our lack of participation. And yet, although God doesn’t need our participation, He honors it. In fact, the Bible reveals a God who loves to respond to his creation when they’re engaged in action. This is important to note since we’re prone to move between one of two opposite extremes.

To our right is the extreme that believes God is sovereign and doesn’t need our help. But this extreme generally leads to the wrong conclusion that since God is sovereign, we shouldn’t bother God with our petty little requests. Stated differently? God will do whatever He wants to do regardless of whether or not He’s asked. Now, if this had been Nehemiah’s theology he probably would have said in response to the news about Jerusalem something like, “Well, that stinks, but hey, don’t worry! God will fix things before too long. So, let’s just get back to business as usual here in Shushan. There’s no need to lose any sleep over it. God will act when He’s good and ready.” Now, it’s perfectly appropriate to think of God as being sovereign because, well …. He is. But, we blow it if we allow that kind of thinking to lead to a sense that our involvement is inconsequential. That’s called “fatalism,” or “determinism.” It’s not good theology.

On our left, however, is the other extreme that says that prayer, in and of itself, changes things. With that kind of mindset, we can get to the point of thinking that everything hinges on our prayers. If this had been Nehemiah’s theology, he probably would have said, “Oh, this is all our fault! If we’d only prayed harder for our home boys, Jerusalem wouldn’t be all messed up. But it’s not too late. We can fix this if we just pray hard enough. Then, God will do what we ask.” This kind of thinking leads to the conclusion that God is no longer sovereign, we are, and that, somehow, our prayers coax God into doing something that He didn’t want to do in the first place. But now that we’ve gone and pestered Him to death …. well, He’s gotta act! Now don’t get me wrong. I believe in persistency, but this kind of thinking carries matters to an extreme. Nehemiah, on the other hand, regarded God as both utterly sovereign and willing to respond to human action.

We don’t have to read too many verses before we see that God responds to Nehemiah’s prayer, but some three months later! And this is an important detail for all of us who expect God to instantly move mountains when we pray. Even if we cite scripture assuring us that God will answer our prayers, the Bible is replete with examples that God will, in fact, answer our prayers, but at a time and in a manner of His choosing. Prayer’s not some sort of magical incantation that produces instantaneous results. So, approximately three months after hearing the news of Jerusalem’s desperate circumstances, Nehemiah has an encounter with the king. In fact, the king is quite concerned about Nehemiah since, apparently, Nehemiah had some sort of hang-dog look on his face and was looking pretty down in the mouth. “Waz up, Nehemiah? Why the long face?” Nehemiah’s response? “Why shouldn’t I look this way when my hometown is a smoking hulk?”

Apparently sympathetic to Nehemiah’s situation, the king says, “So, how can I help you?”And what follows the king’s question is striking, maybe even profound, because rather than immediately answering the king, Nehemiah …………….. prayed.

Now, get the picture. Nehemiah’s standing in front of the monarch of the strongest nation on the planet, and seated next to him is his wife no less. Compounding this is the fact that Nehemiah is absolutely terrified. He’s just standing there with cup in hand, eyes like saucers, knees knocking, hands shaking, palms sweating, heart racing, head throbbing and …….. he prays. I’m thinking it wasn’t a very long prayer. In fact, the king probably didn’t see his lips move or even notice the slight hesitation in Nehemiah’s response. It was just long enough for Nehemiah to call upon the God of the universe for help.

I can remember a time in elementary school when a comment would frequently show up on my report card – something along the lines of “Randy needs to think before he speaks.” (Yeah, I know. Pretty funny, huh? Problem is – it still plagues me) But Nehemiah does one better: he prays before he speaks. How many of us can say that? Too often, we think of prayer as some sort of scheduled time on the calendar to talk with God. But that’s not the model of prayer demonstrated by Nehemiah. Nehemiah shows us that God was often on his mind, and that no time was the wrong time to pray; no time was too short a time to pray to God. In other words, he didn’t need a long prayer to get God’s attention.

However, Nehemiah did more than just pray; he was ready to act. Nehemiah had asked the king for a leave of absence in order to go back to Jerusalem and personally oversee the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah even had the nerve to request that letters be written by the king so that he could show them to the various governors with whom he’d come into contact along the way so that he could travel freely. These letters would also secure the supplies necessary for the extreme makeover in Jerusalem. And the king’s response? “The king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.” Wow! Ever feel the hand of God on you?

Do you see the intersection between human responsibility and God’s sovereignty? Nehemiah prayed because he knew that the remedy to his problem was completely beyond his control. Nehemiah prayed because he understood that his success depended on God’s hand being on him. But Nehemiah also understood that he was not inconsequential to the process. He didn’t just pray; he readied himself to personally participate in the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

OK, but what does all this mean? Well, I think it means two things. First, we must pray. Whatever our predicament, we need God’s hand to be on us if we are to succeed. But secondly, we’ve got to do more than just pray. We’ve got to be willing to roll up our sleeves and participate in what we’re praying for. For instance, are you praying for your church? Wonderful, but are you capable of doing more? If not personally involving yourself in the church’s various ministries, are you able to write letters of encouragement to those who are? How about praying for growth in attendance at Sunday’s worship services? Again, that’s terrific, but when was the last time you invited a friend?

We’ve got to commit ourselves to a high standard of prayer. But that doesn’t mean lengthy, flowery, King Jamesy prayer rants. Shorties will do, too. I mean look at Nehemiah. His prayer lasted maybe all of 1.9 seconds but it was effective, wasn’t it? But it was effective not only because it was said, but because Nehemiah was ready to do more than just pray. True worship always results in service.

A well-known Christian leader was once approached by a preacher who complained that he needed more workers in order to maintain the various ministries at his church. The Christian leader disagreed: “You don’t need more workers.” “Oh, yes we do,” the preacher responded. “No, you don’t. What you need are more worshippers, because wherever there’s worshippers there’s workers. I’ve never met a true worshipper who was unwilling to work.”

You know, on second thought, maybe a “short prayer” isn’t an oxymoron after all. Fact is, we may have the shortest prayer on record in the Bible and look what happened? But then again, maybe “answered prayer” is an oxymoron of sorts, since wishing has never been a substitute for prayer.

Grace,

Randy