Nehemiah 2:4

Nehemiah 2:4

God gives us every day, and all day long, something to choose about, and the reason is because He wants to try us, to see whether we do right, to exercise our minds and see whether we act according to the Bible.

I. The first rule about choosing is not to choose at all if you can help it, but to let God choose for you, because nine times out of ten when boys and girls or men and women choose for themselves they choose badly.

II. If you must choose, if it is your duty to choose, always before you choose lift up a prayer to God to help you and guide you as to what you shall choose. Remember what Nehemiah did. When the king asked him what he wanted, he lifted up a prayer to God that He would not allow him to ask foolishly, but that He would enable him to make a wise choice.

III. When going to choose, always think of other people as well as of yourselves, and try to choose unselfishly.

IV. Whenever you are choosing, choose that which will give you trouble at first, or, to put it in Bible language, choose the Cross.

V. Whenever you choose, choose for your soul. Choose for eternity. Choose the Lord Jesus Christ. After alt, it is not we who choose Christ; it is Christ who chooses us. We do choose Him; but when we see all the secrets revealed in heaven, we shall see that it is as our blessed Lord saith (John 15:16): "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit."

J. Vaughan, Sermons to Children,1875, p. 149.

References: Nehemiah 2:4. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxiii., No. 1390; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons,p. 220; Homiletic Quarterly,vol. i., p. 254; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. i., p. 138, and vol. ix., p. 94.Nehemiah 2:12. Ibid.,p. 269.