Callings come in different packages

God called Moses from a burning bush. God spoke to Abraham, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Jonah. Yet the Bible also records people whose calling unfolded gradually rather than arriving all at once.

For most people, though, a calling is something that must first be discovered. That is the way it was with Nehemiah. 

Nehemiah was a Jew living in captivity in Persia in the 5th century B.C. He was the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, who was the son of Xerxes. If you’ve seen the movie 300, Xerxes was the metrosexual dude being carried on the platform by his army to the battle at Thermopylae. 

A burden before a beckoning

While serving as cupbearer, Nehemiah heard from some men who had come from Judah who described the condition of Jerusalem, its walls and gates. Nehemiah immediately broke down and wept (Nehemiah 1:4). 

This is similar to Moses, who saw one of his fellow Hebrews being oppressed by an Egyptian and felt compelled to defend him. It was an early clue to Moses’ calling as a deliverer. 

Callings often begin with a burden before there is a beckoning.

Bridges and subordinate callings

Interestingly, the first chapter of Nehemiah ends with this, “Now I was the cupbearer to the king” (Nehemiah 1:11). So, which was his calling—cupbearing or construction?

Since we know Nehemiah was called to repair the walls, and being a cupbearer gave him proximity to Artaxerxes to gain permission to rebuild the walls, I think we have to say, “Both.” Some callings are bridges to ultimate callings. 

We could say the same about Moses’ 40 years in the wilderness herding sheep. In both cases the work, while subordinate to the ultimate calling, is still sacred because it is called of God, but it ultimately leads to their primary calling.

Favor as God’s shepherd

Before Nehemiah left Susa for Jerusalem, he asked Artaxerxes for a letter instructing his people in Jerusalem to give him access to Artaxerxes’ supply of lumber so he could rebuild the walls. 

This was a remarkable request; yet the king granted it. Nehemiah didn’t just see it as merely a generous act of the king; he said the king granted his request “because the good hand of my God was on me” (Nehemiah 2:8).

As one of my mentors once told me, “God pays for what He orders.” His favor of Nehemiah, as demonstrated by the king’s generosity, was a confirmation Nehemiah was on the right track. It reaffirmed Nehemiah’s plan was actually a response to the call of God. 

Favor is often a shepherd to God’s calling.

How the call came to Nehemiah

When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he went out at night to examine the walls. He doesn’t tell those with him about his calling yet, but it is here that he first mentions to the reader that he was going to rebuild the walls and how God had communicated that to him:

I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem…” —  Nehemiah 2:12 

Notice the sequence: Nehemiah first experienced the burden, then the opportunity, followed by God’s favor. Only then does Nehemiah tell us that God had been putting this work into his heart. 

What does not determine a calling

You know the rest of the story. Nehemiah was opposed by Sanballat and some of his scoundrel friends, but that didn’t discourage him or make him think he had missed God. Nor should it have. Opposition can actually be evidence of God’s calling—throughout the Bible, those who were called of God faced opposition.

Nehemiah was able to continue undeterred because he saw his work as a calling. And callings, because they are initiated by God, are imbued with divine purpose. Nehemiah would refer to it as “a great work” (Nehemiah 6:3).

Nehemiah achieved great things for God through his work as a project manager—“secular” work to be sure, but sacred because it was called of God. And his calling did not come to him through a burning bush, a voice from heaven, or a prophecy. 

It came the way it comes to many of us: a burden that meets opportunity, shepherded by God’s favor, and confirming what God had placed in his heart. 

That should be encouraging to those of us who will never see a burning bush or hear an audible voice. GS