YOU MAY HAVE TO SPEAK OUT

Reference text: Nehemiah 2:1-8

Nehemiah 2:4 Then the king said to me, “What do you request?”

We witness an interesting dialogue between king Ataxerxes and Nehemiah. Such was the keeness of the king’s eye that he could tell something was not right with Nehemiah. Hence his question: “Why do you look sad? If you are not sick, you must be sad at heart.”
Nehemiah’s response was “May the king live forever! How could I not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates consumed by fire?”

However, it is the king’s second question that I found intriguing: “What is it, then, that you wish?” In other words, he said ‘Nehemiah, I am not hear to listen to riddles, tell me straight, be clear on what your demand is.

I highlighted this because I believe that is something many of us find challenging: communicating our needs and making our demands known explicitly -both to God and to men. It takes courage and trust, because there is a real risk of rejection or in some cases, dismissal when you say what you want. Therefore, we rather expect others to become mind readers and then become disappointed when they get it wrong.

God has always made it clear that He is happy for us to approach Him in boldness and so every now and again, like Solomon, He asks us ‘what do you want?Uncommuninated needs will lead to unmet expectations and subsequently disappointment. It’s because you cannot hold anyone accountable for what you have not relayed.

But there is a balance: you have to create allowances because the recipient of your wish also has a free will of their own. Their  responses can therefore differ from your desires. So just because you have communicated a need, does not mean it will be met exactly as requested. However, not communicating it gives no room even for the possibility stated above.

#sly