Second Marriage

October 30, 2025 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

“We assume the responsibility for carrying out the commands…”
Nehemiah 10:32a (NIV)

Among some of the historical family ephemera in my personal archives is a marriage certificate for my great-grandparents. The certificate is for their second wedding. They were married, then got divorced, and then got remarried. Ironically, I think I have the second marriage certificate for our daughter, as well. It’s funny how history repeats itself.

Some relationships are like that. They work, and then they don’t, and then the parties work through their differences and return to covenant. They recommit.

In today’s chapter, Nehemiah and the returned Hebrew exiles in Jerusalem return to their covenant with God. It’s a covenant that God refers to as a marriage on numerous occasions. In essence, the document that they sign and seal is a new marriage certificate. In yesterday’s chapter they confessed that they had broken faith and walked away from the marriage. Now, they are getting remarried.

In this marriage certificate, Nehemiah lists a number of things to which they are committing to make the relationship work. They agree to live according to the principles God laid out in the Law of Moses, to keep the sabbath, to be generous, and to be faithful to the system of worship God prescribed.

Nehemiah 10 invites me to ask not just “What do I believe?” but “What am I willing to commit to — publicly, practically, persistently?” The ink on Nehemiah’s covenant scroll reminds me that faith needs form the way that saying “I do” at the wedding needs daily relational acts that put flesh on the commitment. Promises whispered in private take root when I bind them to community, to habit, to rhythm.

I’m reminded in the quiet this morning that my relationship with God is a marriage, and each new day is like my own “signing day.” It’s a daily covenant renewal of the soul:

To rest when the world demands endless work.
To give generously when culture teaches us to hoarding.
To honor sacred time and sacred space.
To live and love distinctively, not for separation’s sake, but so that light may be visible in the dark.

Nehemiah and the Hebrews’ story is really a love story between God and a people saying again: “We’re still yours.” And that’s a sentiment I whisper in my actions each day to both God and Wendy.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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Chapter-a-Day

The Tension

October 29, 2025 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

“In all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous; you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly.”
Nehemiah 9:33 (NIV)

Throughout my career I’ve had the opportunity to audit the Quality Assessment, or QA (e.g. “your call may be recorded for quality and training purposes”) programs of different companies. In these programs, there is typically a list of criteria that companies listen for in the phone calls so as to maintain a quality standard and hold team members accountable to that standard.

In auditing these programs over the decades I discovered that there is a spectrum for how criteria gets applied, or not applied. It can largely be based on the temperament of the individual who created the standard, or the individuals who apply the standard every day.

On one end of the spectrum is the QA Punisher wielding his red pen like a guillotine. The Punisher is quick to find every infraction real or perceived. Coaching sessions become employee beat-downs in which team members infractions are viewed under a microscope of criticism.

On the other end of the spectrum is the Rainbow Rater who doesn’t even have a red pen because pink is so much more affirming. When a team member fails to meet a certain service quality criteria, she is quick to give them credit for intending to do it, as she is sure that they were. Coaching sessions have not a hint of discussion about improvement or things that could have been done better. That’s too discouraging. Nothing but encouragement and affirmation in the Rainbow Raters world.

In my spiritual life, I find that religion mirrors my career in QA. Fundamentalists are the QA Punishers of religion. They police behavior like a perpetual witch hunt, condemn sin mercilessly, and shame individuals into corporate obedience. On the other end of the spectrum are the liberal universalists for whom sin is an unpleasant notion altogether. Everyone is okay doing whatever they want and credit is always given for good intentions.

Truth is always found at the point of tension between the two extremes. Whether in QA or in Life, the covenant relationship between God and humanity is constantly finding the tension. Today’s chapter is a great example.

In yesterday’s chapter, the Hebrews heard the Law of Moses read by Ezra the priest. For the first time, many in that Jewish community heard the Great Story in its entirety to that point in history. It had affected the community deeply, and in today’s chapter the entire community offers up a prayer to God. In fact, it’s one of the longest prayers recorded in all scripture.

There’s a number of fascinating things about this prayer.

First, it was led and recited by eight Levites. That’s seven-plus-one and there’s metaphorical significance in that. Seven is the number of creation, it’s a number of completion. With the walls rebuilt, the gates hung, and the covenant remembered this is a “new creation” moment for the Hebrew people.

The prayer is a recap of their entire history. They’ve just heard the Story read. Now they recite the entire Story back to God as a response. They praise Him for His lovingkindness and faithfulness. They confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors. They hit the covenant “reset” button and renew their covenant commitment.

Jewish rabbis view this prayer as a classic example of what they call teshuvah – a return to covenant faithfulness. The prayer finds the tension and balance between chesed, God’s loving kindness with confession of avon, or iniquity.

Paul told the believers in Rome that it’s God’s kindness that leads to repentance. Nehemiah and the Hebrew community are Exhibit A in this regard. They find in their reading and remembrance of the Great Story God’s promise, provision, blessing, and faithfulness. This doesn’t lead them to a free-for-all understanding that they can do whatever they want and are excused from whatever they’ve done. Rather, they recognize in God’s kindness that they have not been faithful or obedient. Time and again they have made commitment only to break that commitment. Their recognition of God’s kindness and faithfulness through the generations leads them to repentance for their own lack of faithfulness.

So, they come back to the tension. They hit the reset button. They repent and renew themselves to their covenant commitment.

Just like I have done so many times before.

This earthly journey is a marathon. I have wandered in my spiritual journey towards both sides of the spectrum. I am guilty of being a religious Punisher at times. Other times I have been quick to excuse my destructive thoughts and behaviors as if they aren’t detrimental to me, my loved ones, or anyone else. The further I get in the journey, I find myself simply trying to hold the point of tension for myself and with others.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Refuge and Restoration

October 28, 2025 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
Nehemiah 8:9 (NIV)

I don’t like to be confined into a row of chairs during worship. I like to stretch out and move. Wendy is the same way. During worship among our local gathering of Jesus’ followers, we will stand in the back. Sometimes, this means that individuals entering or walking by will stop to talk. So it was one morning when I turned to find a man weeping.

“I’m drunk,” he said, though he didn’t need to say it. He reeked of it.

I smiled and nodded.

“But you’re here,” I answered. “I’m glad you are.”

He didn’t need rejection. He was drowning in rejection. He needed a refuge. How much faith did it take to walk into a worship service drunk?

My new friend had it rough. The road of life had led him to some dark and difficult places. He’d make a lot of foolish choices. He’d been raised in faith, but he walked away and chose to forget. Then, he found himself needing refuge from his fears, his failings, and his addictions. He stumbled into a worship service.

I think today’s chapter needs to be viewed in a much larger context. The Hebrew people had spent over a century living in exile. Even after 70 years, when the first exiles returned, they had largely forgotten the faith of their fathers. Reading was uncommon, and copies of the Books of Moses were rare. They were just walking life’s journey without faith or guidance. By the time Nehemiah arrived and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, it had been more like 140 years since the exile began.

Now the walls are built. The gates are hung. For the first time in five generations the Hebrew people are together. They finally have refuge inside the city of their ancestors. The priest pulls out the Books of Moses and begins to read the Great Story from the beginning. Most of them are hearing the Story for the first time. They hear of God’s creation, His promises to Abraham, His provision for Jacob and the tribes, His deliverance of their ancestors from slavery in Egypt, His calling and covenant to be His people and what that meant.

There in the refuge of their home city, the people not only listen, but they hear God calling them home spiritually. He calls them to return to becoming the people, His children, that they were meant to be.

They begin to weep. This is all taking place by the Water Gate. The God who divides the deep and creates the universe. The God who divides the waters of the Red Sea to save them from their enemies. The God who divides the waters of the Jordan to usher them into His Promised Land. The God who washes, waters, bathes, cleanses, and renews.

Nehemiah reminds them that God is calling them out of the weeping of repentance and into the joy of restored relationship. For the first time in hundreds of years, since the time of Joshua, the people celebrate God’s prescribed festival of the tabernacles.

Both physically and spiritually, they have come back home.

Over the past year or so I’ve read a number of stories from people who have wandered home to faith. The stories follow a common theme. As young people they walked away from the faith in which they were raised. They were too intelligent to believe all that nonsense. They got educated, had careers, and wandered life’s road. But something happened along the way in the craziness of a world that has become increasingly unhinged. Drunk on fear and futility, they found themselves stumbling back home where they found a refuge, and where Life began to be restored within.

Just like Nehemiah and the Hebrews in today’s chapter. The restoration of the walls and gates led to a very different restoration. There is something spiritually universal in this story and in the experience of returning to the refuge of God’s grace and forgiveness, and finding there restoration of Life and Spirit.

In the quiet this morning, the words of an old hymn whisper in my soul:

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
calling for you and for me;
see, on the portals he’s waiting and watching,
watching for you and for me.
Come home, come home;
you who are weary come home;
earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
calling, O sinner, come home!

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Holy Order

October 27, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

So my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families. I found the genealogical record of those who had been the first to return. This is what I found written there…
Nehemiah 7:5 (NIV)

Wendy has worked for our company for many years. Over the past few years, I’ve put her in charge of most of the administration of our business. Her title is Director of Operations, but I always joke that it’s really Senior Director of All the Things. When it comes to the organization of our lives, Wendy brings order to chaos in everything she does. It’s how God wired her heart and brain. The more I unleash her to do what she does well, the more everyone benefits.

In the beginning of the Great Story, there is chaos of nothingness which God carefully orders over a period of six days. It’s not haphazard. He doesn’t act willy-nilly. There is order to everything He does and how He does it. When it’s finished, He calls it good.

Later in the story, when humanity and human empire muck up the works, things descend back toward chaos. Noah’s flood, the aftermath of Babel, and the ten plagues on Egypt are all metaphorical reversals of God’s creation. Instead of order leading to holy goodness, human acts of the flesh lead back to disorder and chaos. In fact, the events described in John’s Revelation can also be seen through this same metaphorical lens.

In today’s chapter, Nehemiah follows up the restoration of Jerusalem’s walls and gates with administrative order. The project is complete, but now the walls and gates have to be manned and guarded. With the city safe from attack, the rebuilding and restoration of homes and buildings within the city walls can safely commence. There’s a ton of work to be done, and Nehemiah sets about to create an orderly administration of the work by taking stock of who he has to work with and how best to manage that work force.

Nehemiah and Wendy would have worked well together, I’m sure. Today’s chapter makes it obvious that God wired their hearts and brains in similar ways. I’m not wired the same way. I’m capable of administration and organization, but Wendy will be quick to tell you (with examples) that I’m not gifted at it. I’ve learned along this life journey that I want people using their gifts where they can have the greatest positive impact on the whole. Things are more orderly when this happens. There is less chaos.

As I embark on a new work week, I’m quietly grateful for my Senior Director of All the Things. Order is a good thing. Order is holy. I could do with more order and less chaos. And so, it’s time for me to get to my calendar and my task lists to get the plan for my day and my week in order.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Finishing Well

October 24, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

…so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?”
Nehemiah 6:3 (NIV)

It’s Friday morning. Where did the week go? I confess that when I woke at 5:00 this morning to continue writing and moving my book project forward, I felt a strong desire to roll over. I’m finishing up the sixth of eight chapters in the manuscript. I can see the finish line. Sometimes the hardest part of a project is getting through the long slog in the middle. I’m feeling it.

I love it when I read the morning’s chapter and it’s as if God tailored it for this exact moment in time. As I waded into Nehemiah’s wall building project, I found him at exactly the same place I am. The wall is nearing completion. The doors and gates have yet to be placed and set, but the 2.5 mile long wall that was 40 feet tall and eight feet thick has been repaired and restored.

Jerusalem’s enemies have not given up on thwarting the project but they have switched tactics. Threats of attack didn’t work, so now they turn to deception. First they try to lure Nehemiah to a “meeting” under a false pretense of working out their differences. Next, they send a false messenger with a made up story hoping to lure Nehemiah into doing something they use as bad press against him.

Once again, Nehemiah displays characteristics that have made him the right man for this job and are the foundations of this projects success.

Focus. Nehemiah refuses to get distracted from the task at hand. We live at a time when endless distraction sits in the palm of our hand and is never more than an arm’s reach away. Nehemiah’s response to his detractors provides a great example for me to follow. “I’m focused on a great project! Why should I allow myself to be distracted?” I find it interesting that they requested a meeting four times and four times he had to repeat himself. The temptations of distraction don’t go away. Dogged determination is required to stay focused.

Faith. Prayer has been ever present in Nehemiah’s story. Nehemiah was always talking to God, asking for God’s help, and affirming his trust in God’s strength and provision. In today’s chapter, Nehemiah’s popcorn prayer is a simple one I could bear to repeat like a mantra in my current long slog and in the midst of every challenging stretch of this earthly journey: “Now strengthen my hands.”

Finishing Well. By the end of today’s chapter, the wall is completed. Nehemiah’s focus and faith led to the wall being rebuilt in a miraculous 52 days. It’s one thing to start a wall; it’s another to complete it. Faithfulness isn’t measured by enthusiasm at the beginning but by integrity at the end.

I’m drawing inspiration and motivation from Nehemiah’s success in the quiet this morning. The finish line is still sitting out there on the horizon for my current project. Nevertheless, I’m glad I rolled out of bed this morning instead of rolling over. The slog continues. I need to stay focused.

“Now, Lord, strengthen my hands.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Kingdom & Empire

October 23, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

“Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their fellow Jews.”
Nehemiah 5:1 (NIV)

One of the overarching themes of the Great Story is God trying to establish His Kingdom on earth amidst humanity’s endless and insatiable desire for empire.

As Nehemiah and the Hebrews in Judah attempt to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem it is the Persian empire that holds sway. As the story opened, we learn that Nehemiah is a right-hand man of the Persian Emperor Artaxerxes. Nehemiah has a front-row seat in that empire and its palace back in Susa. He has the power and wealth that comes with that position.

In today’s chapter, he gets a front-row seat at what the policies of the Persian empire are doing to the lives of average people in flyover country far from the Emperor’s gilded throne room.

Persia had steep taxes along with grain restrictions and regulations. People around Jerusalem had to mortgage their fields in order to make their tax payments. It was Hebrew nobles and merchants with wealth who loaned them the money and mortgaged their fields. When famine hit, and the poor farmers couldn’t make payments, their Hebrew lenders foreclosed or else they took their debtors children into slavery as collateral.

These were common financial practices in the culture of that day. This is how human empires operate. There is nothing new under the sun when it comes to human empire. The rich and powerful rig the system to get richer and more powerful, while the poor and the outcasts find it harder and harder to survive.

What’s crucial for me to consider as I read about the circumstances with which Nehemiah is faced in today’s chapter, is that God had instructed the Hebrews from the beginning of their covenant in Exodus that He wanted them to do things differently. God wanted them to operate by the principles of His Kingdom rather than human empire.

In Exodus 22:15, Leviticus 25, and Deuteronomy 15 God prohibits Hebrews from charging interest from their fellow Hebrews. God established a system by which every seventh year there was a jubilee. All debts were forgiven. Any mortgaged land was given back to the ancestral family who inherited it from God. Slaves were set free. The Hebrews were to be generous and acknowledge that everything belonged to God, not to them. This is how God’s Kingdom works.

This is not what was happening in and around Jerusalem. Here is Nehemiah, an agent of the human Persian empire who created the circumstances in which God’s people have been corrupted. Yet, Nehemiah knows God’s law. He sees the injustice.

Why rebuild the wall to protect God’s Temple and God’s system of redemption if within those walls there is nothing but corruption? Why waste the time, energy, and resources if the Hebrews become nothing more than another human empire?

Jewish rabbis call Nehemiah’s response in today’s chapter mussar. It’s an ethical rebuke that is intended to restore community, not merely punish. Nehemiah not only rebukes the nobles and wealthy money lenders, calling them to repent and follow God’s law, but he once again leads by example. As the Emperor’s right-hand man, Nehemiah had wealth and resources at his disposal. Nehemiah acts out of the generosity that is at the heart of God’s laws. He channels his stipend and food allowance into generously feeding others. He refuses to place more of a tax burden on the people.

As I meditated on today’s chapter in the quiet this morning, it struck me that yesterday’s chapter was about external opposition from neighboring enemies. Today’s chapter is about the enemy within. Yes, it was corruption within the Hebrew people, but it was even deeper than that. It was selfish ambition, greed, and lust for power that had penetrated the hearts and minds of the Hebrew nobles, merchants, and ruling class. It is that same selfish ambition, greed, and lust for power that fuels all human empires, while God’s Kingdom cries out for love, justice, hospitality, and generosity.

Human empire is typically thought of on a global and national scale, but I’m reminded this morning that it also exists on a personal scale. When selfish ambition, greed, and the desire for power are in the driver’s seat of my heart and mind, then my own life, home, family, and business become Tom’s little personal empire. In contrast, Jesus sent His Spirit to dwell within me and He made me and my body His temple. I am God’s Kingdom on earth. I am to live out God’s principles of love, justice, hospitality, and generosity. I can’t do that if I’m more concerned about Tom’s little personal empire.

Lord, help me be a Nehemiah.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Not Without Struggle

October 22, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”
Nehemiah 4:10 (NIV)

It’s October, which means post season baseball. Alas, our beloved Cubs made it to October this year but they didn’t have what they needed to get past the Division Series. C’est la vie.

Of course, the World Series will now and forever bring back memories of 2016, the year the Cubs broke their 108 year World Series drought and all of the legendary curses. For the most part, I remember that final out and the joy of that moment. A few weeks ago I watched the documentary of the World Series that year and spent some time remembering the Cubs’ journey through the entire post season.

It brought back a memory of lying in bed after the Cubs lost one of the play off games. I had descended into one of my brooding puddles of pessimism. Wendy, ever my life guard when I’m at risk for drowning in that puddle, quietly reminded me that great stories always have moments when things look darkest. It’s in overcoming the struggles that great stories are made. As I recounted all of the struggles of that post season and the World Series saga, I was reminded of just how many there were.

That came to mind this morning as I read today’s chapter. Nehemiah’s project of rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls is in full swing. Today’s chapter is all about the struggle from without and within. They are surrounded by enemies who don’t want Jerusalem rebuilt. Those enemies join forces and plot to attack and stop the project. They are insulted, jeered, and mocked. There is a constant threat of attack both night and day. At the same time, the people are getting worn out from the constant labor required. The excitement has worn off and the long slog is taking its toll on everyone. As I read the chapter I could feel the fear, the weariness, the discouragement.

If I were standing in Nehemiah’s sandals, I would be descending into. a brooding puddle of pessimism. But Nehemiah was the right man for the job. The first thing he always did was pray. He then forged a plan for continuing the work while defending the project both night and day. He created a system of alarm and a plan of action should the city be attacked. He continued to prayed constantly and he repeatedly encouraged everyone to trust God to both defend them and provide what was needed to see the project through.

I mentioned in yesterday’s post/podcast that every human endeavor of which I’ve been a part has encountered some kind of challenge, obstacle, and/or opposition. I sometimes wonder why I’m ever surprised by this. We are part of the Great Story, and Wendy’s observation holds true. There is no great story without conflict and struggle. It’s what makes the climactic final chapter so powerful.

I find myself thinking through the challenges and struggles I’m currently facing at work and in life. Nehemiah’s example feels a simple and apt reminder. Pray, plan, work the plan, and keep reminding myself of God’s eternal promises.

Time to get back to it. Have a great day, friend.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Every Hand Dirty

October 21, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

“Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests went to work and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and set its doors in place, building as far as the Tower of the Hundred, which they dedicated, and as far as the Tower of Hananel.”
Nehemiah 3:1 (NIV)

I gave a message among my local gathering of Jesus’ followers a few weeks ago about Jesus’ parable of the “mustard seed” and the “leaven.” In both metaphors, one small seed/amount has an exponentially huge effect. A small mustard seed creates a mustard plant/tree that could spread and take over an entire garden. Likewise, a pinch of yeast spreads through a giant batch of dough. The point Jesus is making is His plan for how He expects God’s Kingdom to spread to the world.

It starts with little ol’ me.

I’m the seed. I’m the yeast. Jesus’ love is supposed to spread through me and through my words, actions, and relationships it’s supposed to spread to others like leaven spreading through dough. As it infuses others, it keeps spreading outward.

It begins with every believer, no matter who they are, no matter what they’ve done, no matter how they are gifted, no matter what they do for a living, no matter their present circumstances. The Kingdom of God was always intended to be a grass-roots movement with every believer being a productive and fruitful seed.

In today’s chapter, the actual work of Nehemiah’s project to repair Jerusalem’s walls and gates begins. For the casual reader it reads like a construction ledger. Beneath its mortar and measurements lies a theology of community, cooperation, and consecration.

The first crew mentioned is the High Priest and his fellow priests. Spiritual leadership led the way, and led by example. They repaired the “sheep” gate, which references the sacrificial lamb. The sheep gate is the gate through which the sacrificial animals passed. This is more than just a civic project. This is allowing for the perpetuation of God’s redeeming work of all humanity. They are repairing the entire world.

As the chapter continues, it echoes Jesus parable of the mustard seed and leaven. Every one is involved in the effort. Perfumers, merchants, goldsmiths, individuals from all trades, individuals from all stations of life. In this way, the work of the wall here in Nehemiah is a foreshadowing of the very way Jesus intends the walls of God’s Kingdom on earth to be built in the on-going work of redemption.

Nehemiah even mentions that not everyone was a willing and cheerful participant. Verse 5 states, “The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.” There is not a project in which I’ve participated, whether it was work, church, or community theatre, in which there isn’t some kind of challenge or obstacle rooted in human opposition, passivity, or negative attitude. I love that Nehemiah’s retelling is not some kind of idyllic memory. It’s a hand’s dirty account of a community project, complete with dishing out the dirt.

I’m reminded in the quiet this morning that in God’s Kingdom work, everyone has a brick to lay. Sacred work is often very ordinary work. Nehemiah has some 40 crews working in small sections, so I don’t need to feel the burden of changing the world – just working on my little section of it. I can be grateful for and supportive of all the other individuals and crews working on their little sections – they don’t need me meddling.

Another day of the journey. Time once again to get my hands dirty doing the ordinary work of building up God’s Kingdom. All the best to you on your little section of the wall. Shout out if you need help.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Prayer, Providence, & Planning

October 20, 2025 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

The king [Artaxerxes] said to me, “What is it you want?”
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.”
Nehemiah 2:4-5 (NIV)

In the past few weeks I’ve mentioned that I’m currently writing a book. I’ve been getting up at 5:00 a.m. every morning to write for at least an hour when my heart and mind are fresh. The process consumes a lot of my time and thought right now, so forgive me if it bleeds into my daily quiet time, meditations, and blogposts/podcasts.

The idea for this book struck me about 15 years ago. In fact it was ten or twelve years ago that I sat down and outlined the guts of the book in my journal while I was enjoying a pint at the local pub. There in my journal it sat for over a decade. I thought about it often. I prayed that I might have an opportunity to make it a reality. I even reached out to a few publishers over the years. Nothing flowed.

Earlier this year there was a major shift and transition in our business. Many things got realigned. During that period of time I had a random networking contact who happened to be a publisher. I can’t even describe how everything in life aligned. This was the moment. It’s finally happening. God’s timing is perfect.

In today’s chapter, it’s been months since Nehemiah got word about the dire situation in Jerusalem. He’s been grieving and praying. There’s not much that Nehemiah can do about Jerusalem. He’s the right-hand advisor to the Persian emperor. The job doesn’t come with vacation time or PTO. In fact, just having a bad hair day was not allowed in that role and in that culture. When King Artaxerxes notices that Nehemiah is downcast, it could have been a life-threatening moment. Instead, it was a moment of divine providence.

Nehemiah throws up a quick popcorn prayer and shoots straight with Artaxerxes about why his face is downcast. Artaxerxes could have had Nehemiah killed for presuming to lay his burdens on the emperor. The whole matter could have been simply dismissed and Nehemiah could have been instructed to change his attitude, or else. Instead, Artaxerxes asks Nehemiah what might be done about his ancestral home of Jerusalem.

Nehemiah makes an audacious request for time-off, letters of safe passage, and building materials required to rebuild the walls and gates of Jerusalem. Artaxerxes agrees.

Along my life journey, I’ve learned that there is a certain flow to the story God is authoring in me. There is also a certain tension in trusting that story. If I’m passive and don’t prayerfully pay attention, then I totally miss out on what God’s doing. If I strive to try and make things happen, then I get in the way and muck up the works. When I pray, wait, and pay attention, trusting for God’s providence and timing, then at the right time everything flows.

Nehemiah is a great example of the same paradigm. He spent months praying about Jerusalem and what he might be able to do to help. He obviously had even been planning what he ideally might need and how he might go about the project if he was given the chance. Then, he waited. He trusted. God’s providence finally flowed and the planning kicked into gear.

In the quiet this morning, I’m reminded that on this journey I should never stop praying, never stop planning, and never stop paying attention. The hardest part is often waiting for God’s providence. But when it flows, and all the praying and planning fall into place, there’s no doubt that God is at work and I am in the midst of it.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Book Summary List, Chapter-a-Day

Nehemiah (Oct-Nov 2025)

October 20, 2025 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

Each photo below corresponds to a chapter-a-day post for the book of Nehemiah published by Tom Vander Well in October and November 2025. Click on the photo linked to each chapter to read the post.