Strategy and Shrewdness

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One of my favorite commendations from Christ is found in Matthew 10:16. Jesus says to the disciples, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise (shrewd) as serpents and innocent as doves.” This is not a typical memory verse for most. It also failed to make it into any Sunday school lesson I can remember. For some reason, it’s often avoided. After all, Jesus is asking us to act in some ways and some times as serpents? Was not the serpent the source of our original temptation? But there’s wisdom in hearing Jesus on this point. You have to do more than simply “pray and trust God” with your life and your calling. You have to act. And when you act, please bring some measure of strategy and wisdom to the table. 

Nehemiah does this wonderfully in Nehemiah 2. He comes into the presence of the king sad for the first time in his entire life. 

Nehemiah 2:1 (ESV) In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.

Imagine that for a moment. He’s a Jew working for a powerful gentile king, serving him wine every day. He has a monotonous and simple job. A job where death loomed at every drink and you’d be replaced with zero regard. But he did his job with such joy that the one day he showed up sad, the king took notice. 

Nehemiah 2:2 (ESV) And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid.

Notice he was afraid but he was also willing to act. And there are hints that he acts in a way and at a time when the king would be most open to his high requests to repair the walls of Jerusalem. 

Nehemiah 2:3-6 (ESV) I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” [4] Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. [5] And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.” [6] And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time.

The one description of this moment that sticks out is that of the queen sitting next to the king. Perhaps what emboldened Nehemiah at this time was the presence of a wife. Let’s be honest, wives have an effect on their men. They can open them to compassion in the ways of human affairs to which men are often ambivalent. A wife can also strongly persuade her husband to look valiant and caring in her presence. What do we see in Nehemiah? TIMING is important! 

So what about you? Perhaps you’ve done a few things Nehemiah did not do and for those reasons the doors are often closed to you. For one, perhaps you do your job with great angst, never seeming to enjoy it and acting irritated all the time. When real things bother you, no one will notice. Second, perhaps you have yet to learn the art of timing. There are moments to be silent and there are moments to speak. Third, perhaps you might need to learn the art of human persuasion, knowing when to speak to certain people in ways they will listen. 

Nehemiah is a model for Christians in an age of confusion and chaos. Our world seems to be on fire. The world is at odds with itself in endless ways. A smiling disposition, a shrewd opportunistic attitude and a bold move at the right time might change the world. 

Let’s pray it does. In Jesus’ name!