Nehemiah 1:1

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah.  It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel.

Nehemiah 1:1

Nehemiah was a Jew.  For almost a century the Jews had been back in their own land and Nehemiah could have joined them, but he chose to remain a cupbearer in the king’s palace far away in Shushan. 

You see, God had a work for him to do there that he could not have accomplished if he were anywhere else! God put Nehemiah there, just as He had put Esther there a generation before, just as He had put Joseph in Egypt, just as He put Daniel in Babylon, and just as He put you in Whittier or Brea or La Habra or another of the nearby cities. 

It is easy for me to wonder how it would be if I lived somewhere else or was doing something different. You ever wonder about that? Well, just like Nehemiah, you are in the exact place God wants you to be.  He has a plan for you, just like He had a plan for Nehemiah.

Following the Lord’s lead,

Pastor Rich Kikuchi