Who was Nehemiah? He was born to Jewish parents who were in captivity in Babylon. He was not a priest like Ezra or a prophet like Malachi. He was serving in the palace of a foreign king. V10 of Chapter 1 says he was a cupbearer. Cupbearers were trustworthy people. They had to taste the wine before the king did. If someone attempted to poison the king's drink, it was highly likely that the cupbearer would die first.

It possibly took a long time for the king to gain confidence to let a foreign slave in captivity to be his cupbearer. The king trusted and knew Nehemiah well enough to notice that he was sad in v2 of chapter 2.

Are you someone who can be trusted? Can people in authority count on you to execute your responsibilities faithfully and diligently even in the midst of a crisis? Nehemiah was not an architect, or a civil engineer or a contractor to spear-head the rebuilding of the wall. He was a cupbearer.

Nehemiah 5.14 says Nehemiah eventually became the governor of Judah.

Let's also make sure we're faithful with the little we're entrusted with during this time so that we can be trusted with a lot more when the time comes.

(This article was written during the lockdown due to corona pandemic)