The story of Nehemiah teaches us that people are going to oppose you when you do good for God. But did you know that a lot of the times the opposition comes from your own fear? Let's figure out how to tackle it together. Coming up right now on the Clear Reads Today Show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr.
Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. Welcome to the Clearview Today Show, a daily talk show for all of your Christian daily talk show needs. Right here from Henderson, North Carolina, we're coming at you with Dr.
Abadan Shah. If you're listening for the very first time, Dr. Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show, Dr. Shah, talking about leadership, talking about biblical principles from Nehemiah. Lots and lots of great conversations, but one thing we don't want to deal with is the fact that people are going to be against us.
Anytime you do something worth doing, there will be opposition. Yeah. A lot of times I think it's funny because Christians are like, you know, I'm not doing big enough things to have enemies. Only really, really important people like Nehemiah, King David, they have enemies. No.
Anytime you do anything, in fact, it's a principle of life. There will be problems, but especially when you're doing things for God, for the kingdom of God. God, the problems are deeper and more powerful. That's right. I'm grateful for the chance to talk about this because I think a lot of people need clarity where this issue is concerned.
Because, you know, you hit that opposition and you feel like, oh, well, maybe this is God telling me I shouldn't move forward. Maybe this is, you know, I'm encountering difficulty, so maybe I should back off. But we're going to see today that's not always the case.
Well, I love the word you use there. We're going to provide clarity. You know, that's what this show is designed to do, especially if you're listening for the first time today. We want to let you know this reason this show exists is to bring you clarity. We call clear view today because there's so many things in the Bible that are murky or that we take as murky.
We take as like, I can't really see this. The reason the show exists is to bring clarity to it. And we can't do that without the help of our sponsors.
So we want to thank Mighty Muscadine, LaBlue, Ultra Pure Water, Watch Safe. These are all organizations that have partnered with us to keep the gospel in the airwaves for as long as possible and help bring you a clearer view of the scriptures. That's right. That's right. We've been in this conversation about Nehemiah for a while.
And really, Nehemiah is a prime example of leadership and how to handle things when things don't always go the way that you expect. Exactly.
So, just to bring people up to speed, Nehemiah, Jewish man living in Persia. came there you know, through his ancestors who were taken in exile. He has attained a very powerful position, which is not easy to do. He is the king's confidant. He's not just a guy holding the cup.
The cupbearer. He's not just the poison taster, the food taster. No, he is. A confidant of the king. He is the one that the king trusts in.
And one day he hears the news that his people, people he probably never met, people who went back home or were they were there and they came together or came out of hiding, their lives are in big trouble. Primary reason for that are the gates of Jerusalem are still burned with fire. They're still lying on the ground. They're torn to pieces. And His heart is broken for his people.
But don't misunderstand that. This was not just, oh, I feel sad for my family group or my kinds of people. No, he knows that the coming of the Messiah, the coming, they probably did not use the word Messiah at this point, but I hope you get the point. They knew that through them, the plan of salvation was coming for them and for the whole world. This is what everybody was waiting for.
And now, because of this vulnerability. Without any walls around the city, because of this vulnerability, the plan was in jeopardy.
So the tears were not just, oh, I feel sad for me and my people. The tears were sadness and fear. For the plan of salvation. Yeah. I think it's one of the things that we forget about: is that these tears, this hurting.
Right? It's something we all relate to, but we relate to the things that affect us personally, the things that I have to immediately deal with. Nehemiah. I mean, he would have been fine if he had never gone. It's the mark of leadership that he went, even though this is a people that emotionally, or at least in the immediate emotion, he doesn't really relate to.
I think that's something that you mentioned on the top, Dr. Schwatz, that leader is one of the marks of leaders that they have to care. Yeah. They have to care about what's going on in the world around them and care for their people. And you would think that when you care, People are going to respect that.
People are going to be for me because I'm doing an objectively good thing.
Well, the good thing, why did I say what I said just a few moments ago, that Nehemiah cared about the plan of salvation? Because if you just go to a contemporary, or maybe one who came a little bit earlier than Nehemiah. a woman named Esther. She was to be the queen of Persia. Right?
And so there was a lot of uh things going on, but she sorta had kept her identity safe. And This man, Haman, was going to destroy the Jewish people. And her uncle Mordecai, whose identity was very open. He told Esther, you need to speak up for your people. And there was a little bit of hesitation in Esther, just the way I'm sure there was a hesitation in Nehemiah: like, oh, you want me to leave my wonderful palace?
My job that I walk down this hallway, which is decorated with blue enamel and gold-plated these guards known as immortals on the wall. And I mean, I walk in, and there are servants waiting on me. And I'm not even from here. Yeah. Right.
I mean, he was probably born and raised there, but I'm like, you know, an outsider, and yet I'm in such a high position. You want me to leave this and go? But if you remember what Mordecai told Esther, If you Don't go. Make no mistake. Help will come.
For God's people. And I think those who were living in exile, in in high position and comfort and safety and security, they had an added burden to take care of their people back in the land. Or back everywhere.
So Mordecai told Esther. Make no mistake. that God will send someone to save His people, but you and your family will perish.
Now, what is that perish that you're going to die? No, I thought she was safe. I thought she had kept her identity hidden. No, what it meant is that you will perish without the gospel. That's what it really means.
There's a deep underlying spiritual meaning. And I'm not spiritualizing the text. It says the Bible is about the plan of salvation. Genesis to Malachi is about the gospel. You and your family will perish.
But who knows? Maybe God has brought you for such a time as this. And when Esther heard those words, she went before the king, which was not allowed. I mean, if the king doesn't call you, you don't go. This is Persia.
And she still went. And the king allowed her to come in and listen to her. I mean, all that, you know, the rest of the story. Same thing is happening with Nehemiah. God's plan of salvation will be saved.
God's going to send somebody else. He may not be Nehemiah. He may not be the cupbearer to the king. He may be somebody else who worked in the palace. God's going to inspire that person to go, but you, Nehemiah, and your family will perish.
So, the call to leadership is not necessarily because if you don't do it, the world won't be saved. The burden of leadership is on you and on you alone. It's more that this is a. Calling that God is calling you not to miss out on. Yeah, this is an opportunity for you.
Yeah. Yeah. To be partnering with God and bringing the plan. There's no secondary plan, there's no tertiary plan, there is no backup plan. This is it.
This is it. This is the moment in history. Where those previously and those coming after will be saved. You have a chance to go and help those people, rebuild those city walls, give them a sense of stability so that they can go on for how many years 400 more years. 400 more years before the Son of God will come.
But you have a chance. And Nehemiah, as you know, fasted and prayed, went before the king, and the king immediately knew what was happening. And he questioned him. And Nehemiah did not hem and haul. He said no.
My people are in trouble. Dr. Shah, you've been pastoring and counseling people for a number of years now. How often do you interact with people who, I mean, for lack of a better phrase, have missed God's I think it's a very good idea. A lot, and you can see in their eyes, you can see in their faces that there was a point where they should have stepped up and trusted God, obeyed God, followed God, and they did, and they know that.
But you see in that moment they got afraid. It's like when we were on a staff retreat, everybody was climbing this massive rock outcropping, and it was like an overlook.
So you climb up there and then you can look over. And people were going up, and it was it was sort of, you know, steep. And I was like. I don't know if I wanna get my Pants dirty, and I'm a slip. And if I slip, everybody's gonna panic, and then they're gonna make a big fuss over it.
And I was like, I don't wanna do that. I think I can get up there, but I don't know. And then I was like.
Okay, fine, I'll do it because one of our team members, I think John said, you know, yeah, we can get a good shot over there if you can. I said, well, if that's the case, and people are going up and kids are going up. Yeah. Now, by the way, don't misunderstand, it was steep. Yeah, it's a steep, it was a steep rock.
It was steep. It's not just you're walking up a rocky path. I mean, there was actual climbing involved. I used to hike back in college, so it was not like I was not used to something like this, but this was steep. And I'm thinking, if I slip or break my ankle, you know, I have to travel soon, may not be good.
But I was like, okay, fine, I'll do it. And I began to climb up. And Halfway up that climb, which was not very high, w w would you say maybe about twenty five feet? If that, yeah. Yeah, it was maybe twenty five.
Yeah, I was like, ooh, this was a mistake. Really? Yeah, 'cause I was like, where do I put my hand? How do I where do I s I was like, no, I'm not going back. That's right.
I am going to go forward. I am going to climb this rock. And I did. And your wife Nicole did the same thing, right? No.
No. She said, not today. She's not a climber, but which is fine. We got a great shot. You know, I think we've talked about this a little bit on the show, but we're filming a documentary.
We're filming a movie. And so, as we were there, we thought that backdrop would be one of the most perfect places to sort of end the story or at least close the story out with this wild west frontier. And you and I were talking as we were filming kind of between the takes. And I said, you know, what is it about this that you love so much? And you were like, it's not the scenery.
It's the sense of fearlessness that the people who settled this land had to have. I mean, to go out, this is unforgiving terrain. Yeah. Right. They had to go out there and they had to be fearless.
Yeah, wild territory. Yes.
So, you know, it's the same thing. Do we ever have fear? Absolutely. But you have to push through it. You have to know that if somebody else has gone before me, I can do it.
That's right. And there is no backing down. And we did. And we did. What it says here in Nehemiah 2, verse 8 is that the king granted me according to the good hand of my God upon me.
Hudson Taylor, who was a missionary to China, China Inland Mission, used to say, God's work Done in God's way will never lack God's supply. It's powerful, very much. Yeah. I'll repeat that again for somebody who's never heard this before because it's very popular. It's been used many, many times over the past couple of hundred years.
But God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply. I can tell you, that statement is very, very true, it's biblically based. When God is at the helm of your life, no problem or no need is too much for him. He can handle it. You and I just have to step out in faith and trust God.
That's right. You know, and it's, it sounds so simple, right? It sounds like the simplest thing. All I got to do is just do it. Just step out.
Just step out there. Just go. And fear debilitates us every time. And I don't know, and it's fear of failing. Maybe it's the fear of the opposition that's about to come.
Maybe it's the fear of just the unknown. I don't even know what to be afraid of.
So I'm going to be afraid of all of it.
Well, there's a reason that, you know, they say they use phrases like paralyzed with fear. It's not always that fear is a retreating.
Sometimes it's just you're stuck and you just won't move forward. Yeah. They added that, you know, they talk about the fight or flight response. They added fight, flight, or freeze because people are just stuck in fear. What do you think contributes to that, Dr.
Shah? People just getting locked up with fear. I mean, you know, you just fear the worst. You're thinking this may kill me. Mm.
This is going to embarrass me. This is going to r really Throw me into a state that I'm not ready to face. I may do something, I may pass out, I may cry.
So people or get angry.
So it's almost like a protective mechanism. And we just stop. Because I don't want to face what may happen. Just like when I was on that rock cropping, I kind of hung on to this. And I remember somebody saying, You want to come back down?
I was like, No, no, I'm going to go forward. And then when I got up there, I was like, I don't know why I stopped there. What about the people who are listening to this who may, even if they don't admit it, they're afraid to move forward in their ministry. They're afraid to move forward with their church, or they're just afraid to try something new because of how their people might react.
Well, one reason I stopped on the rock outcropping because a guy got in front of me. He was sort of behind me, but he sort of got up in front of me. And then he panicked. I don't know if y'all remember that. He's like, Oh, no, I'm getting down.
Oh, the older guy? Yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's like, I'm getting down. And he was wearing hiking shoes and he was in hiking clothes. And I was like, Oh.
Now, how are we going to do this? But he navigated around me, slid down, and got off. I was like, okay, I am not. Yeah, no, you can't be at the top of the water slide and then take the walk of shame back to the bottom. No, no, no.
And he was just three steps away from being there standing. And once you get up there, it's not like you can play, you know. Yeah. Tennis there, but it was plenty of space to stand. You could walk around, but he was like, No way, I'm going down.
I said, Oh, okay, really? Right now, you're deciding to do that. Yeah, it's gonna be harder for you to get down than it is for you to just keep already made it halfway up. I would say three-fourths.
So, why do people do that? I think they haven't truly grasped the vision, the importance of what needs to be done. And I'm thinking one reason I'm gonna do that is not to prove to the people that I can do it. Or prove to me that I can do it. But because y'all needed a good shot.
Yeah. And I was like. Okay, if I get up there, which they're already up there. If I don't do that, then there climb up there is all for nothing. I have to get up there.
And then a few minutes earlier, before I got up there, Ryan got up there with his children. Yep. You remember that? I do remember that. It's something to where, and we talked about this before.
You know, adventure like that, kind of going off the beaten path, climbing up here and scaling this and looking out in the overlook-that's not something that's inherently in me. Like, I didn't grow up that way. I didn't, we didn't go on a lot of adventures in like hiking through the woods or, you know, kind of roughing it like that.
So, that's not something that I naturally have an inclination to do, but it's something that I want for my kids, right? Not and not just in nature, but in life. Like, this is an obstacle, we're going to meet it head on, and we might be afraid, but we're going to overcome it because we know God's with us and we know that people around us are going to take care of us. Absolutely. And I want to pick up on that because growing up that way, I grew up similar.
Dad was always traveling, he was going on preaching tours, revivals, crusades, all you know, those kinds of things. And so, mom and grandma were home. And their statement to me always was, No. Stay here. Stay here.
Like when I wanted to go swimming, they said, You need to learn how to swim first before you can go swimming. You can go swimming like aware, like in the yard. How's that work? On the bed. You're not getting in the water until you learn how to swim.
Yes.
What?
So I had to lie to them. Really? I had to lie to them. In the morning, I would say, I'm going jogging. I wasn't jogging.
I was going to the local river, which is a very dangerous river. A lot of people had died. Fishermen, very expert swimmers, had died in the river. I was going in there to swim. Were you doing it because you wanted to learn how to swim?
Or did you just want to, like, I just want to be with my friends and no, no, no, I didn't love my friends that much. I want to ask the question that's on our listeners' minds: Did they find out? I think eventually they probably did. We never talked about it. Yeah.
I'm with you, though. Like, my mother was this way. My mother was very scared of everything, scared of the oceans. My mother was very scared of animals, real, real finicky of any animal. Like, I remember being at petting zoos and being a kid and reaching out and be like, oh, do not touch that piggy.
Do not touch that piglet. That pig will bite you. I'm like, oh, okay. And then, like, I would go, John, do not touch that goat. I'm serious, son.
That goat will bite you. You will lose that finger. Oh, my. To this day, I am uncomfortable around animals.
Now, to this day, like, if I see a piglet, I'm not going to be like, oh, and like run away. But I will side-eye the pig. Yeah. We had horses here for one of our plays. We brought in horses and they were outside and people could come up and pet the horses.
And Dr. Shaw was like, everybody, let's take a picture touching the horses. And I was like, eh. Seriously. And it's kind of a funny example, but the fear that that my mother put in me, I still have a little bit to this day.
It does not leave you unless you really give it to God. I mean, that's how I grew up. And so when I came to America, I tried to get over that fear some, but I was also cautious because I felt like if something happened to me, if I took a risk and I hurt myself, like we used to go hiking, and then there were times that the guys used to do certain things like jump off the cliffs into the water? Into the water. And I was like, I don't know, I'm not going to do that because that's even if I'm dead, my dad's going to come give me a lecture.
Was your dad a lecturer? Like he would, he would let me have it.
So I'm like, I don't know if I want to do that.
So there was a fear, and then there was a fear of what if. Yeah. Yeah. So once I got past that stage, I began to take more risks.
So, so, going back to your story, you finished that, Ryan. I mean, you were saying that you grew up like fearing. Yeah, I did. I did. And I don't think it was anything that my parents said directly, but it was almost what they didn't say.
Like, they didn't encourage us to, they didn't push us to go do that and kind of confront those fears and overcome them. But that's something that we talked about, Dr. Shaw. And it's something that I want for my kids.
So seeing you prioritize that for us has made me want to prioritize that opportunity for my kids. That's right. Did you get over, did you get over this fearful state for like this is the type of man and leader I want to be? Or was it like I need my church to succeed and I can't be this way? Or was it a little you mean the whole idea of being afraid?
Being afraid of children. Children. Yeah, my kids. Gotcha. Exactly what Ryan said because I didn't want them to grow up fearing everything.
I didn't want them to take unnecessary. Risks like jumping off a bridge or whatever.
Now, if they get into that, which I don't think any of them will now, knowing their personalities, they're not the type to do that. Or maybe they will, I don't know. But I don't want them to be afraid. I don't want them to be that kid in the group who is hiding behind everybody and saying, No, not me, not me. Hey, hey, to go and jump in the swimming pool.
No, you know, no, I'm not going to do that. Yeah. Yeah. So it was more for the children. Got you.
So, how does this enter into ministry? Because I mean, there are people, there are pastors, there are ministry leaders who are just afraid to move forward. How do you get over that? Like, how, like, that was the reason that you got over it, but how did you do it? Did you just slowly expose yourself to things that you were afraid of?
Well, just think about it. People who are in ministry are already tuned in to that deeper side. Of who we are.
Okay, now maybe I'm generalizing that, and if I am, I'm sorry. But people who are in ministry, who are spiritually minded, are usually more contemplative type people.
Okay, Christianity is for everybody. Salvation does not mean it's only for the spiritually minded and the regular people are just roughing it through life. No, it's for all of us. But those who are in ministry leadership usually are more contemplative, more on the artistic side of things because we get up and speak. We don't get up there and do a weightlifting competition.
We don't get up there and do a boxing match. We don't get up there and work on muscle cars. We get up there and speak to people. sense of an art.
So we tend to be a little bit more on the on the softer side.
Now, again, I may be generalizing.
Now, some pastors try to compensate that by. Going out there and buying a Harley. If you wrote a Harley before you became a pastor, by all means, ride a Harley. But if you're getting a Harley to prove that you're manly, because you don't want to be 40, 50 years old, have an accident and be cool. Yeah, that's not worth doing.
So do it for the right reason. But if you're doing it so that you can be manly and impress the men in the church, like, I'm a man's man. Like they ride the Harley, like they pop a wheelie down the center aisle. I don't know.
Well, I don't know about that. Riding it from the balcony, suspended by a wire somehow. I don't know.
Yeah. So people try to compensate. Don't have to do that. Just. You know.
Trust God. That's right. That's right. Trust God. I mean, think about David.
On one hand, he can kill a lion and a bear, and on the other hand, he can write Psalm 23. That's very true. That to me is amazing. Yeah. How can he balance both?
Even though he had that artistic gift, he was able to step up and be courageous. That's right. So find that part of you that may be afraid and push the limit. And so, with the children, I began to be more brave, like going hunting.
Now, maybe some of our listeners and viewers may not like hunting.
So, sorry about that. Yeah, you're going to have to tune this part out. Yeah, but I go hunting. I mean, this is the South, for goodness. It makes sense in our context of the world.
It might not in yours, but it makes sense in ours. Yeah. Like, my. Dad's Family, like going back to his grandfather. These, and his father would be my grandfather, they would go tiger hunting before tigers became extinct.
So they went tiger hunting. I don't go tiger hunting. Because you cannot find that, and you cannot do it. It's illegal. But I do go deer hunting.
Or Turkey. Yeah. Right? So I I made myself do that. And it has bred a sense of courage in me that I can climb a tree, I can sit there, I can walk out there in the dark.
And kill a deer. I think it's also helped you to encourage your staff to take risks. Like, we don't take silly, unnecessary risks, but we do take calculated risks, and there's a freedom of this: hey, if this doesn't work out, if we take this risk and fail, it will not break us. We will still be a strong team, you will still be a strong leader. Therefore, you have permission to take a risk, and if you fail, you have permission to fail and learn from it.
Right. Like, of course, I go deer hunting, but I went deer hunting with. Men who were very knowledgeable and very capable and had been doing it for years, they taught me. Yeah. This is how you do it.
This is how you climb a tree. This is how you get into it. You didn't just walk out into the woods in the dark with a gun. No, for one, you cannot go shooting in the dark, anyways. But yeah, no, definitely not.
Yeah. So be around people who are inspiring. That's right. Be around people who know how to take calculated risks. Be around people who push you out of your comfort zone.
And then it will help you as well. In our church, we have people built that way, and that helps. I've had friends who were built that way, and that helped me as well.
So, all that to say. If you are I hate to use the word scaredy cat type Find a way to push yourself. That's right. There you go. That's right.
That's so good for us. It's so helpful to understand, you know, fear is not a roadblock to retreat from. Fear is something, an obstacle that can be overcome. That's right. It doesn't mean that fear goes away.
You know, you still might be afraid at certain times, but understanding how to push through that fear and the benefits of pushing through that fear is huge. Yes, absolutely. And we want you guys to make sure that you are constantly listening to the Clearview Today show because part of our goal is to equip you with the courage that you need. You listen to this every single day, and it's going to do something for you because God is giving you scripture to help you be brave, to give you knowledge and to give you wisdom that will equip you to be brave.
So you're not just being brave for bravery's sake. You're coming from a place of true, genuine biblical wisdom. Guys, make sure you join us for the conversation tomorrow. We're going to continue the conversation about Nehemiah and how he stood up to opposition that he faced and teach you how to do the same. Big thank you to our sponsors for making today's episode possible.
And don't forget to share these episodes with your friends and family. You can do that by subscribing anywhere podcasting content can be found. And if today's message was a blessing, Blessing to you. Make sure it's a blessing to other people by giving financially at Abadanshah.com forward slash give. That's right.
Big thank you to all of you who do give monthly through Pray.com and to all of you who have already pre-ordered your copy of the Byzantine text form. That's the Greek New Testament that we're putting out through Clearview Press. It's available for pre-order right now. You can get your copy by following the link in the description. You can find all of our content at Abadanshah.com.
That's right. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview today.
