SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON - MARCH 1ST

Bible Passage: Nehemiah 1:1-11

What This Lesson Is About:

God provides His followers with opportunities to step up and serve Him. Unfortunately, many of His followers often fail to recognize or take advantage of their opportunities. The opening chapter of the Book of Nehemiah shows Nehemiah becoming aware of an opportunity and beginning to take advantage of it.

Spiritual Preparation Through Personal Bible Study by Bryan Beyer, professor of Old Testament at Columbia Biblical Seminary & School of Missions, Columbia, SC

I will never forget a lunch I had with an undergraduate student several years ago. During our conversation, she told me she prayed the same prayer every morning. That prayer was simply, “Lord, don’t let me miss it.”

I asked her what that meant, and she replied, “I don’t fully know. But today could be the day God reveals His next step in His plan for me.” She went on to explain that she might hear God’s call to missions in a Bible course or in a chapel service. She might end up sitting across the lunch table from her future life partner. Whatever God had for her next, she wanted to be sure to see it clearly.

Ask almost any adult what is wrong in the world and you’re sure to hear a litany of real or perceived problems, ranging from international terrorism to disrespectful kids, from world hunger to the price of gasoline. However, ask what that adult can do about the problems he or she identifies, and you very well may receive a response that can be summed up as, “What can I do? I’m only one person. The problem is so big, and I’m not in the position to influence it.” But God is looking for individuals today who, as Nehemiah, will step up to serve Him—individuals who see beyond the need to both the source of the problem and the possibility of solving it.