Introduction The life of Nehemiah, as recorded in the Bible, has been a great source of insight and encouragement for me for many years. When, as a young pastor, I first studied Nehemiah's story, his persistence and wisdom in the face of opposition and difficulty inspired me. That inspiration has returned many times throughout my career and my life. Nehemiah's life is a clear example of God's providential power to have the right person in the right place at the right time. With Jerusalem under Syrian control, Nehemiah found himself at the side of the only man in the world who could give authority and provide resources to restore the city of God: King Artaxerxes. Nehemiah's journey from slave to rebuilder of a city, and ultimately to rebuilder of a nation is one of the great leadership stories in all of Scripture. As we study the biblical book that bears Nehemiah's name, we find hope for all that God has planned for us. Nehemiah was certainly not the most obvious candidate to play the hero in the story of the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

As a slave in the king's service, he was severely limited in his ability to secure the change and leadership that was needed for his beloved homeland. As one who had lived his entire life in Syria, he was considered a foreigner by those who had remained in the homeland--those he would be called to lead. But God is not limited by our own self-image or by what others see as our potential. In this account, we will see that no matter how restricted your self-identity, God has the power to take you far beyond those restrictions. You just need to trust him. He has an identity set up for you, and his definition of you is the best definition. Though you may have a self-identity--or what I like to call an I-am--that is established through a lifetime of mistakes, miscues, and failures, God still sees all that he made you to be. And if you let him, he can make you all of that and more! As we look at the life of Nehemiah, we will do so through the lens of six different identities that Nehemiah experienced in his life and work.

By looking into these identities, both positive and negative, we can discover how he overcame the negative and destructive identities and worked effectively through the positive and constructive ones. We will also find clues to our own feelings of failure and inadequacy that will help us to move from a damaged, destructive I-am to a God-inspired I-am. Along the way, we will deal with our own short-sightedness and lack of faith when it comes to our personal identity. Keep in mind as you read this that we are reading from the Old Testament. The Old Testament of our Bible is the covenant of God with the people of Israel and how that agreement played out between them throughout their history. Therefore, the Old Testament is best read as narrative in nature. While we often cannot draw direct instruction from the Old Testament, we can learn how our God leads, how our God views and works with us, and how we should follow. So, let's get started.