Day 2 — Favour That Risks Itself
A daily doxa way series for the UK church: What They Gave Up, What They Gained
Walk any British street and you can feel it—the carefulness. We measure our words. We read the room. We choose safe. At school gates. In NHS corridors. On studio floors and council calls. We’re kind, but quiet. The risk for us is that we are being discipled by silence and being polite.
This series is for anyone who knows they’re called to open their mouth. Prophetic courage steadies us in a world of resistance and pulls us into the future God has promised. Grace first. Overflow, not effort.
Today’s trade
Today we’re looking at the trade made by each of Nehemiah, Joseph, and Huldah—with Obadiah (Ahab’s steward) and Ebed‑Melech alongside them—who gave up position and influence as personal security and gained God‑given favour that lifted people, re‑formed systems, and protected the vulnerable. Let’s dive into their stories.
Gave up: position and influence as personal security.
Gained: position on loan from God to serve others—people protected, systems re‑formed, and favour that serves.
There is always fire on acceptable sacrifice.
Nehemiah — leaving the palace (Nehemiah 1–6; 5)
Context: About 445 BC, decades after Jerusalem’s destruction. Many Jews lived under Persian rule. Jerusalem’s walls lay in ruins; the poor were being squeezed by the wealthy. Nehemiah served Artaxerxes I as cupbearer—trusted, comfortable, influential.
Scene: Persian marble, the risk of a sad face before a king. Paper‑dry letters clutched in a builder’s hands. Dust storms over Jerusalem.
Gave up: a prestigious role at court, palace comfort, and the safety of a quiet career; later, the governor’s food allowance (financial security) to ease the people’s burden (Neh 5:14–18).
Courageous act/words: He prayed, then asked the king to send him (2:5–8), requested royal letters and timber, confronted predatory nobles (5:6–13), and rebuilt with a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other (4:17).
How it likely felt: “I was very much afraid” (2:2). Sleepless nights; the sting of mockery from Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem; constant threat.
Felt cost: reputation at court, income, and personal safety on the wall.
Gained: permission, resources, time; a rebuilt wall in 52 days; reforms that protected the exploited.
Fire on the sacrifice: God’s favour turned a palace servant into a city‑builder and gave courage to a weary people.
Joseph — naming God in a lethal court (Genesis 41)
Context: A Hebrew prisoner in Egypt is brought from a dungeon to stand before Pharaoh after the court’s experts cannot explain the king’s troubling dreams.
Scene: polished stone, the hush that can end a life. A prisoner stands before Pharaoh.
Gave up: safe, flattering answers and personal credit—“It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh the answer” (41:16).
Courageous act/words: He gave the interpretation of the dream that pharaoh then had and a plan—appoint overseers, collect a fifth of the harvest, store grain (41:33–36).
How it likely felt: utterly exposed—an ex‑prisoner contradicting advisors, staking everything on God’s insight.
Felt cost: risk of instant execution; no way to walk back the claim.
Gained: authority to steward resources through the crisis; lives preserved across nations, including his father’s house.
Fire on the sacrifice: Heaven’s interpretation opened an earthly door no résumé could.
Huldah — truth to power, no soft edges (2 Kings 22:14–20)
Context: Around 622 BC during King Josiah’s temple repairs, a forgotten “Book of the Law” is found—likely Deuteronomy. The nation has drifted into idolatry. Leaders seek a true word about what to do next.
Scene: anxious officials, a dusty scroll still startling the court.
Gave up: the safer path of soft words in a charged political moment.
Courageous act/words: She authenticated the scroll and spoke God’s verdict—judgment for long rebellion, mercy for humble Josiah. No hedging, no spin.
How it likely felt: weighty, exposed—delivering bad news to people who preferred reassurance.
Felt cost: potential backlash; reputation with priests and princes.
Gained: clarity that helped catalyse Josiah’s repentance and nationwide reform.
Fire on the sacrifice: God’s word through a faithful woman set a reforming king on righteous rails.
Obadiah (Ahab’s steward) — fearing God in hostile halls (1 Kings 18:3–16)
Context: Northern kingdom under Ahab and Jezebel. Baal worship is promoted; Jezebel is hunting prophets of the Lord. Famine grips the land. Obadiah manages the palace.
Scene: Jezebel’s purge, famine cracking the ground, a palace job that could end tomorrow.
Gave up: job security and personal safety to hide one hundred prophets and later to carry Elijah’s message to Ahab.
Courageous act/words: He secretly fed the prophets in two caves and still walked back into the throne room to say, “Elijah is here,” despite fear he’d be killed if Elijah vanished (18:12–15).
How it likely felt: torn—serving a wicked house while fearing God “greatly”; heart pounding on every errand.
Felt cost: proximity to a volatile crown; constant risk of exposure.
Gained: God’s servants preserved; a meeting arranged that advanced God’s purpose.
Fire on the sacrifice: quiet faithfulness kept the prophetic witness alive when the stage went dark.
Ebed‑Melech — advocacy in a cynical palace (Jeremiah 38:7–13; 39:15–18)
Context: Final days of Judah. Babylon besieges Jerusalem. Officials throw Jeremiah into a muddy cistern for telling hard truth. Ebed‑Melech is a Cushite (Ethiopian) court official.
Scene: a foreign courtier in royal corridors, a prophet sinking into mud.
Gave up: court status and safety to challenge powerful officials and petition the king.
Courageous act/words: He told Zedekiah plainly, “These men have acted wickedly,” secured permission, gathered ropes and rags, and hauled Jeremiah up.
How it likely felt: vulnerable—foreign, out‑ranked, and visible; every step a calculation of risk.
Felt cost: angering the inner circle; staking his future on a single plea.
Gained: a living prophet restored to speak; a personal promise of rescue when the city fell.
Fire on the sacrifice: God named him, saw him, and kept him.
Prayer
Father, every good gift comes from You. Where You’ve given us favour, make us faithful. Free us from self‑protection. Show us who to serve, what to say, and when to be quiet. Put fire on acceptable sacrifice—let our obedience bless many. Amen.
We are bulding the doxa app to better remember what God has promised (prophecies) and what he has done (testimonies) so we can fight the good fight (and win).