Continuing his series about people on the move, the Rev Richard Baxter focuses on Nehemiah.

THE tales of epic journeys have gripped the attention of people of all times and cultures.

Literature’s earliest blockbuster – the 4000-year-old Epic of Gilgamesh – is a travel tale. Whether it is the Exodus story recounted each Passover, Viking sagas told and retold around Scandinavian firesides, or modern television documentaries of explorers attempting new and challenging journeys, we all love a good travel story.

From Captain Bligh crossing oceans in a little boat to reach home after the mutiny on the Bounty, to Ernest Shackleton leading his team across Antarctic ice to safety on South Georgia, to Apollo 13’s safe return from a disastrous moon trip, few stories grab our attention like a perilous homecoming journey.

Nehemiah’s story is one of those epic tales. He leads his people on a difficult and dangerous trek, aiming for the place he considers home.

The story is in the first two chapters of the book of Nehemiah. In the royal palace of one of the great empires of the ancient world, Nehemiah had a comfortable and prominent position serving the emperor of Persia. Susa, now in western Iran, was at that time a great and sophisticated city, and Nehemiah was well-placed to enjoy its luxuries.

Yet he leaves his comfortable life behind. Nehemiah embarks on an expedition to a city in ruins, far removed from the comforts of the Persian court and his cloistered life there. He leads a group of exiles back to Jerusalem, on a mission to rebuild the city and the temple.

To succeed, he not only has to persuade an emperor that the ruined city should be rebuilt, but that a royal wine waiter is the right person for the job. He has to pass through difficult territory, solve construction problems and face security threats. When he arrives, initial mockery from neighbouring powers turns into open hostility and aggression. Nehemiah has to inspire disparate and competing groups of his own people to work together to complete the project.

What makes the story all the more remarkable is that there is nothing about Nehemiah to suggest he was the right man to achieve any of this. Yet he cared deeply about the city, had access to the king to make his bold request, and trusted in God to help him on his journey.

Many of us have asked the question over the years – “Why would God call me?”

Our calling may be to lead a children’s group, take a position in the Guild, to serve as an elder or train for some kind of ministry. It may be to support a family member or friend through a crisis for which we feel totally unprepared. Like Nehemiah, we cannot help wondering why on earth God would call people like us, when others seem so much better equipped for the task at hand.

But Nehemiah had vision, and commitment and an unfailing trust that the God who called him would also equip him. Our calling, whatever it may be, often owes less to our apparent skills and abilities than it does to our willingness to serve and our commitment to go where God leads.

The Rev Richard Baxter is minister at Fort William: Duncansburgh MacIntosh linked with Kilmonivaig.