Have you ever been stunned into action? I don't know Emma Watson, the actor who played Hermione Granger in all the Harry Potter movies. But, I wonder if she may have had a poignant experience that stunned her into action.
My daughters sat me down to watch a powerful speech given by her at the United Nations on gender equality on the occasion of being named a good will ambassador for the UN. It would send her traveling and speaking around the world, not always five star, not always welcome, not always appreciated or understood. Why take on these responsibilities that would be controversial, challenging and uncomfortable? After all, she is at the top of her game with all the money and fame necessary to do and be anything she wants.
I think she may have been stunned into action. In 2016 she met with women her age in Africa who had been married off as girls by their poor families. They were in school when she met them. Their abusive marriages had been annulled by a new law passed a year earlier. Before that, half of the girls in that country were pressured into marriage before turning eighteen.
Imagine Emma Watson, who spent her teenage years filming some of the most successful movies of all time, with all the benefits and experiences that come with that, meeting with women her own age who spent their teens exposed to physical and sexual abuse, all legal and called marriage. She said it made her realize how important it is for women to be able to make their own choices. I think an experience like that could stun anyone into action. It certainly empowered and emboldened Emma Watson, an actor, to use her skills and abilities to make a difference.
Nehemiah was a regular working person who did his job faithfully and believed what he did was an act of worship. It just so happens that God called this ordinary person to use he skills and abilities in a new endeavor, the way Emma Watson felt inspired to do something new. Nehemiah was stunned into action.