GRIEVE FIRST. Nehemiah 1:4 It is not enough to know what’s wrong in the lives and cities of those around us. Many have never heard the Word of God and don’t know where they’re headed. Some of us have been blessed, and now our feet are planted on holy ground; it is up to us to identify ourselves as God’s people and give the Gospel a voice. Before stepping out to work for God and expecting people to listen, I need, like Nehemiah, to humble myself before the Lord, kneel, and pray. The differences between the lost and the saved are like the differences between night and day, and often, the only way people will listen is if they know I live differently. In a faraway land from where Nehemiah lived, the need was great, and so his grief was real and visible. He knew that without a wall, humanly speaking, Israel would not survive in the middle of antagonistic tribes. To be an advocate, he had to spend time alone with God before he could let sadness show on his face, as God’s plan for him unfolded. He could then define the work before him, and his Lord would empower him to follow through.
Love for God and love for others is so necessary to enable us to do God’s revealed will; and it is now, and always will be, God’s plan to use mere mortal men and their hands to fill the work yet undone, whether it be at home or in a distant field, fallow ground to till; and there the harvest of a work for God is waiting, as it has for years – and is waiting still.
Heartfelt prayer is where the seeking soul begins to gain the insight essential to working for God. From there, he lays himself on the altar for God, giving unreservedly to his Lord his full potential. If sin has been a hindrance to his life – covetousness or whatever sin he faces - he is penitent, knowing that for a man to be used for God, he must be clean to be used instrumentally. For people in a culture strange to me or a language unknown to me, I must take steps to rectify my lack by laying down at the feet of the Lord Jesus – marked with nails – all that I thought would satisfy me in this life, and by deliberately stepping out of the zone of comfort I live in, choosing to identify myself in language, dress, and lifestyle so they know I identify with Him who for their sins did die.
No matter how far God’s own people will go, the Lord is still waiting for them to return to Him. Then they will know they can be assured they are welcomed by Him, who allows terrible things to come to pass so that His children will return. His mercy is real, and His heart is full of grace, even though for so long His grace they have ignored and taken for granted. These are His servants, His people, His redeemed. Though the world and its sin distracted them, God’s great power and great hand, though they had gone far from God, were ready to welcome them back. But a leader was needed who knew his God. He had remained true when the others had failed. When the time was right, he could speak for the Lord and give leadership with all that entailed.
We all have times when others look to us to see if we can help them. They need to see that we take seriously what God says in His Word. We may not realize that a simple man who feels the demands are too much is just the right person God has in His plan because he has kept in touch with his Lord. Confidence in God’s unchanging love for His people is the basis for earnest, fervent, and believing prayer. Obedience to God and a willingness to trust Him when the needs are far beyond our ability to meet are fundamental attitudes of the prayer of faith.
When a second- or third-generation believer is concerned about the testimony of the Lord's people and the assembly of the saints as a whole, that is a wonderful thing. Far too many of the people of God take their spiritual heritage for granted and can be counted on as real participants only if they "have time" or "if it will fit into their schedule." A broken and contrite heart is not some "flash in the pan" matter that is momentary, but a grief to the soul that has known the joy of fellowship with God. It is one thing to grieve over one's own condition, but quite another when God's people and the testimony to the Lord's name are in jeopardy.
Nehemiah had lived his whole life in Babylon, yet he loved the place where God's honor dwelt. Jerusalem and the temple represented the Jews' identity wherever they were scattered. Jewish history and past glory remained in Nehemiah's heart and mind. He had never seen Solomon's temple or the one Zerubbabel built, but he knew where they were and why they were important. The message that the people in Jerusalem were in trouble and that there was reproach at the center of Jewish identity took the good right out of him, and he had to sit down and cry over such bad news. His state of soul touched those who gathered around him, as they realized their need for God to find a solution to this great problem.
The covenant of love and mercy God made with Israel had been made with the understanding that Israel’s obedience would bring God’s blessings. God had been patient with them for a long time, but their idolatry, disobedience, and rebellion led to seventy years of captivity in Babylon. Israel had been overpowered; many had been killed, and the majority of the rest had been taken as captives.
In Nehemiah’s grief, at the beginning of this prayer, he acknowledged the need for their obedience and expressed his confidence that God would answer his prayer because He had promised to hear and bless those who obeyed Him. Nehemiah had fasted and prayed for several days, expressing his sorrow for Israel’s sin. He earnestly desired that Israel would become aware of God’s presence with them again and would worship Him sincerely.