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Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
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Nehemiah 1:4
When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven.
Nehemiah was a man who saw the spiritual as well as the natural.
The report his brother, Hanani, gave him of Jerusalem was not only of broken walls and fire damage to the city - that was just the outward expression of an internal condition. The broken walls spoke of the broken lives of the people and the fire damage showed they were ‘burnt out’.
However, Nehemiah saw that all that was just endemic, for the people had forsaken God - big time. In his prayer he identified the root cause rather than the symptoms. We so often try and put on a ‘band aid’ when deep healing surgery is required.
Like Ezra, he didn’t pray, “Lord forgive them because they have treated You atrociously.” He identified himself with the sins of the people. “I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house have committed against You. We have acted very wickedly toward You. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws You gave Your servant Moses” (v 6-7).
That was neither theatrical nor theoretical rhetoric. That was a humble confession, repentance and pleading before the Almighty God. Here was someone who was distraught and in dead earnest. As our verse says, “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven.” Here was a broken man. But not without hope. He fasted and prayed.
He fasted in repentance and humility to show his determination to change things. He prayed because he knew his God. He knew God to be a merciful Heavenly Father; he knew His God was faithful to His promises - “If you return to Me… I will gather (you)” (v 9). He knew His God was a God of miracles - if anyone could come up with a solution, then God could. His God was the God of the impossible.
We also live in a desperate world. We can choose how to respond. We can say, “It’s all their fault - they get what they deserve. Oh dear, I don’t know what this world is coming to.” Or we can try and hide our heads in the sand. Or we can intercede and allow God to do something about it through us.
Don’t just pray. Do. Nehemiah did much more than just fast, pray and confess. He strategised and made detailed plans for what could and had to be done.
He was no sleeping partner or inactive intercessor. He put plans and actions to his prayers.
What about you? Will you help change your world?
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