Nehemiah is one of the Old Testament Books I keep going back to it has much to offer. Not only can Nehemiah teach us much about the need for prayer for our nation but also about when prayer coupled with planning can result in a way forward. Without a vision the church perishes, equally it can be said that a church that does not prayer together does not stay together, nor does a church that does not know how to with God’s guidance plan and implement it’s plan will perish. This Sunday I am preaching from Nehemiah and this year I purposefully intend to complete a series of poems from Nehemiah. Below is the first one:
Nehemiah 1 vs. 1-4 – Nehemiah Hears About The Struggles of The Israelites
The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel Of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant
Nehemiah though some 800 miles from Jerusalem desired to hear about his fellow Israelites, he had no news in Susa
So when the opportunity came to hear he questioned Hanani and others about what was happening to the remnant
It was a bit like getting a report from someone who had walked from Timaru to Auckland such was the distance to Susa
And Nehemiah desired to hear what had been happening since the rebuilding of the temple and what was imminent
He wanted the latest news, he wanted to be informed, and he couldn’t click onto the internet circa 445BC in the citadel of Susa
Nor could he listen to the radio or TV, nor did he want secondhand news, but eyewitnesses who came from the remnant
That survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. They said to me, “Those who survived the exile
And are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down,
Sometimes eagerly awaited news is not what we hope for or expect and can be hard to reconcile
With our hopes and expectations and instead of joy we can feel depressed, sad and feel quite down
We can get angry, frustrated and shout at God, Why!? To get over the news may take quite a while
Nehemiah when he heard these things went through stages of grief and he was sad and broken down
And its gates have been burned with fire.” 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 knew that a city without its walls was vulnerable to attack and could easily be swept
Overcome by opposition forces the people were weak, without hope, and leaven
They needed to rise up out of their malaise, to rebuild the walls and be by them safely kept
Nehemiah wept, mourned, fasted and prayed calling out to his God in heaven
We can learn from him he interceded for his people, he understood their needs and wept
He got down on his knees and cried out, we need to cry out for NZ to our God in heaven
Mark Maffey, December 2008
(NIV)
Nehemiah parallels Paul’s call in Phillippians 4
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication,
With thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God
Do we know how to supplicate – to get down on our knees and passionately call to God? The first step is not a step rather it is to kneel before God, before we can step out to God we need to call to God, hear his voice, hear his desires, and then start planning how we can actively implement his desires, his plans.