Pray and Work, the Inspiring Example of NehemiahSample

Nehemiah pleaded God's promise

Remember the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘[…] If you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make My name dwell there.’” (Nehemiah 1:8-9)

A few days ago we already saw that Nehemiah reminded God of His own character. He found hope in God's forgiveness and mercy. Here Nehemiah quotes very specifically what the Lord had said to Moses: If the Israelites were unfaithful to God, they would be scattered among the nations. But if they then repented, He would bring them back to their own land.

The first part of this announcement had come true. After all, Nehemiah himself was in Babylon, far from his ‘home country’. Now Nehemiah asked the Lord to make the second part come true as well: the return of the people to their promised land. A small beginning of this was already visible, because a number of people had already returned. But there was no real restoration yet.

God's faithfulness to His promises is a core theme in the Bible. The Lord does what He has announced — both His punishments and His promised blessings will surely be carried out. In Nehemiah's case, these predictions were very specific and tied to a fairly precise time frame: after 70 years of exile, the Israelites would be allowed to return to their land. Other promises of God have a less clear time frame. Jesus' second coming to earth, for example, and the new heavens and the new earth He will then create.

How do you deal with these kinds of promises? What role do they play in your life and prayer?