Nehemiah: Rebuilding the Wallsنموونە

Nehemiah was a descendant of the people of Judah who had been taken into exile in Babylon. After the fall of Babylon, the Persian king allowed the Jewish people to return to their homeland, but some, including Nehemiah, chose not to return. Nehemiah lived in the Persian city of Susa, where he had risen to an honored and trusted position working for the Persian king. Although he had probably never been to Jerusalem, he maintained a spiritual connection to his ancestral home. When a relative arrived in Susa from Jerusalem, Nehemiah was full of questions about the city and the people living there. What he heard broke his heart. The famous walls of Jerusalem were broken down, and the gates burned, leaving God’s people disgraced, vulnerable to the scorn and attack of surrounding nations, and at risk of losing their clear and distinct identity. This was almost too much for Nehemiah to bear.

Nehemiah’s reaction to this terrible news was to turn to God, to spend not merely an hour or two but several days praying and fasting, bringing his sorrow and mourning ‘before the God of heaven.’ Despite having spent his life far from Jerusalem, Nehemiah was clearly committed to the faith of his ancestors, to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He did not have access to the temple and the practices described in Scripture, but he knew that, nevertheless, he had access to the Lord in prayer. His faith was based upon his knowledge of the Lord as a ‘great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands.’ Drawing upon his knowledge of the Law and the story of Israel in his prayer, he pleaded with God to remember his promise to Israel to forgive, gather, and restore them after the exile.

When God calls us to a task, it often starts with a broken heart. When we see pain and suffering, when we are moved to tears by so many hurt and lost people around us, when we look with righteous anger upon the injustice and oppression in the world, then we must take our sorrow and heartbreak before the God of heaven in prayer, pleading for his forgiveness and restoration.