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What Can I Do to Help?
Compassion has a way of affecting us on the inside and the outside. Nehemiah’s grief about the vulnerability his people were experiencing because of the state of the wall made him visibly sad. The king noticed and asked Nehemiah what was wrong.
Nehemiah’s immediate response was to pray to God. He does this when he first hears from his brother and again when he had the opportunity to request resources from the king.
It’s inspiring to see how Nehemiah could talk to God in prayer. In his first prayer in chapter 1, Nehemiah processes what he’s heard about the devastation of Jerusalem. He asks God to forgive His people and asks that God give him favor with the king to access resources to rebuild the gates and walls of Jerusalem. By praying first, Nehemiah had time to process the challenges of the situation and seek God’s clarity for his role.
The opportunity comes for Nehemiah to make his request to the king, and again his first response is to pray. I wonder if the prayer was ‘Help, God!’ Nehemiah stepped forward with courage despite any fears he may have had for himself.
Written by PHIL HENRY
Scripture
About this Plan
A series by Phil & Kath Henry. The book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament of the Bible is more than an account of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. It’s an invitation to all who read it to be inspired by one person’s faith and passion to rebuild a community of people. The story can speak to each of us today as we desire to rebuild communities of faith and hope in the wake of the discouragement and vulnerability that world events have caused in the past few years. In this plan, we consider how compassion for others can become inspirational action. We’ll also consider how we can do our God-given part without taking on more than is ours to do.
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