Nehemiah 1:1-4
The
words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:
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 that had 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, 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.
Do
you remember where you were on 9/11? Do you remember what you felt when you
heard the World Trade Center towers had fallen?
Most
of us who were old enough on September 11, 2001 can remember where we were and
what we felt. It was a watershed moment in history; devastating on so many
levels. It changed the way we think about airplanes, airports, sky scrapers,
cities, our nation and the world.
But
for most of us, the tragedy of 9/11 did not touch us directly.
Yet
sooner or later most of us will have such a defining moment.
A
phone call will come in the middle of the night; a pink slip will show up on
our desk; a note will be left behind...
In
short, something will happen that threatens the walls of our lives; and it will
feel like everything is crumbling around us. How will we respond?
Remember
again how Nehemiah responded:
When
I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted
and prayed before the God of heaven.
Why did Nehemiah mourn?
He served in the court of one
of the most powerful men on earth. He had a position of great influence,
privilege and wealth, yet he mourns. Why?
Nehemiah mourns because he is
a Jew living in Babylon.
The news from Jerusalem
reminds him that he has lived his whole life as a foreigner in a foreign land.
He has lived his whole life away from his homeland; he has never seen the great
Temple.
He mourns because he hears
word that the walls of Jerusalem are still broken down and the gates burned by
fire. He mourns because his people (most of whom he had never met) were in
trouble. He mourned because his people were in disgrace; they were being
exploited by evil men who took advantage of their weakness.
He mourned because his God,
YAHWEH, had been defied by Nebuchadnezzar a hundred years earlier and now was being ridiculed by those who no
longer respected his holiness and glory.
Nehemiah mourns because he
loves God and loves his people. We only mourn for that which we love!
In Luke 19 we are reminded of
how, centuries later, Jesus would mourn over Jerusalem.
As he approached Jerusalem
and saw the city he wept over it and said,
“If you, even you, had only known on this day what
would bring you peace - but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come
upon you when your enemies will build embankments against you and encircle you
and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the
children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another because
you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you. (Luke 19:41-44)
Jesus mourned for the people
of Jerusalem because he loved them and knew they were spiritually lost.
In the Sermon on the Mount
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn...”
He meant that we are blessed
when our hearts break with a longing for God’s purpose and presence. He meant that we are blessed
when we love the things that God loves; when we care deeply about what God
cares deeply about.
So we must ask ourselves what
causes us to mourn?
Nehemiah’s personal situation was very good and very
comfortable, yet he mourned for the people of Jerusalem.
Sometimes, if I’m honest, I fear that I care more
about my personal convenience than the fact that my neighbor or friend might
not know Christ. Sometimes I am grieved more that my taxes are so high than
that children are going to bed hungry in the very county where I live.
So
here’s the question
that the first four verses of Nehemiah make me want to ask: Are we just
irritated when we have to wait in line at the grocery store, or do our hearts
break with the things that break the heart of God?
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