Thursday, June 19

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Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but 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.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”  Now I was cupbearer to the king.  - Nehemiah 1:8-11

This passage is the second half of Nehemiah’s great prayer after he heard the news about the desperate condition of the people in Jerusalem.  Notice that in verse 8, Nehemiah tells God to “remember the word you commanded to your servant Moses.”  He is quoting from Deuteronomy 30 where God promises to bring back His scattered people.  The Old Testament is full of references to God instructing the people to remember, but in this case, Nehemiah appears to be telling God to remember.

Deuteronomy 5:15 - You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand.

1 Chronicles 16:12 - Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth.

Over and over again, we are instructed to remember who God and is and what He has done.  This makes perfect sense because we are forgetful people, we lose sight of who God is and we forget His Word and His promises to us - we need to be reminded often.  But why does Nehemiah tell God to remember?  Does he really think that God needs to be reminded of what He said?  Of course not!

Nehemiah knows that the only basis on which he can make his appeal to God the character and nature of God.  In other words, Nehemiah is counting on God to be true to Himself!  He is banking on God’s faithfulness to His own promise.  This is the only basis on which any of us can approach God.  

I think many, if not most, people approach God on the basis of their needs.  They assume that the immediacy of their need, or the desperate nature of their condition, or the sincerity of their plea will gain them and audience in heaven.  The truth is that God hears and responds to human cries, not because we are deserving, but because He is a loving, compassionate, and faithful God.  

Nehemiah understood this and he made his appeal on the basis of God’s faithfulness to His own word - God will do what God has said!

Today, those of who are followers of Jesus Christ make our appeal to God on the basis of Jesus Christ; the Living Word - God has done what God has said!

The Apostle Paul puts this beautifully in his second letter to the Corinthians where he says,  For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.  - 2 Corinthians 1:19-20

We do not come to God to convince Him of our sincerity, He already knows our hearts.  We don’t come to God to make Him aware of our needs or circumstances, He knows what you need before you ask Him.  

We come to God in the strength and assurance of the name of Jesus!  Just like Nehemiah we can always count on our God to be faithful to us because He is faithful to His own Word!

Jeff Frazier