Wednesday, June 18

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When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said:
“Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.”   - Nehemiah 1:4-7

One of the most striking things about this prayer is Nehemiah’s confession.  Nehemiah not only confesses the sins of those Israelites living in Jerusalem, but he identifies their sin as his own!  This is a prayer that I don’t think any of us would think to pray.

We have to remember that Nehemiah was born and raised in Persia.  The Jews have been in captivity for over 100 years; first under Babylonian rule and now under the Persian empire.  Nehemiah is a jew by heritage, but he has lived his whole life as a member of a captive race under foreign rule.  He has never lived in Jerusalem, in fact it is unlikely that he has ever even seen the ruined city.  He has risen to a position of relative power and prominence as cupbearer in the Persian  palace through the strength of his character and ability.  How can he say that the sins of these people he has never met are his sins as well?

The answer lies in the fact that ancient Israel relied on a deep sense of shared identity as God’s chosen people; called out, blessed with His law, rescued out of Egypt, etc. 

In the church today, we have lost any sense of this communal identity as God’s people.  We live in an individualized and fractured society.  But, we are meant to share the identity of being God’s people; redeemed by the blood of His Son, called to be a part of His body on earth, and set free to live for His glory!

When you hear about a fellow Christ-follower who has fallen into some terrible sin, or has acted in some way that damages the reputation of Christ among non-believers, what is your first reaction?  
Do you feel anger or disgust at their behavior?
Do you want to immediately distance yourself from them?
Or...do you feel deep sorrow for them, and do you even recognize your own potential for sin in their behavior?

Nehemiah included himself with the sins of the people. Staying aware of our own sins keeps us humbled before God and others so that we don’t sit in judgment on them. We are sinners who have been shown mercy. We go to other sinners and offer God’s mercy.

If we start thinking that the real need is better organization or more funds or better methods, we’ll start at the wrong place. The root need is for repentance on the part of God’s people, who have forgotten His purpose and are living for their own purpose. And lost people need repentance so that they can be reconciled to God. Nehemiah’s burden stemmed from feeling the people’s great need. It was focused by seeing the people’s and his own great sin.

Jeff Frazier