This weeks devotion comes from the book, “Walking in God’s Words” and is linked down below in the commentary article. We hope this devotion encourages your faith.
LESSONS FOR US TODAY
I hope that Nehemiah is an inspiration to you, a good example to follow like the other good examples described for us in Hebrews 11. Although he lived many years ago, and although not many of us are cupbearers to great kings, and although he lived before the coming of Christ, we can still identify with him. His character is so clearly presented to us, even in this first section of this book which bears his name. God has told us about Nehemiah, so that we will understand how God works in the world, how God preserves his people, and how God wants us to live. Hebrews 11 teaches us to look at Old Testament people as examples of enduring faith. And 2 Timothy 3:16–17 teaches us that the Scriptures are provided by God ‘for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness’.
Heroes from the past are out of fashion at the present time. We look to our contemporary world, and we tend to look for celebrities, rather than heroes. But celebrities are celebrities because of their outward appearance or circumstances. If we want to think God’s thoughts after him, then we have to know that:
The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)
There are more lessons to learn from Nehemiah in this book. But what are the challenges from what we have seen so far?
Are we people with a passion for the welfare of the people of God, the Church of Jesus Christ?
Nehemiah, living in Susa, was desolated because of the tragic circumstances of the people of God back in Jerusalem. The tendency in our society is to think that if we are OK, and our close friends are OK, then that is what really matters. And even those who have a keen interest in what is happening in other countries sometimes fail to find out what is happening to fellow believers in Christ in those countries.
We may dismiss or despair of the Church and its weaknesses, but fail to grieve for it, and fail to love it. The Church of Christ should be on our heart, because it is on God’s heart.
Are we people of prayer?
As we have seen, Nehemiah was a man of prayer. When he heard the bad news about Jerusalem, he spent many hours in deep and passionate prayer and fasting. He then summarised all these prayers in a great prayer, which provides a model for our prayers. Then he prayed his ‘arrow prayers’ at the moments of opportunity. These prayers opened up an opportunity of service, in which Nehemiah became part of the answer to his own prayer. We should learn how to pray from Nehemiah.
Are we people whose passions, prayers and actions are formed by a desire to serve God, and instructed by the Bible?
It is clear from Nehemiah’s passions, prayers, and actions, that he was well taught from the Bible. He saw what was happening around him in the light of the Bible, and he interpreted history in the context of God’s big plans as revealed in the Bible. Nehemiah lived by the promises of God, and claimed those promises in his prayers. He was an integrated person, with a purity of heart that resulted from wanting one thing: the glory of God. He walked in God’s words.
Are we people who see opportunities, even in difficult circumstances?
Nehemiah was in Susa, a long way from Jerusalem. He was cupbearer to the king. This gave him access to the king, but Persian kings were not in the habit of changing their circumstances for the benefit of their servants! The people of God were in a mess, and even though some had returned to Jerusalem, they were still vulnerable to their enemies. But, for Nehemiah, this was not a time to give up, but a time to grieve, pray, trust, ask and act! In the words of DT Niles, as we have already seen, ‘Hope lies amidst the ruins of our expectations’. And, in my words, ‘Hope lies in the promises of God’.
God has provided the book of Nehemiah, as with every part of the Old Testament, to encourage us: ‘so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope’ (Romans 15:4). May the God of Nehemiah encourage us through Nehemiah, that we may have hope in ‘the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort’ (2 Corinthians 1:3).