Nehemiah’s Concern for Jerusalem Devotional. In the book of Deuteronomy 28-30 Moses prophetically outlines the entire history of Israel. He was more like a government worker than anything else. All rights reserved. But this position also meant he had the king’s ear as a trusted advisor. As Christians, we must learn from this, for we are likewise commanded to love our people—our brothers and sisters in Christ. A famous song says, Don't worry, Be happy. So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. What did it mean to Nehemiah to pray on the promises of God? '” August 8th, 2020 by Pastor Ed in devotional. This book is also the story of restoring a people from ruin and despair to a new walk with God. Are we experiencing the healing power of contrite repentance? But if they would turn and acknowledge their evil, God would bring them back to the land. Follow the pattern of Nehemiah's prayer. Listen to more on this portion of scripture. There was no attempt to blame others for this. Perhaps, like Nehemiah, you will have known in general about the need for a long time. Anything in this world that is worth possessing requires a struggle to lay hold of it. Nehemiah 1:11. Who desire to fear thy name — Who are not only called by thy name, but really have a reverence for it: who now worship thee, and thee only, according to thy will, and have an awful sense of all the discoveries which thou art pleased to make of thyself. What were Nehemiah’s two main concerns? Nehemiah was a common believer, not a priest or a prophet. The second thing Nehemiah did was to repent of all personal and corporate sins. It was not going to be easy, but he knew what he had to do. 4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you. God used Nehemiah to lead in rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, but also in demonstrating determination. Throughout the pages of this book, you’ll find a guidance on talking to God, receiving His instruction, and moving forward in life to accomplish His will. This is also true for believers today. Why did Nehemiah pray about talking to King Artaxerxes? Nehemiah was a layman, a butler to the Persian emperor, Artaxerxes I. Persia is now the modern nation of Iran. This story takes place around 445 B.C. Upon receiving information that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and in ruins and the gates burned with fire, Nehemiah clearly understood the dangers and disgrace involved (Nehemiah 1:3). 1 The word of the LORD came to me again, saying, . Nehemiah soon faced opposition similar to that which Zerubbabel faced 100 years earlier. Nehemiah, like many other Jewish people, had remained in Persia after a group of exiles were allowed to return and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple there. Though the temple was now rebuilt, the walls of the city were still in ruins. Nehemiah prays to the Lord, saying, “Please remember what you told your servant Moses” (Nehemiah 1:8 NLT). Website © 2020 by Ray Stedman Ministries. Thank You, Father, for this wonderfully practical book that sets out a safe guideline to recovery and usefulness. That is the great secret that humanity has largely lost today but which New Testament Christianity seeks to restore. He is willing to face the facts, to weep over them and tell God about them. Name another Bible person who prayed about making a request to a king. Take a closer look at the book of Nehemiah to see how you can overcome trials and reconstruct the broken parts of your life. He was living under the rulership of the great Persian empire, which had overthrown the blasphemous, Babylonian kingdom, which had conquered and enslaved the nation, so many years before. BE A BLESSING. Nehemiah 1:5-6. Nehemiah 1 Nehemiah’s story started with a burden. Devotional. Nehemiah 1:1-11 1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. But that is mere salve over a deep cancer. John Hagee (November-11-2020) Daily Devotion: Nehemiah 8:10 - Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. For permission to use this content, please review RayStedman.org/permissions. Some of these faithful Jews were raised up to places of prominence in the governments they were deported to. ... Nehemiah was still among the Jews that had not returned to the land of Israel. Browse daily devotions with Scripture passages fromNehemiah, from the Today Daily … 1The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. 1:11). There is nothing superficial about this. Solving Problems: How God Used Nehemiah. 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. Nehemiah clearly had a great love for his people, the Jews. He is … Nehemiah reminded God of that gracious promise. His prayer continued with penitential pleadings for his sins, and those of the nation. Nehemiah was all that, as well as enterprising and focused. And so he started to pray and asked for grace and strength to carry out the steps that were necessary to begin recovery. List four characteristics of biblical praying. Daily Devotion © 2006 by Ray Stedman Ministries. For permission to use this content, please review RayStedman.org/permissions. We should be seeking to grow in our love for other believers, and we cannot do this without spending time with them in worship and in fellowship. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. Jerusalem is not only an historic city that for centuries has been the center of the life of the nation of Israel (and, in fact, the center of the biblical record), it is also a symbolic city. When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. No, he put himself into this picture, saying, I confess before you, Lord, the sins of myself and my father's house. We may not live in the same dispensation as Nehemiah, but the principles of faith, trust, dependence, supplication and submission, applies in every dispensation, for without … 5 Then I said: "O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, 6 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. He is willing to face the facts, to weep over them and tell God about them. You feel like Nehemiah, and you want to weep and mourn and tell God about it. He was the King’s “cup bearer”, living in the palace. He was not part of the original party that returned to Judah, but before long he was sent there by the emperor himself. Subject to permission policy, all rights reserved. Because of this attitude of dependence, God was able to use Nehemiah to achieve His divine purposes. Daily Devotion © 2006 by Ray Stedman Ministries. And they became Mine, and they bore sons and daughters. God will use us if we seek Him and make ourselves available. What is needed is to honestly face the ruin, whatever it may be, and, without blaming or attempting to involve somebody else, telling it all to God. Do we acknowledge the effects of our sins on others' lives? In the royal court, the cupbearer would test the wine before it was given to the king to protect him from poisoning. Nehemiah’s intercessions were rooted to trust in God, as a convent-keeping God. That was not easy to arrange. That is always the place to begin. He had to be able to talk politics, know the legal system, and had to be handsome. because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man." For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. The project was not smooth sailing. 4 Their names were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister. Nehemiah gathered a team to make a difference with him, and he never gave up despite challenges and opposition.The book of Nehemiah gives us a blueprint of what making a difference can look like. Nehemiah clearly has a deep sense of personal concern. This Daily Devotion was Inspired by one of Ray's Messages. Can you imagine telling God to “remember” something? God seeks to dwell in the human spirit. In an individual's life the rebuilding of the walls is a picture of re-establishing the strength of that life. Paul's great statement in the letter to the Colossians is, Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, 2that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. 8 "Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.'. Nehemiah 1:4 Nehemiah clearly has a deep sense of personal concern. Nehemiah 1-2, Proverbs 9, Luke 16:1-9, 1 Timothy 6:1-10 Nehemiah 1-2: It is hard, if not impossible, to comment on all the good things in these two chapters regarding faith, leadership, and God’s answer to prayer. The book of Nehemiah is designed to teach us that only with God's help can we actually change ourselves and Nehemiah, who was a contemporary of Ezra, led a later return. 11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. In this life, troubles just mean that we are breathing! Nehemiah 1. When God wants to use you in some capacity, the first thing He does is to burden your heart with the situation. He saw the condition of Jerusalem’s wall and knew the situation was desperate. Nehemiah chapter 1 Interestingly, this book is written in first person, by a high Persian official, Nehemiah, whose family roots are back in Jerusalem. The fourth thing Nehemiah did was request specific help to begin this process. Devotional: Nehemiah 1 In the complex history of the postexilic community in Judah, Nehemiah plays a singular role. Moreover, in this era, most people tend to be selfish. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem laughed him to scorn and ridiculed him, thinking this would cause him to stop work. Nehemiah 1:3 Nehemiah was a Jew, who had been born in the land of Israel's captivity, but had risen to the trusted position of cup-bearer to the king, himself. The ruin you are concerned with may not always be yours personally. But Nehemiah believed that God would help him. When he got word of the deplorable conditions of his beloved city of Jerusalem he immediately sought permission from the king to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the "walls" of the city and repair its "streets". For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Be gracious to them because they have fallen into wrong actions. recover from the damage and ruin of the past. Nehemiah pleaded the cause of Israel, based on God’s everlasting faithfulness. As Christians, we must learn from this, for we are likewise commanded to love our people—our brothers and sisters in Christ. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. Then, third, Nehemiah reminded God of His gracious promises. This was honestly facing his own guilt. However, it is only a picture--it is not the actual place where God dwells--for, according to the New Testament, people are to be the dwelling place of God. Note, for example, Nehemiah’s interest in the work of God (1:2). Nehemiah prayed according to the heart of God - so that the will of God would be fulfilled, through him. Nehemiah 1 Nehemiah clearly had a great love for his people, the Jews. Website © 2020 by Ray Stedman Ministries. Ezra, the priest, led an early return to Israel and restored worship in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. All rights reserved. But then you hear about the specifics of it or you see it firsthand and you can’t put it out of your mind. What it pictures is the place where God desires to dwell. First, he recognized the character of God. He gives attention to the prayers of His people. Confession of Sin. The people quarreled amongst themselves. Forgot Password × Verse of the Day Today’s; Book; Topic; Random; Devotions Today’s; Book Nehemiah was a cupbearer to Persian King Artaxerxes (Neh. 3 and they played the harlot in Egypt. God always welcomes a broken spirit and a contrite heart. Notice the absence of self-righteousness. Compare Deuteronomy 30:8-10 with Nehemiah 1:9. The Old Testament book of Nehemiah, along with Ezra and Esther, covers the period after the Babylonian captivity when Israel had returned to Jerusalem and had begun again the worship of Jehovah in the restored temple. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego became leaders in Babylon; Esther was made queen in the courts of a Persian king. Nehemiah 2:1: “And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I [Nehemiah] took the wine and gave it to the king. Subject to permission policy, all rights reserved. Nehemiah 1 Subscribe and ring the bell to get notifications for our videos! (Nehemiah 6:15-16). Jerusalem is also used in a pictorial sense throughout the Scriptures. Nehemiah is the historic account of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, which took place in the fifth century before Christ. He did not say, Lord, I am thinking of those terrible sinners back there in Jerusalem. ... (Nehemiah 1: 5-6). In effect, he prays, “God, you warned through Moses that if we were unfaithful, we would lose the land of Israel. Jerusalem-in-ruins, therefore, is a picture of a life that has lost its defenses against attack and lies open to repeated hurt and misery. But instead, Nehemiah said: The God of heaven, He will prosper us (2:20). Those who truly desire to fear his name shall be graciously accepted of God. Now I had never been sad in his presence before.” August 2nd, 2020 by Pastor Ed in devotional It was a simple acknowledgment of wrong. Help me to begin where Nehemiah began: to tell the whole story in Your ear and thus begin the process of recovery. Let Nehemiah’s faith, boldness, and obedience encourage you as you take steps to make a difference for what breaks your heart. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, This is God's provision and desire for us. 10 "They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. Not everyone has concern for others. He said they would disobey God; they would be scattered among the nations; they would go into exile. In an individual's life the rebuilding of the walls is a picture of re-establishing the strength of that life. Nehemiah 8:10: “Then [Ezra] said to them, ‘Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our LORD. He is willing because He is the God who holds the covenant and His faithfulness. Nehemiah reminds God of a promise he made to the nation of Israel. i. That is always the place to begin. I was cupbearer to the king. Nehemiah 2:18 tHe Hand Of My God Had Been Good Upon Me (red) Nehemiah 8:10 The Joy Of The Lord Is Your Strength (yellow) Nehemiah Man of Action (devotional)12-02 (red) Jimmy DeYoung's Daily Devotionals Search. When God first designated to King David that Jerusalem was the place where He wanted him to build the temple, he was told that this was the place where God would dwell among His people. Nehemiah faced numerous problems: the Israelites were ridiculed. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength. It was going to take the authority of the top power in the whole empire. When he needed guidance, strength, provision, or protection, he responded with prayer. God is able because He is the God of the universe of the Great and the Greatest heaven. The book of Nehemiah is designed to teach us that only with God's help can we actually change ourselves and recover from the damage and ruin of the past. That is always the place to start, for God is a responsive God. Nehemiah 1:1-11. When we face various hardships, it does not mean that the Lord no longer loves us. But Nehemiah did more than rebuild a wall. The book of Nehemiah depicts the way of recovery from breakdown and ruin to a condition of peace, security, restored order, and usefulness. Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. 2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother; . Nehemiah spent time praying on his knees. 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