Nehemiah’s prayer example..kneel with him!
Nehemiah hears word from Jerusalem that the remnant of God’s people who are still living there are in great affliction and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the gates have been burnt to ruin…and when Nehemiah heard these words he sat down and wept and mourned…and prayed before the God of heaven. Nehemiah is one of my mentors, my role models in the Bible and I see this godly man broken with the news of the condition of God’s people and their land.
But he still prays, why? What use was there in praying and what did he pray? The next couple of verses in chapter 1 tell us he intercedes for his people and he includes himself and his family in confession of sin before God. I have never been more burdened before God for our nation but especially the church here in Australia than ever before. It is difficult to explain this ‘burden’ but if you ‘connect’ with Nehemiah, or Jeremiah..even more so our Lord..when He was so troubled He stopped and wept loudly, as He rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
My prayer is that there will be more Nehemiahs, more Jeremiahs, ordinary folk who fellowship here in CCSH who just are driven to pray for the sins of our people. Wednesday evening at 7:00pm, kneel down with the Nehemiahs, the Jeremiahs who are driven to pray for the ‘great affliction and reproach..the walls that are broken and the gates that are in ruin’, in this beautiful land that is sliding into godless oblivion.