Part 2 of 6 of the theme 'Lessons from Nehemiah‘ by Gijs van den Brink

In our previous blog, we noted that God is about building up the people, the community. It is not about the leaders. Leaders are servants of the community. What do we learn about this from the book of Nehemiah?
A temple has now been built in Jerusalem and God's standards have been taught by Ezra and adopted by the people. But there is not yet unity and fellowship. There is no people living together and worshiping God together. What they have together is only a mess. Walls of the city are broken down and gates burned. So is this often in the church. There are many individual Christians, believing by themselves and alone, but congregational life is often in a very poor and bad condition. People are not friends of each other and do not help each other.
When Nehemiah hears the bad news in Babylon, four things happen. We read this in Neh.1:4 "When I heard these words, I sat down on the ground weeping. I mourned for days, I fasted and addressed a prayer to the God of heaven.'

Nehemiah sits down. He not only takes what he hears for notice, but it touches him, deep in his heart. Second, he weeps. The great Nehemiah, who has made it to the endowment of the king of Persia, weeps like a child! Next, he mourns for days; he cannot go on with his ordinary life. And fourth, he fasts and prays to God. As he prays for his people, God works in his heart. We read that in Neh.1:11. 'Oh my Lord, do listen attentively to the prayer of your servant and to that of all your servants who want to respect your name. Surely let me succeed today and let the king be pleased with me.'
He prays for his people, but as he prays, God speaks to him and he is led to action. 'Yet let me succeed today and let the king be pleased with me.' This is how the Lord works in every earnest prayer. You cannot possibly pray for something and do nothing yourself. As he prays, Nehemiah gains insight into what God is asking of him. He had a wonderful position at the court in Persia. But God speaks to his heart during prayer. This is the first stage in building community, God speaks to the heart of a man or a woman.
Next time we will see what Nehemiah's next step is.

Next time:
Part 3 of the series 'Lessons from Nehemiah' is entitled 'Phase 2: Making yourself dependent and asking others to help ‘ 

See also:
Part 1 of the series 'Lessons from Nehemiah'  'It's not about the leaders but about the people'

Author: Gijs van den Brink
From: Study Bible Magazine

This is part 2 of 7 of the series "Lessons from Nehemiah” Some of which we will be posting online in the near future. We hope this will help you understand the Bible better!