Nehemiah's prayer

 

COLERAINE INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 16 JUNE 2024 – MR KEITH LINDSEY, ACRE GOSPEL MISSION

NEHEMIAH 1 VERSES 1 – 11

The book of Nehemiah shows us the impact that one man can have on the society he lives in.  The impact on one nation he lived in.  Last time we were looking at this chapter we saw Nehemiah serving in the court of Artaxerxes.  He was a cupbearer.  He would have tasted the food and wine to make sure it was not poisoned.  He was responsible for preserving the life of the king.  He was a man born in exile in the land of captivity in Babylon.  He was among those that decided to remain in the land while others returned to Jerusalem.  One of his brethren Hanani came to him one day and shared the news of what was happening in Jerusalem.  Nehemiah asked about the Jewish people there and then Jerusalem itself.  We saw the information he received.  Hanani was a faithful man.  He brought the news that the people were in desolation.  It was a place of devastation.  The walls were broken down and gates burned.  The place was a mess.  I want us to think today of a couple of things – the reaction that Nehemiah showed and the intercession he offered.  There is much of significance in this chapter for us today.

Verse 4 shows the reaction of this man as he heard the news of the situation in the land of Israel.  He sits down and weeps and mourns and prays and fasts for certain days.   What a better policy than what we have entered into in the time of national problems today.  What we really need today is prayer.  More of God again.  He is better to go to, we would get more profitable answers – Psalm 118 verse 8 “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.”  So often the politicians are knocking our doors today.  They promise everything but their promises fail – they are just men.  We put confidence in what man can do so often rather than looking to what God can do.  We are a nation in a critical situation just like the nation then.  The city of Jerusalem was shattered.  Nehemiah went to the one who could help – God.  How did he react to the information he received?  First with contemplation.  He sat down.  It was customary for the Jews to sit when they mourned.  Think of Nehemiah, a Jewish man taken captive into Babylon years before.  Can we visualise the scene in that palace?  To sit and mediate or contemplate the situation he had just heard about.  He cared about the state of Jerusalem and the position of those he loved living there.  He no doubt had a place where he could go and pray, somewhere in his private quarters.  Some of the Jews had gone back to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem but progress was slow.  They endured the taunts from others – “why is your God not doing more for you?”  Nehemiah found time in the busy programme of the day to sit down and contemplate the needs of his people in Jerusalem. So often we don’t have time to contemplate our work or our worship for God. We need time to sit down and contemplate who God is, what he has done for us and what he can do in the future.  Do we think of the desperate need in our world today?  Do we take time to stop from the busyness of life and contemplate the real need of our country?  In Christian work it is the same. So difficult.  We are busy.  We do not take time out and stop, to look around us and to see the need.  Do we look up to the one who can meet the need?  John George Govan was a businessman in Glasgow who took time out one day to sit by the Firth of Clyde.  He watched the big ships and pleasure boats and it reminded him of the people all around him who were so careless.  As he contemplated the needs of the villages of Scotland in 1886 he wrote in his diary “the faith mission started.”  He stepped out in faith and trusted God to meet the needs.  To call others to come and help him evangelise the people of Scotland.  He took a moment to look and then looked to the one who could meet the needs of the people and of the mission.  Thousands and tens of thousands have come to Christ because of the vision of one man who took time to stop.  God is still working in the Faith Mission today around the world.  The vision of one man who took time.  What would happen if God’s people took time and sat down in contemplation again?  To reach a world that is lost.  A people that are heedless and careless.  No thought of God.  No time for God.  We need to stop as the people of God.  We might never do the work God wants us to do but until God opens our eyes to the needs all around us souls will continue to perish.  They are going to a Christless hell.  Before we attempt any service for God we should get alone with God and mourn the souls of men.  William Carey had a map on his wall in his workshop.  It was a map of the world made out of leather.  He was contemplating the needs of the world when God sent him to India.  For 7 years he worked tirelessly before he saw his first convert.  "Attempt great things for God and expect great things from God” was his motto.  We need to take our eyes off the situation we are in and put them on God.  Nothing is impossible to God.  We live in a world that thinks only about sin and pleasure.  The same spirit that gripped Nehemiah should grip us.  We need to believe God can do amazing things even today.  In verse 4 we read he sat down still before God and wept.  What emotional motivation by Nehemiah. It was born out of a heart of concern for the people in desperation.  If faith is not accompanied by feelings it is spurious and suspect.  Remember what Paul said “my heart’s desire for Israel is, that they might be saved.”  Those who have no concern for kith and kin could not possibly be saved.  Sometimes weeping is sign of weakness.  For Nehemiah it was a sign of strength.  Hanani willingly shared the burden that was crushing others.  When God puts a burden on our hearts we shall not escape from it because we will miss out on the blessing of God.  Psalm 125 verse 5 “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.  He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seeds, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”  The Lord himself wept over Jerusalem.  So often we have lost the ability to weep.  We cannot manage it.  Fanny Crosby penned those lovely words “Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Tell them of Jesus the mighty to save.”  I am sure many of us if we have children of our own have wept over them.  Satan wants to blur our vision for lost souls.  We get caught up in doctrinal issues, people will fight over the silliest of issues and forget the soul that is lost.  The hour is dark and we need to be winning souls.  Paul said in Acts 20 verse 19 “serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears.”  2 Corinthians 2 verse 4 “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears.”  Murray McCheyne died a young man.  Someone visited his church St Peter’s Church in Dundee and asked “what was the secret of his ministry.”  The person was taken into the vestry and told to put his hands on his head and let the tears flow.  Then he was taken to the pulpit and said “put your hands on your head and let the tears flow.”  That was the secret of his ministry.  When was the last time you wept over souls going to a lost eternity?  Nehemiah was not afraid to weep.  He sat down and wept.  He knew someone had to do something to rescue the situation.  He was willing to do it.  We need to cry out, to get on our knees for our nation today.  Nehemiah also reacted in lamentation.  He not only sat down and wept but he mourned too.  Sometimes we need to cry out with anguish.  The word means he cried out or screamed out of desperation.  His grief overcame him.  Have we ever been there?  Not a public exhibition but in privacy with God?  The one who sees in secret will reward openly.  Does God expect us to do more than we are doing?  There is no use in making excuses.  To accept things the way they are.  Elisabeth Elliott said “save us from the wearying acceptance of things as they are.”  Do we want to see God move?  Nehemiah lamented.  He was broken for the condition of the city of Jerusalem.  He acted in humiliation.  Fasting shows that.  The only thing he could do was humble himself before God.  To break down because of the needs of the people.  It was the only way Nehemiah was prepared to see God move.  What an example he has set for us as we face crisis after crisis in our world today.  Going God’s way to solve the problem.  He was moved by the people in desperation.  He saw the people in desolation.  He humbled himself before God.  Prayer is the power that is more potent than all the nuclear weapons this world has.  So often we are not using it.  Prayer is not the least we can do, it the most.  “Prayer is not merely practical warfare – real prayer engages in a battle.  It is rooted in the promises of God and the covenant of the blood.” Alan Redpath.  How long do I spend time in prayer? Sometimes it is not long enough. If our hearts are prepared God will bless us even in the worst of days.  So often we don’t have the desire to pray.  We love the Lord but we don’t speak to him.  Nehemiah prayed for 4 months before God answered.  Paul prayed and the prison shook.  Luther prayed and the church of Rome was shaken.  There were 2 Faith Mission pilgrims who went to the isle of Barra in the middle of winter.  They had to cross in a fishing boat amid wild seas.  They were staying with an old Christian lady.  They said to this lady “it will be worth it all if 1 soul gets saved.”  The lady said “is that all you are asking God for?  I have been praying for 101 souls all these years.”  God moved in answer to that lady’s prayer.  Nehemiah supplicated on behalf of others.  God is still looking for people who care for others today.  People like Nehemiah.  He cared enough to weep over the needs of the people of his day.  Will we say as we look at the situation in our land, in our estate, in our families “here am I Lord send me?”  Will we intercede on behalf of others, to see our land revived for the glory of God?  God is able to do it today if only we will pray.