How are you?

 

COLERAINE INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SUNDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2024 – MR KEITH WILSON

NEHEMIAH 1 VERSES 1 – 11

“How are you?”  A question we often ask.  As Christians we are good at putting on a face.  We tell everyone we are doing brilliantly.  There is the other side of that too.  There are people who can only see the negative side of life.  You almost fear to ask them how they are.  They constantly fell they are under attack after attack.  In verse 2 Hanani one of his brethren came to where Nehemiah was and Nehemiah asked him “how are you?” Now remember Hanani was one of the people who came out of the captivity and were now back living in the promised land.  Nehemiah chapter 7 verse 6.  You would nearly think that this is a great situation - being taken away from the opposition of Babylon.   Remember God spoke to King Nebuchadnezzar and brought him to himself.  He was driven out into the wilderness, he lost his mind and became like a wild animal.  God humbled him.  You would nearly think that this is great getting rid of that opposition, going back to their own land.  That they would be determined to build up the land again.  Reading these prophets we see a parallel with the world we are in today.  “For lo I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation , which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.” (Habakkuk 1 verse 6)  Nehemiah is enquiring of his bothers and asks Hanani “how are you?”  He was given a response that everything was ok, he was given an honest response.  How we need to be honest with ourselves before God.  Verse 3 “And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire.”    Put yourself in their shoes.  Put your mind into that situation.  What were they saying?  The people were in great affliction and reproach.  The walls were broken down, the gates are burned with fire.  We are not doing that well.  He is being honest before Nehemiah and before God.  This drove the prophet Nehemiah to tears.  It is powerful how God got a grip on this man.  He was more interested in what was going on with God’s people.  How were they dealing with affliction they were in?  Verse 4 “And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.”  Now this was not mourning for 5 minutes.  We may be disturbed by an event but will we remember it in a number of days from now?  Probably not.  Nehemiah is mourning “certain days”.  He is doing this for days on end.  The state of God’s people and their discouragement.  Then he does what these prophets often do – he gets down to prayer.  He sat down.  He wept.  He mourned.  He fasted.  He prayed before the God of heaven.  What is your interpretation of fasting?  I know there are those who cannot fast for medical reasons.  Fasting is good for the body, it cleanses out toxins and bacteria.  God has ordained fasting.  It might not be food that we fast from but it might be taking a break from something we are involved in.  Nehemiah sat down and wept, mourned, fasted and prayed for the God of heaven.  As we see the sin of our nation, as we experience times of trial and difficulty, bitterness, despair, loneliness, rejection – many times we feel there is little we can do.  There are many times when we are wounded.  Perhaps we have been rejected by people.  We are lonely but are we honest with ourselves and God.  Do we address the issue that things are not good in our walk with God?  In our family?  In our business?  In our church?  Will we be a people that will weep before God?  Nehemiah was concerned how things were going.  Look at what he prays.  When these Old Testament prophets prayed they were serious in their prayers.  It was not a quick prayer.  They were digging deep with God.  Verse 6 “Let thine ear now be attentive and thin eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned.”  He wasn’t saying “Lord this nation is in a state because of the sin of that Christian” or “it was that person’s sin that brought us into captivity.”  No he realised God had led them into captivity.  He asks God to listen to him, to hear his prayer and he admits that everyone has sinned.  Deep down from the bottom to the top, from the leaders to the servants.  It was an honest confession.  God made them go into captivity and he brought them back again.  God wanted them to build the temple again.  The foundations were laid.  In verse 11 he asks the Lord to hear his prayer again.  The people wanted to prosper but they could only do that be desiring God again.  It is good when we get to that stage in life where we realise the dangers of sin.  It is good to be honest before God if sin has crept in.  Sometimes people act as if they don’t sin and everything is rosy.  A person like that cannot weep over their sin.  They are not going to fast because of their sin.  They are not going to pray to God over their sin.  They are not going to find God breaking through.  But when we mourn over our sin and the state of our nation, when we look at ourselves and see how we have let God down we fin God is merciful. Psalm 119 verse 133 “Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.”  When you as a believer weep over your sin, when you mourn for your sin, when you fast and get real with God that is when God does the impossible.  Nehemiah loved his God.  He loved the people of God too.  He was no lording it over the people, not high and mighty, not more important than them.  Look at Nehemiah chapter 2 verse 1.  He was the king’s cupbearer.  Because he was serving the king, the king noticed him.  He noticed he was sad.  Then the king asked him a question.  Nehemiah asked the Lord a question and now before the king, the king asks him “how are you?”  Verse 3.  When we think of our land why should our countenance not be sad?  Are you saddened this morning?  Are you wanting to get the ear of God?  For God to be attentive to you?  Are you mourning over your sin?  Over the sin of the land?  Are you praying with earnest expectation for God, that he would come and break through?  This was before Calvary.  We have the Spirit of God living in us today, we have God living in us today.  Isn’t that amazing?  Back in the Old Testament times the Holy Spirit came on his people but now he is dwelling in us.  “All power is given unto me” Jesus said.  We are more than conquerors through Christ that loved us.  There is power in the blood today.  Christ has paid it all today.  The kin asks him what he wants – verse 5.  God was going to use this man Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem.  Nehemiah was given the start of that task – verse 7.  He asked first for letters to be given to the governors beyond the river to allow him to pass through the land.  Then he asked for one specific letter to Asaph for timber.  Today we don’t really understand who is living within us.  The hand of God, the one who created all things, sustains all things by the word of his power is living in us.  The good hand of God was upon Nehemiah.  The good hand of God is upon you today.  Nehemiah’s name means encouragement.  The Lord brought him to bless the people.  Nehemiah made his request to God.  He knew he was on his side.  Ephesians 3 verse 20 “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” The Lord is able to do great and mighty things with us today.  He is able do to those things way above anything we can ask or think.  Jeremiah had the same request for God – to do the things he knew not of.  All God wants us to do this day is to get real with him.  Nehemiah got the ear of God.  My challenge to you this week is to get alone with God, shut out all distractions and hear what God is saying to you.