Wept

This week, we have been talking about the possibility of living an extraordinary life. Over the next two days, I want to introduce one of my favorite characters in God’s story ... Nehemiah. Just to give you some background, the nation of Israel settled in the Middle East around 1300 BC. With God’s help, David led Israel to its pinnacle as a national power and established Jerusalem as its capital around 1000 BC. In 586 BC, the Babylonians overthrew Jerusalem, tore down the walls, burned the Temple and took most of the remaining Jews captive as slaves. Around 539 BC, the Persians conquered the Babylonians. Nehemiah’s story begins around 445 BC as a captive of Persia.


Nehemiah 1
1 These are the memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In late autumn, in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was at the fortress of Susa.
2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem.
3 They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.”
4 When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.
5 Then I said, “O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands,
6 listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned!
7 We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.
8 “Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations.
9 But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’
10 “The people you rescued by your great power and strong hand are your servants. 11 O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me.” In those days I was the king’s cup-bearer.


Wept. Nehemiah, up to this point, had enjoyed a pretty good life. He was the cup-bearer, a role many scholars equate with being second in command, to the king of the most powerful nation at that time. However, his life didn’t become extraordinary until he became passionate about God’s plan. Remember, Nehemiah didn’t grow up in Jerusalem. He didn’t have any special connection with the city ... at least none that would seem worthy of eliciting such a passionate response ... except that he knew the city of Jerusalem and the people of Israel had been chosen for a special purpose in God’s plan. I think the idea of that city and those people being defenseless broke Nehemiah’s heart because he knew it broke God’s heart. I also think that part of experiencing an extraordinary life includes being passionate about God’s plan; and, as Nehemiah did, asking God to enable you to be a part of that plan. You may be thinking ... “I’m not that passionate” or “I don’t know what breaks God’s heart”. Do you want to? Are you sure? Then here’s your challenge ... we ended last weekend’s service with the song “Hosanna” which includes an amazing and challenging line ... “Break my heart for what breaks yours”. I challenge you to pray that simple prayer every day until the end of the Extraordinary series (May 15th) ... and then see what challenge God opens your eyes and your heart to.