Praying for Leaders, part two

Nehemiah 9:17 

They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them

God is a good Heavenly Father. He sees his children as a work in progress. He isn’t finished with us yet. Many of us try to work out our problems with our own wisdom and strength. A few of us know we need God’s wisdom and strength. But God loves us all, no matter where we are in our journey to spiritual maturity.

When I read in the book of Nehemiah about what happened when the wall had been repaired, I found it interesting to see how they approached God. The wall was completed. People came to be registered. They had a festival. And then they confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors before they asked anything of God.

Funny to hear the way people pray to God today. We ask a lot from God without celebrating the fact that he is with us and we can have a relationship with him. We save our praises for those moments when we see that God has answered our prayers.

Are we willing to learn from this? Before we ask God to do anything, we can confess our own sins. We can confess the sins of those we follow, not in accusations, but as if we had done it ourselves. We can praise God for his abundant mercy. He is the God who loves us and sent Jesus to die for us while we were yet sinners.

If we run around in our arrogance telling God what to do, we’re doing it wrong. Let’s make it right by seeking God together during this month, the month we celebrate Thanksgiving.

Rebuilding

Nehemiah 2:17

Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace."

When something important to you is damaged, you find the energy to rebuild. You find the materials and the creativity to put things back the way they’re supposed to be. You find the determination to complete the project.

What you don’t do is give up. Ever.

God gave Nehemiah the energy, supplies, and determination to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem. They had to fight off the temptation to quit. They fought distractions, but couldn’t quit until the walls were complete. They knew God was with them, and He knew what the enemy was up to.

I keep thinking that our God-given jobs and gifts and talents should make it easy for us to be successful. Could it be that God allows us to fight for the right to complete what he told us to do?

If someone mocks you while you exhaust yourself in the process of rebuilding, what is your response? Does the command of God to do the work fill you with a powerful peace that comes with the knowledge that God is with you?

Nehemiah went through a lot to complete the project. You might have to put up with a lot, but that doesn’t mean God’s not in it.

Even in the hard times, God is with you. So don’t quit.

Rejoicing

Nehemiah 12:43

And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.

The wall of Jerusalem had been finished, and the Israelites had settled in their towns. Then Ezra read the law to the people. They had a feast and celebrated. They made a binding agreement, took part in ceremonies, and rejoiced.

They didn’t just have a pot-luck supper where everyone sat around drinking tea and visiting. They rejoiced. Loudly.

Have you been to a party that was so loud you were sure the police were going to shut it down because it was disturbing the neighbors? The Jerusalem party was like that combined with a large group of junior high girls screaming at a concert. I’m saying it was loud.

They had a right to be loud. They had come back to Jerusalem and had fought to stay there. The city wall, which was destroyed, had been rebuilt. They listened to the law of God and committed themselves to the God who had never left them through all their many problems.

They had come back home.

In this age of mobility, we understand what it’s like to move from home to home. Today there aren’t as many people who live in one place as there used to be. People who, decade after decade, live in the same house next door to the same neighbors.

Many parents want to be in one place to raise their children. They want their children to relax in the place they call home.

God had brought these people through many hard situations. He gave them a victory and a reason to fill their mouths with thanksgiving. And now it was time to celebrate.

The next time God gives you peace, rest, and a reason to celebrate, remember the people of Jerusalem, the men and women and children who responded to God by rejoicing from the bottom of their hearts.

Self-Importance

Nehemiah 6:15-16

So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.

Self-importance is a victory-stealer. I think we spend too much time thinking about ourselves and not enough time thinking about how God feels about things. The wrong kind of introspection is a weary walk down the road to misery. Don’t throw away your victory by trusting in yourself instead of trusting God.

Reading Nehemiah’s story can build courage in us for our tasks. He was focused on the job. If Nehemiah had spent a lot of time thinking about things he’d rather be doing, the wall wouldn’t have been completed. He didn’t worry about whether he was comfortable or if the task seemed too difficult. He just persevered.

What would happen if we kept an eye on ourselves this year in order to remove habits of self-pity, self-centeredness, self-doubt, self-righteousness, and self-aggravating selfishness? If I were to stop discouraging myself, stop being my own joy-robber or hope-thief, stop making myself miserable with pressure to avoid sin on my own (without God’s help), stop disquieting myself with guilt if I found sin in my life, and stop undermining my own successes by telling myself it’s just too hard, then I would find victory.

I can rely on God to help me remove sin when I recognize the opportunity. My job is to have a sin-free mindset and ask God to help me keep the sin out of my life. He doesn’t mind helping us if we’re not lazy.

I like the story of Nehemiah’s stubbornness in getting the wall rebuilt. He had many opportunities to give up, but he kept at it. His enemies tried to discourage him, intimidate him, and trick him into quitting. Nehemiah knew God was with him, so he didn’t give up.

Do you have any God-given goals you are tempted to give up on?

If you’ll read the first six chapters of the book of Nehemiah and learn from Nehemiah’s example, you can trust God to deal with your enemies. Fight against self-importance. Fight for your right to obey God. Fight for your victory. Keep working until you’ve completed the task.