Daily Devotions

The Book of Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible, largely takes the form of a first-person memoir by Nehemiah, a Jew who is a high official at the Persian court, and concerns the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile and the dedication of the city and its people to God's laws.

Few people are familiar with the Biblical figure Nehemiah, and yet he was instrumental in the rebuilding and reestablishment of Jerusalem in the fifth century B.C. following the Babylonian exile. 

Nehemiah served as the king’s cupbearer,  which evidently put him in a position to speak to the king and request favours from him. After hearing about the sad state of affairs in Judah, Nehemiah acquired the king’s permission to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and its fortifications. He is even given letters from the king to ensure safe passage and to obtain timber from the king’s forest for the gates and walls of Jerusalem.

There are a number of lessons the church can learn from the book of Nehemiah. 

- Identify the need

- Plan carefully

• Face opposition and frustrations
• Work as a team
• Leading through service
• Showing faith and commitment
• Persevere and maintain the faith

Nehemiah was a faithful intercessor. In chapter 1:10-11 we read, “We are your servants, the people you rescued by your great power. O Lord, please hear my prayer! Heed the prayers of those of us who delight to honour you.”

Nehemiah had a burden for his people, for the broken city of Jerusalem. He wept, He cared with a passion. He had a vision of what could be and his first step was important. He didn’t race to Jerusalem and try to go at it alone. He didn’t start mapping out a plan to find the solution. He didn’t take the burden to people. He knew where the burden came from and he took the burden to the only one who knew it fully and had power to see it through. Nehemiah went to the Lord and prayed.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “Let us learn to think of tears as liquid prayers, and of weeping as a constant dropping of importunate intercession which will wear its way right surely into the very heart of mercy, despite the stony difficulties which obstruct the way.”

Lord, thank You for the example of Nehemiah's prayer. May I humble myself before You, remembering that everything I have comes from You. Give me the humility and thankfulness to respond to Your call with "Here I am; send me!" I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.