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Nehemiah 1
In this short chapter we are introduced to Nehemiah, a Jewish man working as the king's cupbearer in the Shushan winter palace of the Persian kings.
Nehemiah has a conversation with his brother and some men from Judah about the Jews in Jerusalem. He is told that they are in great trouble, the city walls having been broken down and the gates burned. This causes Nehemiah significant distress. He weeps, mourns, fasts and prays to God.
In his prayers he confesses to God the sins of himself and the children of Israel in not keeping God's commands given through Moses, but he reminds God of his words to restore them if they confessed their sins to him and returned to God's ways.
He additionally beseeches God that he will give him mercy in the sight of the King.
I have read this chapter through over the past 3 days, each time feeling drawn to a different aspect, but the following day that sense has gone and I have had to ask the Lord again to show me what to think about. Today my attention was caught by the end of Nehemiah's prayer when he is beseeching the LORD to hear his prayer, and the prayers of those, 'who desire to fear thy name'.
This led me to thinking of those days before I knew the Lord, but was encouraged by my Pastor's preaching. He would ask us if even though we couldn't say that we were one of the Lord's children, our sins forgiven and Christ precious to us, could we say that we had a 'desire' for these things? Did we have a longing in our hearts that we might know the Lord, that he might be precious to us - a wanting to be able to say the Lord is precious to us? And he would encourage us to keep seeking for the Lord, because it is the work of the Holy Spirit putting these desires in our hearts to draw us towards God.
But on looking up this word 'desire' in my Strong's Concordance, for this context it is more of a 'taking pleasure in' or 'delighting in'. So perhaps the sense here is more that the Lord might hear the prayers of those who delight in fearing or following God.
Why might Nehemiah have pleaded this as a reason for the Lord to hear their prayers? Is it not because those who can delight in the Lord, who know something of him and his attributes, are those who the Lord himself loves? As it says in 1 John 4: 19, 'We love him, because he first loved us'. We won't know anything of his wonderful loving kindness if he hasn't first shown it to us. Isn't this a most wondrous reason to, as Psalm 100 says, make a joyful noise unto the Lord, serve him with gladness and come before his presence with singing, because... 'we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture'.
Does this also remind you of the verse in Psalm 37: 4, 'Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart'? When we think about God and his wonderful attributes and our heart is drawn out in love and praise to him we will be led to ask him for those things which are according to his will. And then it will be true that as Jesus promised, 'whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye ask anything in my name, I will do it' (John 14:13,14).
But perhaps, you say you don't feel you know God to be able to delight in him. Perhaps, as we said at the beginning you can only say that you want to be able to delight in him, but he seems so far off, so unreachable. He seems a God that you read about in the Bible, or hear spoken about by other believers, but to you he seems unrelated, as if he has no concern for you, and you have no claim on him.
Well, why do you want to be able to delight in him? What is it which attracts you to him? Is it that you feel alone... unsafe...unhappy ...scared of death...unloved...? Do you feel so unworthy of God's notice, so full of wrongdoings? Or perhaps you feel so unable to cope with whatever is in your life, and you desperately need help, and you don't know who else to turn to.
Come before him, in an attitude of reverence and prayer as Nehemiah did. Follow Nehemiah's example by worshiping God for the greatness that you have heard about him, confess all that is in your heart and thoughts and then humbly plead the promises God has given us in the Bible, and he will answer you in his own time and way.
Bhaskar Sreerangam, a converted Hindu*, in writing of the events leading up to his conversion said that God's "outreach to him" (or answers to his prayers) "was a custom-made intervention...unique and individualised. The God of the Bible knows us intimately and in love". As we see from all the different people and examples in the Bible, God will answer you in his own way, either by gradually bringing you to know and delight in him, or more suddenly and clearly.
*Brahmin Reborn by Bhaskar Sreerangam with Esther Sandys.
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