Monday after the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 28, 2019 by under
Scripture: Nehemiah 1:1-11 (NKJV)
1:1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah.
It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, 2 that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”
4 So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
5 And I said: “I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, 6 please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. 7 We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. 8 Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; 9 but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’ 10 Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. 11 O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”
For I was the king’s cupbearer.
Devotion
Nehemiah, the son of Hachaliah, asks Hanani, one of his fellow Israelites for a report on what was happening back in his home land of Israel while he was in the land of Babylon. The Israelites had been given permission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem under the leadership of Ezra, but this was not going well, because the enemies of Israel were making it difficult. The report was that it was not going well.
Spiritually this is a picture of the Church in this world. Because of our spiritual enemies—the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh—the Church is in great distress and reproach. The walls of the Church seem broken down by the existence of false doctrine, and her gates are burned with fire whenever unrepentant sinfulness is not only allowed, but encouraged.
What is Nehemiah’s response to this report? He fasts and prays for many days, offering up a prayer of confession for his sins and the sins of the Israelites. In his contrition he pleads to the only One who can offer mercy. In his faith he clings to the One who can restore the people of Israel and the city of Jerusalem.
In these dark times when the Church is beset with so many slings and arrows it behooves us to confess daily our sins, and ask our heavenly Father to guide and protect His Church from all of the assaults of the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh.
We pray: O Almighty and Most Merciful God, of Thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech Thee, from all things that may hurt us, that we, being ready, both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things that Thou wouldst have done; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
