Nehemiah 1

Nehemiah, in the first chapter of his book, tells about learning that the survivors of the exile were in distress and that Jerusalem and its walls lay in ruin. Nehemiah was deeply grieved by this news. He tells us that he fasted and prayed for days in his grief and in his grief he came to some profound realizations.

First of all, God is awesome. God had worked in a mighty way and with His own hands to make the nation of Israel His people. In doing so God showed Himself to be faithful to keep all of His promises and all of His curses. This leads Nehemiah to realize that he needs to be honest with God.

Not only had Israel sinned but he had sinned. Because he and his countrymen had acted in ways that displeased God, they were experiencing the consequences of their choices. The condition of Jerusalem was not God’s fault it was theirs. His circumstances were not becasue someone else messed up it was him. Nehemiah not only admitted he bore responsibilty for his situation, he was sorry his action hurt God.

Nehemiah was not only sorry for his sin, he wanted to change what he was doing, change his circumstances. He wanted to start doing what God wanted Him to do. Nehemiah not only wanted to do what was right, he asked God to hold him accountable for his commitment.

The lessons we can learn from Nehemiah are numerous. In his prayer of Nehemiah 1 we learn that no matter how bad the situations in our lives are, God is still awesome. He never intended that we would be in dire circumstances. He created everything perfect. His desire was that things would stay that way. It was the choices of mankind that ruined perfection. We live in a fallen world but God is faithful to restore it.

We also see the importance of being honest about our role in the brokenness of our lives. Situations for us often end up with undesirable consequences because we make bad choices. Not always, but more often than we are willing to admit. We have to be honest with God about our sin. More importantly, we have to be honest with ourselves. When we admit what we need to fix and make a commitment to fix it we will be in a place where God can restore us and make things better.