So about a day after my last blog my daily devotionals took me to the book of Nehemiah, a book I do thoroughly enjoy reading, so i knew good times were ahead. But instead of my normal read a few chapters a day I found myself unable to move past the first one. If you have a Bible near by i recommend grabbing it now and having a quick read. 11 verses that just blew me away. My daily devotional turned into a meditation on an honest man's prayer and the sort of prayer i want to be praying.
As i was reading it i couldn't help but be reminded of the Lord's Prayer and the similarities in the structure of both. What a start to a prayer it is though, 'O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God,' He aknowledges the greatness of the person whom he is talking to. He doesn't use amazingly vivid adjectives but i almost feel like he is aknowledging that he cannot describe the greatness of God and all he can come up with is 'great' and 'awesome', he is probably in so much awe that his mind has blanked and he plucks up the first two words that come to mind. But reading it i find myself in a place of awe. That sense of speechlessness because what you are seeing is so great. I have found myself, on occassion, speechless as witnessing a sporting highlight but that is nothing in comparison to my feeling as i read and re-read Nehemiah 1.
What follows just continues to highlight God's greatness, in that Nehemiah repents fo his transgressions because he realises that he is unworthy to be speaking to God when he has so often sinned against Him. I frequently pray but often i don't think about how fortunate and amazing it is that i, a sinner saved by grace, can speak to him. The significance of this had become neutralised in my life as it became so natural. But Nehemiah understood the power of the one whom he was speaking to and in this realised how unworthy he was. I hope that i can take this lesson to heart and that EVERY time i pray i realise the power of the one whom i am speaking to and how unbelievable it is that i can speak to him considering how many times i mess up.
And then in verse 9 'I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.' Nehemiah is recalling God's promise to him. And it is an amazing promise, to have God telling you that, simply put, he is in control and will deliver these people is a pretty special moment. Imagine experiencing that sort of promise on your life, that God will send you to a community and you will bring them to the dwelling place HE has chosen. Well i believe he has given us that promise through the Great Commission. By going and teaching the nations of all we have been taught and believe in then God is saying that by doing that HE will bring them into the dwelling place HE chooses. I know this may be hard to follow but i feel the Great Commission is nto for us to go out and tick boxes to say we meet the criteria of being a follower instead it is to go out and bring the people of the world into the dwelling place that God chooses, which is ultimately Himself. I hope you follow.
This short prayer from Nehemiah is probably frequently overlooked or just seen as the bookend of his journey in returning to fix the walls, since it is right at the start, but i think instead of it being a bookend it is the very core of what is to follow. Without such an honest and awe filled prayer at the start, what follows would lose SOME of its meaning.
Nehemiah is a legend and by reading his book one chapter at a time i am realising just how much of a legend he is and i hope you do so too.
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