A Call to Anguish

Nehemiah 1:4 (NLT) “When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.”

After 70 years in exile, the Jews had returned home and rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem. They were able to worship God in their own land, but the city still lay in ruins. The once-great capital of the promised land was a rubble heap. The wall was torn down and the city entrance, destroyed by fire. This was the land God gave them as an inheritance – the promised land given to Abraham and his descendants.

When Nehemiah hears this, something in his heart breaks, the bible tells us that he sat down and wept – in fact, he mourned, fasted and prayed to the God of heaven. Nehemiah then sets his heart to restore the city walls. The book of Nehemiah is about re-establishing God’s people both physically (in the land) and spiritually, but the brokenness and anguish began in one man - Nehemiah.

With COVID 19 running rampant in our world, we hear of people losing jobs and going to bed hungry. We hear of locust plagues, floods, droughts, fires, war, earthquakes and so many other things.

Like never before – our hearts should be breaking! We have to weep, mourn, fast and pray to the God of heaven! We need to allow God to burden and break our hearts to action as He did with Nehemiah. Over the next week – I encourage you to weep, fast and pray to the God of heaven!

A call to anguish: