Broken walls and a Broken Heart Neh. 1:1-11

Introduction

Nehemiah is a great book on leadership, but also on determination in the Christian life. We will see that Nehemiah wasn’t a preacher, missionary or evangelist, he was a layperson with a burden for the things of God.

I pray that as we go through the book of Nehemiah, we would get a fresh burden for the things of God and we would get excited to build our church for the glory of God. As we will see later in Nehemiah, it takes every family to help build the church.

What has happened in Jerusalem? vs 1-3

The first thing we notice is that these are the words of Nehemiah who is the son of Hachaliah vs.1

We do not know anything about Hachaliah, but it helps distinguish him from other jews with the same name, which we will see later on in Nehemiah.

HIs name means “The Lord has comforted”

In verse 11 we see that Nehemiah was the kings cupbearer. This was an important job, as Nehemiah would drink the wine before the king to ensure that it wasn’t going to poison the king.

This position was one of high trust and responsibility, as well as close fellowship with the king. He risked his life daily for the king by tasting every beverage to ensure the king wasn’t being poisoned.

It was no accident that God had put him in that position.

The setting of this first chapter is also given to us vs. 1

It was the month of Chisleu which corresponds to our November-December

It was the 20th year of the reign of Artaxerxes, which puts the book of Nehemiah 14 years after Artaxerxes sent Ezra to Jerusalem.

The the Bible tells us that he was in Shushan the palace

Shushan the Palace is the same as Susa, which was the winter capital of the great Persian empire, about 250 miles east of Babylon.

The is a lot of Archeological finds that prove the existence of this city and palace.

The news from Jerusalem vs. 2-3

Hanani, apparently Nehemiahs brother and some other men came from Judah to visit with Nehemiah.

Nehemiah asks the condition of the people who were escaped from the captivity and the condition of Jerusalem.

The condition of the people

The remnant that is left are in great affliction (The cause of continued pain of body or mind, as sickness, losses, calamity, adversity, persecution.) and reproach (contempt, scorn or derision.)

The condition of the city

The wall is broken down

The gates are burned with fire

The city was left in shambles and those who were left in the city weren’t in much better shape.

They were physically and spiritually broken down. I think we can find a lot of similarities between Jerusalem and America here.

The Response of Nehemiah vs. 4

The first thing Nehemiah did when he heard this news was he sat down and wept.

He was weeping over the state of his people and his country. While he was in captivity, he still cared for his homeland, just as David who prayed toward Jerusalem every day.

When is the last time we wept over the state of our country? It should hurt us to see the amount of people who hate God and the things of God.

He also mourned

Remember back in the bible days they mourned differently than we do. They would put on sackcloth and put ashes on their head.

Mourn means to express grief or sorrow

Then he fasted and prayed

Often in the Bible, fasting and praying go together. I think of it this way, you fast, so you can feed your spirit rather than your flesh.

The Prayer of Nehemiah vs. 5-11

His Acknowledgment of God vs. 5

I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven

Beseech-To entreat; to supplicate; to implore; to ask or pray with urgency

The great and terrible God

Terrible-Adapted to impress solemn awe and reverence

That keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments

Deuteronomy 7:9 “Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;”

Exodus 20:6 “And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”

Exodus 34:6–7 “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”

His request vs. 6

He starts by asking God to have an attentive ear and open eyes

He wants God to hear his prayer

He acknowledges he is nothing but God’s servant

He then tells us the urgency of his prayer

This wasn’t going to be a one and done prayer, he was going to continually pray for Jerusalem day and night

He tells us what he is praying for

For the children of Israel, who are also God’s servants.

His confession vs. 6b-7

He wants to confess the sins of himself and his nation.

Remember when we sin, we sin against God.

If we want God to continue to bless America and to keep his hand on us two things must happen

We must continue to support Israel

We must confess our sins and turn back too Him

Vs 7 Gives some specifics of their sins

They dealt very corruptly with him

corruptly - In a corrupt manner; with corruption; viciously; wickedly; without integrity.

They didn’t keep his commandments

They didn’t keep his statutes

They didn’t keep his judgements

All of these were given to Moses and they had failed to keep them.

His second request vs. 8-9

Remember

God doesn’t forget, Nehemiah is asking him to bring it into focus

He then quotes what God said to Moses in Leviticus 26:33 “And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.”

But then he also reminds God of his promise in Deuteronomy 30:1–5 “And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.”

These are the people you redeemed vs. 10

Deuteronomy 9:29 “Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm.”

Nehemiah was reminding God these are the people you brought out of Egypt and their kids into the promised land.

Nehemiahs final requests vs. 11

Please listen to the prayers of those who fear your name and prosper

He prays that King Artaxerxes would show him mercy, because he was the kings cupbearer.

Conclusion

While Nehemiah was praying, his burden for Jerusalem became greater and his vision of what was needed to be done became clearer. Weirsbe said this “Real prayer keeps your heart and head in balance so your burden doesn’t make you impatient to run ahead of the Lord and ruin everything. As we pray, God tells us what to do, when to do it, and how to do it, and all are important to the accomplishing of the will of God”