Nehemiah, My New BFF

I have the immeasurable honor of leading a morning Bible study for women. As I type this their faces are coming to mind, one by one. I will try my hardest to stay on task but my desire to tell you how much I love and depend on these women wants to take over:)I am crazy about them, and I am crazy about our Wednesday mornings spent in the WORD!

We are currently walking through the book of Nehemiah together. Y’all!!! He is so cool, I want to be JUST LIKE HIM when I grow up! Seriously, don’t take my word for it, open up the Bible and see for yourselves! Better yet, hop on Lifeway and order your own copy of Kelly Minter’s, “Nehemiah, A Heart that can Break”. (You’ll love her too!)

Nehemiah was a Jew who lived a royal life of luxury in Persia and held the high honor of cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. While they were vacationing in Susa, His brother arrived with a group of men from Judah. During their visit, Nehemiah questioned them about Jerusalem and the Jewish remnant (who survived the exile). Sadly, they had to inform Nehemiah that the news was not good. The Jews were in great trouble and disgrace as Jerusalem’s wall had been broken down. When Nehemiah heard this, he sat down and he wept.

Now, let me remind you, he did not live in Jerusalem. He obviously  had family there but he lived in Persia...in a palace. He didn’t have TV or Foxnews.com to keep him up to date on the world around him. He didn’t have a telephone, email, Facebook or Twitter to keep him connected to friends and family. His relationships were nothing like ours today. But still, he wept and he mourned.

This amazed me. We often hear of the suffering of people when we turn on the news or even when we talk to friends. We are made aware of insurmountable need as we scroll through our FB pages. But can you tell me the last time you sat down and wept at the tragedy of others? I came to the sad realization that, regardless of the reasons, we have hardened hearts. Hearts of stone. Not Nehemiah, he had a heart that could break. (I love him!)

No wonder God is moving the hearts of song writers to pen lyrics like: “Break my heart for what breaks yours”, “break my heart ‘til it moves my hands and feet”, “In my own little world it hardly ever rains, I’ve never gone hungry, always felt safe. I got some money in my pocket, shoes on my feet. In my own little world, population: me”. Our God never meant for us to be desensitized, unaffected, Christians. He, is after all, the very creator of social justice.

I’m praying that the church…that I, will rise up and move out. I pray that we will reflect Jesus and love out loud, get our hands dirty, preach the true Gospel to the desperate, offer the scorned woman…Living Water. I pray that we can reflect the very breakable heart of Nehemiah. We have been called to nothing less.

Because I don’t want to spoil it, I won’t tell you the rest. Which, by the way, is SO hard as there is SO much I want to tell! Go, grab your Bible and read it! Read about how the news of suffering spurred him into ACTION! Read how he never moved without prayer, read how he demanded social justice, read how he stood firm in God’s promises, read how he trusted his awesome God every. step. of. the. way. (Seriously, I love this guy!)

I always wanted my mansion in heaven to be next door to Daniel’s. I, now, have every intention of asking God if He could maybe squeeze me in the middle of him and Nehemiah. I still love you, Daniel…but there’s a new kid in town;)

I’ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed. I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands.

Ezekiel 36:26-27, The Message