God bless all of you on this beautiful day; as promised on the last blog post in today’s Called with a Purpose post I will be speaking in the book of Nehemiah; about Nehemiah and his call to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem after they had been destroyed by the Babylonians. As a lot of you probably know he was the cupbearer to the King of Persia Artaxerxes son of Xerxes husband of Esther.
In the first chapter of the book of Nehemiah, it says that after he asked and heard the news about Jerusalem and the people who were sent to exile; he wept and prayed and fasted to the Lord. From verse 5 to 7 you can read and see how his prayer was to God but what calls my attention is verse 6 to 7;
let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you.7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
What calls my attention is on the second line of verse 6; where he tells the Lord, ” I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you.” Why was Nehemiah admitting to those sins is the question I ask myself? One thing I have learned in spiritual warfare is that the sins and bondage of past ancestors are still present in our lives and if they are not broken it still has the power to keep us in chains. One sentence that I use in my prayer is; ” Father at this hour in the name of Jesus Christ and with the authority given to me; I asked that any chain or bondage that is dragging from past generations be broken in Jesus name. ” Another thing that I ask myself is; why was he asking God to turn his ear towards his prayer and to keep his eyes open?. As we know God is a God of mercy and has always been; however the people of Israel always broke the covenant that God had made with them and they didn’t listen when he sent word of repentance through the prophets
Nehemiah was not only praying for the rebuilding of physical walls but also for the spiritual ones. The walls of the nation of Israel were destroyed because of their disobedience through the idolatry of other pagan gods; they didn’t have the ear of the Father anymore. Their relationship with God had crumbled and they needed to build those walls of prayer and communication with God also before the rebuilding of the physical walls. Remember after all; this nation has always been his chosen nation.
He has always responded to their cries and prayers when they actually come to him with a heartfelt repentance. He has always provided for them in times of need and desperation. Nehemiah brings to mind the command that he gave to Moses to give to the children of Israel in verse 8 and 9 saying;
‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’
However in verse ten; Nehemiah says “they are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand”. Almost as if asking God to have pity on them as Nehemiah would go before the King and he wanted the King to show favor and let him go to rebuild the walls with his permission but foremost God’s. Later in chapter 2 of Nehemiah, it seems as God heard his petition because the King saw in his expression when Nehemiah took to him his cup that his expression was of sadness but not of illness instead of heartbreak. And God put favor in the sight of the King for Nehemiah as the King granted Nehemiah the request to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Rebuilding the walls did not only take Nehemiah to do it but everyone else; if you read the whole book of Nehemiah you will see that he involved the priests, families and even conflict and opposition were involved in the rebuilding of those walls. The priests were the first to volunteer to rebuild the walls; families got involved and rebuilt sections of the walls as a sign of ownership. How are we rebuilding the spiritual walls of our nation, community, family, and church? Are we involved or are we just seeing from the outside the work that other people are doing? Opposition and conflict rose up in the time of rebuilding; however, did that stop, Nehemiah, from completing the purpose of his call?
Actually, all the opposition and conflict instead made him stay more in the purpose that God had put in him. We have to learn to overcome the conflict’s and circumstances, the injustice that may appear in our way. At the end of all Nehemiah rebuilt the walls and purified the people of Israel just as God wanted, and all that he desired was for God so remember him in favor for all that he had done and for obeying his call and fulfilling it. Let’s scrutinize ourselves and see if we are obeying the call that God has put in our hearts and how are we rebuilding the walls of our community and country but foremost it should be our family; how are you rebuilding the walls of those who have theirs destroyed?
P.S. I hope that this post brings blessing to your life. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section at the bottom; would love to hear from you. Show kindness and love to someone from the time of right now in one aspect of their lives. Shalom🕊
A Girl’s Blog 
Wow, this is so good! I know in my life I’ve been purposeful to pray against repeating the sins of my family from previous generations, but have not necessarily prayed for forgiveness for them. Thanks so much for sharing!
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De nada ☺️ and thanks; it’s something that I found out myself when I was reading Nehemiah😳
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