Nehemiah 1:3-4 "And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. (4) And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven"
The book of Nehemiah begins with the people of Israel being in captivity.
Today's verses begin with Nehemiah seeing a man by the name of Hanani who had
access to information concerning the people back in Judea who had escaped
captivity. When he saw Hanani, as you would expect, he asked concerning the
welfare of those Jews who remained back home.
He was told of the condition of the people and of the city. It is apparent that
Nehemiah had been taken away before seeing the destruction that had taken place
in Jerusalem. The news was not very good. "The people there are in great
affliction and reproach and the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the
gates are burned with fire." This information was almost too much
for Nehemiah to take. I can imagine his knees began to shake so much that he
had to sit down and began to weep. It was overwhelming to him when he heard of
the situation.
There are other scenarios that we could imagine as we think about this initial
reaction. No doubt there was sorrow that filled him; but, I can also imagine
there probably was anger. Nehemiah could have allowed his emotions to overrule
his spiritual approach. Yes, he was sad. He wept and he mourned. His heart was
broken, but instead of immediately lashing out, he did that which should be our
approach also when we hear bad news. He wept. He mourned. He fasted. He
prayed. This is his initial reaction and response. As we study the book, we
will see action followed. My thought this morning is this: Things are
much better if we approach situations in life with prayer. And there are times
when we are called upon to fast; that is, we must turn away from all outside
influences in order to properly respond to circumstances in life. I set
myself up for much more trouble if I let my mouth overrule my heart. When
we are hit with things in life that knock us to our knees, let us use that
position to seek God's will and His direction for action.