Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Fifty-Two Days in Nehemiah (Day 1)



Day 1

And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 1:2

God’s movement in our lives will often take place in the midst of the ordinary. In reading the book of Nehemiah, it seems that he asked a fairly anemic question. Basically, “How are things in Jerusalem?” Nehemiah had no idea that this simple question was going to radically change his life.

The answer to his question was that things were not good in Jerusalem. The wall that should have protected the city lie in ruins. The people were vulnerable to attack and had no way to protect themselves. It was Nehemiah that God would call to see that the wall was rebuilt. As we will see, this was no small task. However, with the Lord’s help, Nehemiah would get it done in an unbelievable short time.

We must recognize that God has set us apart for a specific reason, just as He did Nehemiah. There are things in our life that God has appointed us to that are going to be bigger than we can accomplish on our own. We will have to decide whether we, like Nehemiah, are willing to do what God has called us to do, or will we play it safe and miss our appointed destiny?

As we will see, Nehemiah did not take his call lightly. He approached it with fasting, prayer, and dependence upon the Lord. If we intend to see God use us in a powerful way, these disciplines will have to define our lives as well. We cannot approach life in a haphazard manner and expect that God will do something great with us. It is the life that is fully dependent upon Him that He will use for His purposes.

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