As soon as I heard
these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting
and praying before the God of heaven.
THE STUDY:
Today we are still
looking at the first section of Nehemiah which is found in Chapters 1-3. We
have moved on to verse 4 and we see how emotional Nehemiah is in regard to the
news of his countrymen and city. He states he sat down which, in the Hebrew is defined as (to dwell). This gives
the imagery of a length of time which is clearly stated later in this verse “for days.”
He defines what he did for this
period of time, wept and mourned. The
Hebrew word for wept is defined as: to
well-up tears in the eyes and have mild convulsions or spasms of the diaphragm,
and often make vocal sounds of soft groaning or loud wailing, as a sign of
sorrow and mourning.[1]
The Hebrew word for mourning is
defined as: lament or grieve. This gives us the picture of a man of God who is
reacting to news concerning something so special and dear to him. Not for a
minute, an hour, or a day but for multiple days Nehemiah is found emotionally distraught
to the point of almost vomiting with such sorrow originating at the pit of his
heart. This causes him to not be able to express himself with words.
WHAT WE CAN WALK AWAY
WITH ….
- What we can walk away with is the understanding of this deep emotional sorrow Nehemiah experienced and how he reacted to it. This reaction was caused due to something so dear and precious to Nehemiah. Through this verse we see how Nehemiah is a great example that contradicts the old adage, “Real men don’t cry!” Nehemiah was a godly man whose heart was pierced and his emotions disturbed and he was not afraid to let that be known. How else was the King going to see the reasoning for releasing Nehemiah to go rebuild the wall?
APPLICATION:
Many of us, in this difficult world
we live in, have experienced the point of deep sorrow. Even to the degree of not
being able to use words just an undefinable moaning. This is exactly what
Romans 8:26 is talking about: For we do
not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us
with groanings too deep for words.
Nehemiah was emotionally affected
by the news. We will be emotionally affected by news one day. Nehemiah wept and
mourned, we should do the same thing. But after that, we need not stay in this
emotional state. Let that heart felt experience be the fuel for the
vehicle but let the Hole Spirit be the pilot that drives the vehicle.
Today, we may experience such
sorrow in our hearts. Allow the appropriate time of grieving to take its
course. In the midst of it allow the tears to flow and the touch of Christ to
start the process of healing. He will turn this sorrow into the driving force
that will be able to accomplish His will through you.
Blessings my friends
Pastor Rod
[1]
Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of
Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament)
(electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment