Samuel D. High
sdhigh@aristotle.net
-----Original Message-----
From: "Apostle Tom" <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Sent: Thu, 05 Jul 2007 07:18:01 -0500
To: pressingon@hotmail.com
Subject: Morning Manna (July 6); BP: Neh. 1:4-11; RBTTY: Acts 14; Job 32-33
July 6 “When Sorrows Assail Us”
“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.”
Nehemiah 1:4
May we never forget if it moves us to tears, it also touches the heart
of God.
Nehemiah, whose name means “The Comfort of the Lord,” was no crybaby.
You don’t rise to the position of being the king’s cupbearer—i.e.,
wine-taster (2:1)—and continually run around with a long face and melancholy
tone in your voice. In fact, such demeanor wouldn’t just cost you your
position; it could cost you your life!
Yet, Nehemiah’s learning of the news from home about the conditions of
his beloved city and countrymen (vv.1-3) devastated him. In fact, it so
greatly affected him that he could not hide his sad countenance from the
king, who (thankfully) asked him, “Nehemiah, what’s wrong?” (2:2).
What was wrong was the fact his loved ones back home were in “great
reproach and affliction” (1:3b). They’d languished in Babylonian captivity
for 70 years, but finally been released to return home; yet, even there
others were opposing and oppressing them. And, if that wasn’t bad enough,
Jerusalem’s walls were “broken down and the gates burned up with fire”
(1:3c). No wonder he “sat down and wept, mourned certain days, fasted and
prayed before the God of Heaven.” We would have too!
No doubt there are some reading these words even now where, like David,
your “tears have been your food day and night, while they continually say
‘Where is your God’?” (Ps. 42:2). An unexpected illness or calamity has
turned your world upside down. . . sucker-punching you like some low-blowing
prizefighter. And, like a seasick sailor on a storm-tossed sea you’ve been
“mounting up to the heavens and descending again to the depths. Your soul
is melted within you because of your trouble. You’re reeling to and fro,
staggering like a drunken man—and you’re at your wits’ end” (Ps. 107:26-27).
If so, this Manna’s for you.
The psalmist went on to say those folks began “crying out to the Lord
in their trouble and He brings them out of their distresses. He makes the
storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still. Then they’re glad that
they’re quiet—for He brings them to their desired haven” (vv.28-30).
Hallelujah!!
In reading Nehemiah’s story we find the God of Abraham also did the
same thing for him. After spending a number of days in “weeping, mourning,
fasting, praying, interceding, confessing and repenting” (vv.4-11), the Lord
gave him a vision and an action plan on how to “turn his sorrow into joy”
(Jn. 16:20).
Soon, the “God of all comfort” (II Cor. 1:3) would lead him back home
in a most miraculous way (Neh. 2:1-11) and his fellow countrymen would join
him in rebuilding the walls and re-hanging the gates in record time, despite
opposition from without and problems within (2:12-6:15). And, in the
process God would be glorified and the enemy silenced. Can He not do the
same with us, dear Pilgrim?
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