Get God’s Plan

This series has been focused on the book of Ezra thus far.  Ezra was written in a time when the Israelites were in captivity.  The Babylonians released them and allowed them to return to their home in Jerusalem.  They also allowed them to rebuild the Temple of the LORD.  We reminded ourselves that our individual bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  We also remembered that we, together, are being built like living stones into a temple where God’s Spirit dwells.

These are the memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In late autumn, in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes' reign, I was at the fortress of Susa. Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem. They said to me, "Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire." (Nehemiah 1:1-3 NLT)

Now that the Temple is built, we are moving on to another building project.  This one is relayed to us through the book of Nehemiah.  In this project, they will rebuild the city walls of Jerusalem, making it safe for Israelites to live there again.  The story begins, though, with Nehemiah learning that the city is in ruins.  It has been completely destroyed.

When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. (Nehemiah 1:4 NLT)

When we realize that our city, county, state, region, or country is in spiritual ruins, it is a good thing to mourn over its loss.  Organized people groups can have much greater influence than a single individual.  When that group walks with God, the influence is used to help others walk with God.  When that group does not, well, you get the picture.

The city where I live now, Valparaiso, IN, touts about 33,000 people.  The county has around 168,000.  All the studies tell me that about 1/3 of those people have a somewhat strong faith and consistent walk with God.  The other 2/3 do not.  This is enough to cause me to pause and mourn.

Then I said, "O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of unfailing love with those who love Him and obey His commands, listen to my prayer! (Nehemiah 1:5-6a NLT)

Nehemiah did exactly what I did.  He dropped to his knees before the LORD in prayer.  That’s because a city, county, state, our country level plan cannot be something we come up with on our own.  A plan to reach that many people must come from the LORD. Humbling ourselves in prayer puts us in a place where we can hear it.  Its a place where we can get God’s Plan.

Look down and see me praying night and day for Your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against You. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that You gave us through Your servant Moses. "Please remember what You told Your servant Moses: 'If you are unfaithful to Me, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to Me and obey My commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for My name to be honored.' (Nehemiah 1:6-9b NLT)

How about you?  Do you have a heart for a broken city?  Do you turn to God in prayer?  Do you get God’s Plan?