Last week we began a look at Nehemiah and how his story in the Old Testament began. As we
look ahead to our summer series, CLEAR: A Chronicle of Nehemiah, we noted in last week’s
article that God often plants the beginning of vision in our lives through an OBSTACLE that is
keeping something else from coming to fulfillment. In Nehemiah’s case, he had heard that the
city of Jerusalem had remained in ruins, although the temple had been re-constructed by a group
of Jews under the leadership of Ezra some 10-15 years earlier. Nehemiah loved his native people,
the Jews, and the heritage of the Jews. He knew that a thriving Jerusalem would be important to
the revitalization of the Jewish population. He dreamed of a Jewish resettlement of the city, with
the city returning to its spiritual prominence.
After hearing of the state of the city of Jerusalem, Nehemiah’s next move is kind of heart-wrenching: 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)
In Nehemiah’s mind and heart, this obstacle of the walls being broken down would become a
full-blown burden—a heavy one, at that! Burden is one of those “churchy words” that tend to get
overused in the language of religiosity. But this situation calls for a heavy word to describe a
really heavy heart. The American Heritage Dictionary defines ‘burden’ as…
“Something that is emotionally difficult to bear; A source of great worry or stress; weight….”
This feeling of heaviness caused Nehemiah to take some fairly drastic measures. He spent lots of
time before God, crying his heart out, and fasting, all the time praying to God for direction.
Nehemiah’s burden emerged from seeing the gap separating what was (a city lying in ruins) from
what could be, and what should be. The result – Nehemiah would make something happen –
something that was pretty big!
Have you experienced a burden from the Lord? What do you do with a burden that comes from
the Lord? Here are a couple of questions that may give some guidance….
1) Regarding the situation that you are burdened about – Can you clearly distinguish between
‘what is’ and ‘what could be’ in the situation? Can you see that there is a better way? Or a better
‘state of being’? Can you relate this better state of being as being in alignment with advancing
God’s Kingdom, and not your own kingdom?
2) Are you willing to move the situation forward? Even if the situation seems insurmountable or
overwhelming, are you willing to take beginning steps toward that better state of being? Hint: If
it doesn’t clearly advance the Kingdom of God, you don’t need to spend any effort on it.
3) Are you willing to take an actual step forward? What I mean is – make an intentional decision
about whatever can begin to improve the situation and / or alleviate that burden.
Often we don’t even know what our next step needs to be. But time and again, in Scripture, God
shows that He rewards those who have the faith to take a next step, even though that step may
not be clear at all. I call those steps ‘directional steps’. In other words, if you don’t know the
particular step that needs to be taken (and it’s likely that you won’t), then DO SOMETHING!
Take a step that you think is at least in the general direction that God is leading you toward in His
Kingdom-aligned purpose! This ‘directional step’ is more of a step of faith anyway!
A BURDEN from the Lord is a BLESSING from the Lord! God gives us the burden to clue us in
on what He wants us to do. Follow His prompting. For Nehemiah, the burden would become the
impetus for taking a directional step – a step that would radically change the course of his life,
and the course of the nation of Judah!
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