|
"O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer."
(Nehemiah 1:11)
Asking God to prosper you for the assignment He has given you is wise. By asking for the Lord's help, we admit we cannot do it on our own. We need divine intervention if we are to tackle what He has laid out before us.
Allow me a moment to stop right here in this devotion and share a cool story with you. My wife, Ashley, and I just got to lead a man to Christ. He came by to help us with cicada killers, part of the wasp family that kills the cicada (a beetle-like insect that makes a lot of noise). It was a divine appointment, and it literally just happened. We praise God! I felt the Lord nudge me to stop writing this devotion, go meet him, and share with him. Thank You, Jesus, for saving another soul!
Back to our fearless and exemplary leader, Nehemiah, a man God used powerfully in the 5th century BC to rebuild the protective wall around Jerusalem. In verse 11 he asks a second time for God to be attentive to his prayers. He prays to God that he and others desire to fear His name. When we are walking in disobedience to God, we are not fearing Him, honoring Him, or giving Him the reverence due His name. We cannot exalt God's name and our name simultaneously.
Nehemiah asks God to prosper him "this day". The Hebrew word is tsalach, which literally means to cut through, and to succeed or to be successful. He is asking God to make a way where there really is no way. He asks for God to do the impossible. He asks for mercy (racham), compassion, or favor "in the sight of this man". "This man" is King Artaxerxes. The dilemma stems from the fact that this earthly king had already vetoed the rebuilding of the wall once, as seen in Ezra 4:21. Nehemiah had respect for the king, his boss, but he knew that the LORD God was the true heavenly Despot, the reigning Monarch over the affairs of man. He knew that God could grant him the favor he would need to succeed in the task he is about to undertake. In Mark 11:24, Jesus says, "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." Jesus also said in Matthew 19:26, "With men this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible."
What are you facing that seems like an impossible situation? Perhaps, God is prompting you to step up and lead, but you are perplexed, thinking all hope is lost and there is no way out. Trust me friend, with God, there is always a way. He specializes in overcoming the impossibilities that we face. Whatever your trial or seemingly impossible situation, if God leads you to it, then He will lead you through it. Ask the Lord God to prosper you to help you succeed in the mission He has assigned you.
|
