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(The views expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Nehemiah 1:5–11, “And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer.”
Nehemiah knew that the Lord had chosen Jerusalem as the city where He would place His name. However the city was in bad shape. It hadn’t been destroyed because the Lord was incapable of defending the city but because His people didn’t remain faithful to the contract that they had made with the Lord. If the city was to be restored then the people’s sins had to be confessed and they had to repent and fast for these sins. He started to pray and confess the sins of his nation. He asked the Lord to forgive the sins of the people and to be merciful to Israel so that they could, once again be free and at peace in their ancient homeland.
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