Attributes of Revival – The Burden

To understand Nehemiah, the man, is to understand what a real burden is all about … Nehemiah lived in exile in the Persian Empire. God’s children had lived in exile under Babylonian and then Persian rule for 70 years. Nehemiah had risen to the position of the King’s cupbearer (King Artaxerxes, stepson of Queen Ester). Although, in comparison to many of his brethren, Nehemiah’s position was rather high. It was also vitally important to the King. It was, as the cupbearer, Nehemiah’s responsibility to “stand” between the King and possible death. You see, he was put in the position to sample the drink before the King to make sure that no one would possibly poison the drink and thus kill the King. What a position! However, the underpinning of the position was built upon trust. The King had to find someone who was trustworthy in order to protect him from possible peril. Nehemiah was that man!

The Burden

The opening of the account of Nehemiah, finds him seeking the welfare of his brethren who “had escaped” by asking brethren who were visiting from Judah. The answer that he received resulted in great mourning for Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1:1-4). When he heard that the remnant were in great affliction and reproach and that the wall of Jerusalem was also broken down, it crushed him. Truth of the matter, Nehemiah had already come under a burden for his people and their condition. The message that he received just confirmed the reality of his burden.

So what did he do … First, hear his own words:

And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and I wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

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 judgements, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst they 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 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 1: 4-11

Nehemiah’s actions and prayer get to the heart of what a real burden is all about. He didn’t go find someone to express his burden to. He, also, didn’t stand up in the midst of the congregation to pontificate about his burden. Rather, in solitude, he wept, mourned, fasted and prayed to the Lord several days. He didn’t stop until he had fully emptied or surrendered himself to his Heavenly Father.

But to truly understand his heart, one must listen to his words. In his prayer, Nehemiah took responsibility for his and the condition of the children of Israel before God. He was repentant for himself and his people before God. Yet he also did not stray from the word. He reminded God of His promises both to the negative and the positive concerning his people.

At the root of any burden is honesty. At the root of honesty is recognizing our position before God. Nehemiah was brutally honest because of his love for his brethren and more importantly his love for God. His honesty lead him to look inside-out instead of outside-in (See Being Made Whole). When he saw his condition from the inside and compared himself to God, his response was acknowledging his sin and corruptness in not keeping the commandments, the statutes nor the judgements…and not only his but also his people. In actuality, Nehemiah was not necessarily what we would recognize as a “sinful” man. He was very trustworthy. He had to be to be the kings cupbearer. In carrying the burden for his people, he actually recognized and took on their sin, as if it were his own (Does this not remind you of our Lord Jesus Christ). When the scripture talks about “bear ye one another’s burdens”, it is asking us to put ourselves in the place of the one who we are carrying the burden for ourselves. It’s not just having sympathy. It’s putting ourselves in the midst of that persons issues … Isn’t that what Jesus Christ does for us? He left his lofty position in Heaven to take on “sinful” flesh that He might perfectly know what our need truly was … and is.

At the root of any burden is honesty. At the root of honesty is recognizing our position before God.

The Wall

Nehemiah’s concern about the wall sprung out of understanding the purpose for the wall. The purpose of the wall was to first establish the place where God had setup his holy kingdom. Secondly, the wall was established as a means to protect the people within it. With the walls broken down that kingdom failed to exist. Nehemiah was not just “concerned” for the well-being of the people. He was burdened for their well-being within the established “wall” of God’s kingdom. A people who were once recognized as God’s chosen people, with power, were now scattered and a reproach to all those “other” kingdoms around about them. At the very center of Nehemiah’s burden was his love for his God. The people of God, though their own actions, had not only let God down but had caused the name of the Lord to be a reproach amongst the heathen nations around about them.

A True Burden Leads to Action

Nehemiah’s burden and subsequent repentance meant nothing if there was to be no action to it. He convinced the king to allow him to go back to his country and to re-build the walls or, in other words, re-establish the kingdom. Several years earlier, the process of re-building the temple had taken place. With the walls being re-built, the physical aspect of God’s kingdom, at that time, could be realized. Nehemiah did journey back to his land (Jerusalem) and surveyed the walls by night. He had not yet unburdened his heart to his brethren. After, he finished examining the walls then he unburdened his heart and soul to his brethren (Nehemiah 2:17)… and thus the work began!

What about us today? Do we carry a burden for God and for his people? Do we hold ourselves responsible for the conditions in the land even if we are not totally guilty? Do we love the Lord our God so much that any reproach of his name bothers us to the point that we desire to take action? Are we willing to take action … or are we waiting on someone else to take action? Are we willing to take action, even if it means hardship, persecution or even death. When Nehemiah approached the King concerning his burden, he was, potentially, in a very dangerous position. How many of us would be willing to tell an opposing King that we had a burden to establish another, possibly, opposing kingdom? …Just a thought!