1:10 "THEY ARE YOUR SERVANTS AND
YOUR PEOPLE,
WHOM YOU REDEEMED BY YOUR GREAT STRENGTH."
NEHEMIAH 1 (NIV)
This
is the second of three prayers by Ezra and Nehemiah that we will look at in
this blog. All three prayers are exemplars of the mind of an intercessor – that
deep sense of solidarity with a people, treating their sins as one’s own and
pleading for God’s mercy for "us," not "them." John Donne’s
famous mediation captures the perspective of these great men of prayer.
No
man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a
part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea. Europe is the less, as
well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And
therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Only love can cause us to see others
this way. Paul told husbands to love their wives as they love their own bodies,
for that is how Christ loves the church – as his own body (see Ephesians
5:25-33). Ezra and Nehemiah love the people of God the way Christ loves the
church.
In this prayer, Nehemiah draws on a
text from Moses' intercession and puts himself in the same place Moses was when
he pleaded with God for the life of the nation. Nehemiah prays, "They are
your servants and your people, whom you redeemed" (Nehemiah 1:10). The
first time that kind of prayer was prayed, the Israelites were close to
extinction following the incident with the golden calf (see Deuteronomy
9:25-29).
So Moses did a daring and provocative thing. He "stood in the
breach before [God] to keep his wrath from destroying" the nation (Psalm
106:23). Now Nehemiah does the same.
What
would happen to your personal prayer life, and the prayers of your church. If
these were the perspectives, you brought to prayer: a deep sense of solidarity
with the people you for and the courage to stand in the breach between them and
destruction? It would be harder to get drowsy and trivial when you pray.
In Christ,
Playwright Janet Irene Thomas
Founder/CEO
Bible Stories Theatre of
Fine & Performing Arts
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