"Begin Again" Devotional: - Pt 4 (Nehemiah 1:1-4)

Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had survived the captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem. 3 They said to me, "Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been burned." 4 When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. - Nehemiah 1:1-4


What do you do when you've started to rebuild your life and it seems that it is all for nothing? Your attempts at rebuilding your marriage, or your relationship with a wayward child, or your ministry, or whatever else lies in ruins in your life, is seemingly beyond your ability to repair. You've wept, you're prayed, you've threatened... but, your best efforts, to make everything alright, have come to nothing.


For what remains of this "Begin Again" series, we will study the book of Nehemiah and glean whatever truths we can about the process or rebuilding our lives.


Nehemiah received word from one of his brothers that things had not gone well in Jerusalem. The walls had been torn down and the gates of the city had been burned. Nehemiah's first reaction was to sit down. Have you ever been so "blown away" or disheartened by the reality of a situation that all you can do is "sit down", because you just don't know what else to do?


Then, Nehemiah wept. Did his weeping begin as a single tear that trickled slowly down his cheek? Or, did he immediately collapse into a heap and allow the tears to convulse his entire body. Whatever the case, Nehemiah was in such deep sorrow that he mourned and fasted and cried out to the Lord "for days".


What seemingly hopeless situation are you faced with today? In the weeks that remain of this study, we'll learn what it takes to rebuild a marriage, a relationship, a ministry, a life...one brick at a time.


To participate in the inductive Bible study on Nehemiah 1:1-4 please visit Bible Study for Busy People