What’s broken in your world that breaks your heart? The truth is, God can turn some of the biggest burdens on your heart into a blessing. It’s by his power that we can move forward and rebuild our world after a tragedy. In fact, that’s exactly what God did with Nehemiah.
Over the next few weeks, we'll be learning from the Old Testament book of Nehemiah to see how we can rebuild our world when times are tough. As background, the book of Nehemiah was written about 400 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. God's people had been taken away to Babylon as prisoners of war. Fast forward 50 years, King Cyrus conquered Babylon and allowed the Jewish remnant to return to Israel. This is where we meet Nehemiah. The thing is, Nehemiah was just an ordinary guy. What's not so ordinary about him is that he undertook one of the most extraordinary renovation projects in history! In 52 short days, Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem so Jewish exiles could return home.
WHERE DO YOU START?
Like Nehemiah, maybe your heart is breaking for the brokenness in your world. Maybe your marriage needs a makeover. Or, maybe your finances fell apart in the pandemic, and you need to rebuild. The thing is, in a broken world where things don't go as planned, most of us will experience at least one time in our lives where we find ourselves rebuilding. But where do you start?
#1) SIT DOWN TO CRY
When Nehemiah received word that Jerusalem was in ruins, he started weeping. He became so overwhelmed with grief on behalf of his hurting people that he sat down and sobbed for those he loved. However, his broken heart became the catalyst for renovating his broken world. Dave Ramsey calls this a moment of emotional clarity. This is the tipping point where brokenness touches your heart and catalyzes you to make a radical change.
#2) KNEEL DOWN TO PRAY
After Nehemiah mourned Jerusalem's state of disrepair, he knelt down to pray (Nehemiah 1:4-6). He appealed to God on behalf of the oppressed remnant of Israel. He confessed his sins and the sins of his people that led to their exile in the first place. By following this example of prayer, we too can approach God with the burdens of our hearts. In fact, if you want to be a world changer, a great place to start is to ask God to break your heart for what breaks his. Then, own your part in the mess. A humble, heartfelt prayer of confession is a foundational step in rebuilding a broken world.
#3) STAND UP TO ACT
After mourning and praying, Nehemiah got to work. He took action! He invited God into the mess and decided to do something about it. See, sometimes it's easy to see something horrible in our world and wonder why someone isn't doing something about it... but the real reason is that God may be calling YOU to do something about it. So where is God leading you to take action in your life? We pray that as you discover more of God's blueprint to renovate your heart and home, He will ignite a passion in your heart to rebuild your world today.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
To continue learning how to rebuild your life and world after a tragedy, check out these additional resources from Liquid Church: