prayer – Page 2 – Be Still…

Nehemiah 1:1-11 – Nehemiah’s Prayer

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Welcome to the book of Nehemiah! In this book we meet another player in God’s rebuilding and restoration plan. Timelines and everything can get confusing, but the 20th year of King Artaxerxes’ reign is mentioned. That would historically place Nehemiah after Ezra.

God’ restoration plan will now focus on the enclosure to the great city of Jerusalem. Rebuilding the wall is the vision God will place on Nehemiah’s heart. Nehemiah is already overcome with emotion thinking that the home of his ancestors lies in ruin, the walls crumbled and unsuitable for protection.

Ezra 9:1-15 – Cry Out to God

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Have you ever been in Ezra’s shoes, totally disgusted with the sinful behaviors surrounding you? It’s hard to not become embarrassed by the way some people choose to live their lives. This frustration is nothing new. The people God has created have a long history of making bad choices. Remember Adam and Eve?

Ezra chose to take his anguish to God in prayer. As if to apologize for all mankind, Ezra speaks of polluted holy race. Clearly the implications of intermarriage in Ezra’s day, and for generations before, amplified the chasm of sin keeping people for experiencing God’s best for them. What would Adam and Eve’s lives looked like if they had resisted the serpent’s cleverness? What would the Israelite people have looked like had they not intermarried people who distracted them from God’s laws?

Habakkuk 3:1-19 – Sovereign Lord

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Habakkuk’s prayer speaks to the supreme power of God, thus his sovereignty. In the face of what he has heard from God and the position he has been placed to share that message, Habakkuk’s world has been rocked. We see how he responds.

Habakkuk prays with humility. First and foremost, he calls out God’s deeds and dreams for his people. He tells God that no matter what calamity happens, “I will rejoice in the LORD!” How often do we praise God in the storms of our life? We’re probably complaining, a bit like Habakkuk did, but do we also give praise, as Habakkuk is modeling for us?

Habakkuk 1:5-11 – The Lord Answered

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The Lord responds by giving quite a speech! Do you think Habakkuk had a hard time getting past the part about God raising up the Babylonians to destroy. But there is no direct mention of the terror they will bring on Judah.

Do you think Habakkuk “connected the dots” and realized God had heard his lament? God had also seen all the disrespect and evil that was troubling Habakkuk. The cruelty of the Babylonians would soon descend to discipline his own people.

Luke 21:5-38 – What the Future Holds

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Our journey to the cross with Jesus continues, and today we see Jesus teaching in the Temple. The topic in this reading seems to be very timely for us today, too. But we miss the point if we think that Jesus was talking about a specific set of calamities. In every age, there have been false prophets and plenty of natural disasters. Yet Jesus wanted to include this lesson so his followers would know what to expect. Even more, he didn’t want them to be afraid.

Jesus wanted to prepare us so that we would not be led astray. Over the centuries, there have been plenty of examples of people claiming to be the Messiah or making predictions about Jesus’ return. Jesus warns us about that. “Don’t panic,” he says. All of these things will take place as Jesus said, but his words are meant to calm us not elicit fear.