March 24, 2010

Mourning for Your City
By Os Hillman

March 24

"When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned
and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven" (Neh 1:4).

Nehemiah lived in the world of politics. He was a high ranking worker in
the government of Babylon. His official title was cupbearer for King
Artazerzes. He would be considered the modern-day U.S. Secret Service
agent who made sure the King was safe from being poisoned.
Judah had been driven into exile and some of his friends had just
returned with news about his fellow brothers and sisters in Jerusalem.

In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel
of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other
men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the
exile, and also about Jerusalem. They said to me, "Those who survived
the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and
disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been
burned with fire" (Neh 1:1-3).

Nehemiah's response upon hearing the news is the kind of response that
is necessary for a Christian leader to impact his or her city. He
responded by weeping for the condition of his beloved city. He
immediately went into prayer and asked for God's direction on how he
could be a positive impact on his city. He developed a strategy to
rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. He accomplished the task in only
fifty-two days.

Do you weep for your city? God is calling forth men and women from the
marketplace today to be catalyst to impact their cities. Begin today to
pray for your city and ask God how you can be a catalyst to rebuild the
spiritual wall of your city.

Despite the good efforts of many who prayed, spoke out and marched, our
Congress passed a health care bill on Sunday that many oppose because
of, among other things, the prospects of tax payer funded abortion. So
what now? Here's one answer--continue (or begin!) to pray and live for
God and teach His Word and love your neighbor and serve and encourage
and be salt and light in your everyday life. Continue to support
pregnancy centers, get involved in your kids' public schools, get
involved with your kids, know your kids' friends, be an adult in their
lives whose faith is vibrant. Help the poor, give to the causes that
make this world a better place in Jesus' name and avoid allowing the
"cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches" to choke out the
fruit that God wants to bring from our lives. There will be other
opportunities to confront various issues on the political front, and we
should do our best to be informed and engaged. But by and large the
moral climate of a nation is not determined by legislation or Supreme
Court rulings, but by the way ordinary citizens of that country live
everyday. Our voice should be heard in the way we conduct ourselves at
work, at school, in our neighborhoods, on playing fields and in shopping
malls. The kingdom of God is bigger than the U.S. government and the
church needs to wake up to the role it plays in that kingdom and pray
that His kingdom comes in and through us. We get to a place where we
can either spend a lot of time grieving decisions made and the condition
of things generally, or we can spend more time doing something about it
as God leads. "I'd rather light a candle than curse the darkness." On
this morning after, let's keep lighting candles! (Pastor Ben Spitler)