Codes for Christian Living
Identify with the Need
So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
—Nehemiah 1:4
When Nehemiah heard the report from Jerusalem and made an honest evaluation of its broken wall and burned gates, his passion index rose. His immediate impulse was to identify with the need. He wept. He mourned. He fasted and prayed for days (Nehemiah 1:4). This was not some faraway problem for Nehemiah; this was personal.
Notice, too, that he “sat down.” He didn’t rush into his task. He put everything else aside and contemplated the matter. And as he did, he “wept.” As he thought about the reproach and the distress of the people of Jerusalem, a lump rose in his throat and tears welled up in his eyes and ran down his cheeks. The more I have studied the process of rebuilding, the more convinced I have become that one never rebuilds until he personally identifies with the need and weeps over the ruins. We live in a culture that seems to have lost its tears. Much of contemporary Western Christianity focuses primarily on personal enjoyment. We seldom hear of the type of passion and vulnerability Nehemiah showed here.
Nehemiah’s first concern in becoming the agent of rebuilding was not the welfare of the people, but the glory of his God. For him, prayer was warfare. He agonized. He wept. He mourned for days. He fasted. Is it any wonder he became God’s chosen man to instigate and initiate the rebuilding of God’s own Holy City? Nehemiah did what all godly leaders must do: he drew strength from outside himself, from his Lord. He identified with those in need, and he lived daily with this burden for four months.
What about your passion index? Because without a passion for your rebuilding “project,” you will, most likely, never see your goal accomplished. It is not enough to be honest about your need, if you do not identify with it passionately. In fact, without this brokenness and passion, the whole process of rebuilding will be just another burden layered on top of your already broken dreams. Those who get on with the actual process of rebuilding are the ones who passionately identify with the needs of the situation.
Content drawn from The Nehemiah Code: It's Never Too Late for a New Beginning.