Mennonite Weekly Review

The Israelites are riding the wake of a renewed commitment inspired by Ezra to be God’s people. But it hasn’t been easy. As Michael D. Riley points out in the Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible, their population has dwindled, Jerusalem is still in ruins, their rebuilt temple is only a pale shadow of Solomon’s original, and their children can’t read God’s law because they know foreign languages better than their own. God’s people are floundering.

Andres

A heart for God’s people

But God is faithful — again. Still in exile, Nehemiah is an Israelite with a heart for God and his people who also happens to serve in a prestigious position under the king. One day, Nehemiah asks about “the Jews that survived” (1:2) and hears the dismal report. He’s heartbroken.

Nehemiah cries out to God: “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments; let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant” (1:5-6, NRSV). Nehemiah’s prayer drips with God’s Word and the history of God’s work as he confesses their failures and begs God’s help. And God is again faithful.

As Nehemiah goes about his work, the king notices and asks about his servant’s deep sadness. When Nehemiah — “very much afraid” (2:2) — confesses, the king has compassion and asks what he wants done. “So I prayed to God of heaven,” Nehemiah says, and then asks the king to be sent to Jerusalem to rebuild it.

This is no small request. It is politically charged. Neighboring rulers will not be happy. And the king appears very fond of his cupbearer. But the king grants Nehemiah’s appeal. Nehemiah returns to Judah. Against incredible odds and resistance, not only are the walls of a ruined city rebuilt but also the remnant of a people.

Redemption and rebuilding

Ezra and Nehemiah were devoted to God and his people. Through them God did things few thought possible. Their stories are nestled in the even larger Story containing God’s redemptive work through his covenant community.

In their stories we see reflections of the Story as a whole: the broken condition of humanity and constant failure of God’s people in their faithfulness, but also God’s steadfast faithfulness and movement towards redemption. That redemption, as Scot McKnight says, is “community-shaped.”

Their stories encourage us as we face our own challenges as God’s covenant community. They call us to examine our lives together: How informed are our prayers by God’s Word and our history? Is prayer a saturating habit in our lives? Do we cultivate hearts for God and his people? Do our hearts break for the broken both near and far?

Out of hearts formed by God come the desires of God’s heart. So, let us be the people we are enabled to be. Let us be the community in which God is manifest to all who seek him. Let us rebuild, too.

Nehemiah’s story is one of the last we hear before Jesus, and we leave God’s people on a hopeful note. Yet, as Riley points out, by Jesus’ time we’ll find them mired in spiritual desolation once more —but also on the cusp of the most breathtaking act in God’s work to bless “all the families of the Earth” (Gen. 12:3).

Carmen Andres, of Woodbridge, Va., is a former editor of Christian Leader, the magazine of the U.S. Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches.