Are We Guilty of Forgetting the LORD God of Heaven?!!!
I remember it well, and maybe you do as well. Remember the time in your life when you finally reached this position—“I am the boss of ME!” Oh, my! What a feeling! I think I was about the age of nineteen and moving out of my parents’ house. At the time, I was in college, working my first real job, setting my alarm, paying for my first car, making my own schedule—You know, BOSS types of things.
That feeling fills a person from the tip of his head to the heal of his foot.
It feels so good.
Independence.
Such a sweet-sounding word.
No one telling ME what to do—or—directing ME where to go—or—forcing ME in any particular way.
Truly, when we are kids, living at home, eating at our parents’ tables, wearing the clothing our family purchased for us, attending the school that our parents’ tax dollars paid for us to afford, & going on the vacations our loved ones took us on with them—Well, the feeling we sometimes come to is one we claim as CAPTIVITY.
Crazy as that sounds, when we were children, we complained and grumbled, and always wanted OUR OWN WAY even when our father and those who loved us knew OUR WAY just might be the wrong way to go. We did not want anyone to be lord over us because we want to be the master of our own way.
- The children of Israel felt the same way.
- The children of God grumbled in the same way.
- The children the LORD brought out of captivity claimed the exact same way.
- They wanted to do their own thing, be their own boss, and live as they pleased.
They forgot WHO it was that led them out of captivity, WHO helped them escape the captivity in a foreign land, and WHO promised to lead them to the Promised Land.
They forgot the LORD God of heaven!
“and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem.
(Nehemiah 1: 2b-6 NASB)
And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and disgrace, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been burned with fire.”
Now when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
I said, “Please, LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps the covenant and faithfulness for those who love Him and keep His commandments:
let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open, to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have committed against You; I and my father’s house have sinned.”
There are some BIG concepts we need to see within this Scripture.
- Nehemiah, the one praying, included himself in the group of those who had sinned. Never let us think we are above sin for the Bible states “for all [everyone one of us] have sinned and [will continually] fall short of the glory of God.”—Romans 3:23.
- Nehemiah heard about the way his kinsman lived in distress and disgrace.
- Nehemiah also heard how his own people lived in a city, one where the wall of protection had been destroyed with fire.
- Nehemiah was so overcome with brokenness that he immediately cried out to the God of heaven.
- Nehemiah acknowledged how it was “the great and awesome God, who keeps the covenant and faithfulness for those who love Him and keep His commandments: . . .” he was bowing and praying to.
- Nehemiah fasted and prayed day and night—asking God to intervene in the lives of God’s own children who had continually sinned and who were living so far away from God.
- Nehemiah asked God to hear his prayer.
- Nehemiah was not in a position of authority when he prayed because he was the cupbearer to a foreign king—Nehemiah 1: 11b.
God is always willing to accept the return of His children who call out to Him!
God is always faithful and just!
God accepts any person who willingly turns back to Him!
We are NEVER, EVER out of the reach of “the great and awesome God”!
- Maybe we have allowed our witness to become lukewarm.
- Maybe we have allowed our walk of faith to become second place.
- Maybe we have allowed our eyes to stray away from seeking Jesus first and foremost.
- Maybe we have allowed ourselves to become burdened down with the weight of sin.
- Maybe we need to bow, pray, fast, and confess our sins to Holy God!
- Maybe we need to call upon a sister-in-Christ OR a brother-in-Christ to share our prayer concern, to join us in our prayer.
Are We Guilty of Forgetting the LORD God of Heaven?!!!
When we are a child of the King, we are never, ever to desire to be the “boss” of our own lives.
When we are a child of God, we are always to live as obedient children.
It is our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ—HIMSELF—who said these words, who reminded us of the only way we can return to HIM.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with ME.”
(Revelation 3: 20 NASB)
It is a TRUTH: The Salvation of God is not a one-time action because God:
- Saved us from our past, sinful nature. &
- Is Currently Saving us from our present sinful nature. &
- Will Save us as we call out to Him, open the door, and confess our sins.
We must allow Jesus to draw us closer to HIM.