”When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of the heavens.“ (v. 4)
Where do you go when you are troubled? How do you process your sorrow and your pain and your self-conscious guilt? What do you do when you see suffering in the wider world?
For too many of us, the answers are scattered, and they are often part of the modern pursuit of the therapeutic. Too many of us turn to relief in entertainment or substances or consumption.
Yet the Bible magnifies Nehemiah’s example.
This man prayed. He translated his sorrow—for God’s people, and for God’s things—into a godly sorrow. He wept. He fasted. And he prayed.
Let us turn here when we are troubled, friends, for it is here that we find real comfort. Pray—and confess, and obey, and worship—for the One who hears is faithful.
— Tyler