Tag: Comfort

Posted on

Week 2 | Informing & Mourning

Strengthening:

Nehemiah 1:1-10

Call to Rise:

Today’s scripture reading starts with a straight-forward, simple concept: Nehemiah chose to be informed. He didn’t stumble upon news of Jerusalem’s plight by happenstance. Furthermore, once he learned of the distress in the city of his fathers, he chose to receive it with an open, empathetic heart. He could have easily acknowledged the travesty of the situation on an intellectual level and then moved on. After all, he was far away and the plight of Jerusalem was not a burden on him personally. Instead, he softened his heart and allowed the compassion and concern of the Father to take root in his soul. He deliberately chose to identify with the distress and derision of his people.

In his commentary on Nehemiah, English preacher and author Alexander MacLaren says it this way: “Nehemiah might have made a great many very good excuses for treating lightly the tidings that his brother had brought him. He might have said: ‘Jerusalem is a long way off. I have my own work to do; it is no part of my business to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. I am the King’s cupbearer. They went with their eyes open, and experience has shown that the people who knew when they were well off, and stayed where they were, were a great deal wiser.’ These were not his excuses. He let the tidings fill his heart, and burn there.”

MacLaren makes a case that we have a duty as Christians to contemplate the affliction of those around us with sympathy and compassion.. He explains that “the first condition of [Christian] sympathy is knowledge; and the second is attending to what we do know.” 

Knowing

It’s my opinion that the largest driver of fear is ignorance. When people don’t know, they assume the worst, and dwell on their worst-case-scenario fears. Fear erodes faith. A mentor and boss once taught me, while coaching me through my paralysis over a massive backlog of administrative work, that it’s worth the time to inventory what lies in ruin. After all, he said “you still might not know what to do with the monster, but at least you’ll know what the monster looks like. Then you can make a plan.” 

You need to know what the monster looks like. You need to be informed about the motives, movements, alliances and agendas of the people who control our nation’s government and culture. Why? First, because precise prayers are effective (1 John 5:15). Our prayers need to be like the skillful cuts of a surgeon’s scalpel, not the blindly hacking swings of a distracted swordsman, and it’s hard to pull off an operation like that with your eyes closed.

Second, because many of us are ignorant of how our own government works and what our elected officials are enacting on our behalf. A government of, by and for the people requires the people to be engaged for the Republic to work properly. If we remain ignorant, corrupt leaders remain empowered to act without accountability.

And finally, we must be informed of the circumstances of those who are oppressed and hurting in our nation in order to genuinely sympathize with their plight. 

Attending to What We Know

Once we become informed,what do we do next? Nehemiah responded by weeping (feelings of grief) and mourning (actively processing the feeling of grief). 

Jesus said “blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” You’ll be pleased to know that the word comfort here matches the verb for comfort in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7, which we learned about in last week’s Call to Rise. The active nature of mourning is akin to the active nature of patiently enduring affliction- both result in much strengthening, otherwise known as comfort.

Nehemiah didn’t begin processing his grief (mourning) by marching into the king’s presence and demanding a leave of absence. He didn’t begin by making an action plan for rebuilding the wall. He began by fasting, praying and repenting before the God of Heaven.

Our earnest endeavor to see America rebuilt in righteousness ought to begin in the same way.

Fasting, Praying and Repenting

Nehemiah’s prayer in 1:5-11 is humbling and powerful. As we pray for God to transform America through us, let’s follow Nehemiah’s lead in seeking first the face and favor of Heaven. Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain (Psalm 127:1). Unless obedience to Christ is the foundation of what we build, nothing we build will stand against the forces of hell (Matthew 7:24-27). And unless we humble ourselves, pray and turn from our own wicked ways just as Nehemiah did, we cannot expect to see our land healed (2 Chronicles 7:14).

This is a time to weep and mourn, to fast and pray, and to humbly repent. These actions will open us up to the realization that only a Church strengthened by the Comforter can rebuild America into a nation of righteousness, justice and liberty. We’re not wired to grieve as those who have no hope; instead, like Nehemiah, we’ll allow our hearts to be broken over the things that break God’s heart. This godly sorrow leads to repentance, and then to salvation without regret (2 Corinthians 7:10). 

Fellow Americans – the list of things for which we must repent is long. Repentance is not simply feeling sorry for what we’ve done – it also requires making a 180 degree turn away from our sin and going the opposite direction of the way we’ve been heading. God, forgive us for our apathy – help us turn the other way and choose to be engaged in the work of our government. Forgive us for allowing culture to shape our attitudes, habits and beliefs – help us turn the other way and influence the attitude, habits and beliefs of American culture as we abide in You. God – forgive us for neglecting the study of your word and quality time spent with You – help us to turn the other way and be people who invest their time and focus on knowing you; people who make building your Kingdom our highest priority. Forgive us for entertaining ourselves with things that break your heart – help us turn the other way and become people who revere and promote purity. God, forgive us for the bloodshed of innocent babies that stains our land – help us turn the other way and build a godly, caring culture that eliminates the demand for abortions rather than expecting a bureaucrat far away to legislate righteousness. 

You may feel that you don’t need to repent for some of these things because you haven’t participated in them. Nehemiah didn’t need to take responsibility to repent for the sins of his brethren hundreds of miles away whose conduct was beyond his control. 

And yet, he did. 

This is the heart of intercession. 

God is looking for someone with a heart like this, someone to stand in the gap between what America is and what she is destined to be.

May our hearts respond eagerly “Here I am, Lord. Send me!”

Prayer:

O Lord, God of Heaven, You are the great and awesome God who keeps covenant with those who love You and keep Your commandments. Please hear my petitions and see my trust in You. I come to You on behalf of America and I confess that we have sinned against You. I have sinned against You. My family has sinned against You. We have allowed good to be called evil and evil to be called good. We have entertained ourselves with things that break Your heart, and allowed ourselves to be so busy that we don’t have time or energy to center our lives around knowing You. Please forgive us, and empower us to turn from twisted ways back toward Your righteous ways. Remember the covenants You made with our forefathers and founders. Remember the promises You gave them. Remember Your intent and plans for America. Remember that You said You would save a city for just one righteous man. I stand now, with an entire remnant of believers who are clothed by grace in the righteousness of Jesus, and I ask that You save America for the sake of Your Name and Your testimony in the earth. Have mercy on us, Almighty God! Soften my heart and allow it to be broken by the things that break Your heart, and to be filled with joy by the things that give You joy, so I can become more like You. Please give me favor as I commit myself to establishing Your Kingdom, first in my own heart, and then in my home, neighborhood and nation. Here I am Lord – send me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Build Assignment:

  1. Fast, pray and repent.
  2. Contact all the members of your local School Board. 
    • Let them know you are praying for them. 
    • Ask any questions you may have.

Posted on

Week 1 | The God of Comfort & Consolation

Strengthening:

Nehemiah 1:1

Call to Rise:

While it may not seem like much on the surface, the opening sentence-and-a-half of Nehemiah is rich with meaning that is relevant to the times in which we live. We are told that these are “the words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.”

Nehemiah means God comforts or God is consolation.

In an era of great distress, for Americans in general, and certainly for followers of Jesus Christ, these are timely, welcome concepts. These are the words of God’s comfort and consolation.

What is God’s Comfort?

We can learn a great deal about the comfort of God through the truths given in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7, a passage that contains nearly one-third of all the occurrences of the word comfort in the New Testament. The concept of comfort in this passage is “to strengthen much” and “to encourage,” especially the encouragement of one who is enduring testing. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:3-7 ESV)

These words, inspired by the Holy Spirit, were written by Paul, one of the most afflicted heroes of our faith. Consider all he endured for the sake of the Kingdom: Beatings, stoning, imprisonment, homelessness, hunger, shipwrecks and scorn. Yet Paul tells us that in the midst of all his mistreatment and distress, he was strengthened much (comforted) by God. 

Paul experienced the strengthening of God as he experienced suffering for Christ’s sake. According to theologian R. Kent Hughes, “Paul links the Corinthians’ comfort to their patient endurance of sufferings: ‘It is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer’ (2 Corinthians 1:6).The phrase ‘comfort, which you experience’ is translated more literally as ‘comfort, which is energized.’”  

Righteous affliction activates and energizes “much strengthening” from God, a gift given to those who patiently endure suffering for the Kingdom. 

As if it was not kind enough that God formed this activating relationship between affliction and encouragement, He further designed His comfort to overflow. Paul was able to comfort others with the comfort he received from God because the comfort of God is always dispensed in excess of the need.

For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. (2 Corinthians 1:5)

The word abundantly here means to “superabound” and “to be in excess; enough and to spare; to exceed a fixed number of measure; to abound, overflow.” 

Because of it’s overflowing nature, God’s comfort does not conclude with the original beneficiary. The book of 2 Corinthians is itself an illustration of this truth: God’s comfort overflowed from the Corinthians to Titus, and then from Titus to Paul, and then back to the Corinthians through Paul’s letter and prayers. The cyclical nature of God’s consolation is also demonstrated in the slightly more contemporary story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as told by Hughes.

[Bonhoeffer] was one of a handful of German theologians to stand up to the Nazification of the German church. He was prominent in writing the famous Barmen Declaration, which rejected the infamous Aryan clauses imposed by Nazi ideology. Bonhoeffer’s courage thrust him into the leadership of the Confessing Church along with other stalwarts like Martin Niemöller. Bonhoeffer went so far as to found an underground seminary in Finkenwald, Bavaria, which was closed by Gestapo chief Heinrich Himmler. This led to Bonhoeffer’s joining the resistance movement and his being imprisoned by the Gestapo in April 1943. Bonhoeffer’s Letters from Prison became a best seller after the war.

Among the letters is a beautiful poem written to his fiancée Maria von Wedemeyer entitled “New Year 1945.” Stanza 3 is famous:

Should it be ours to drain the cup of grieving
Even to the dregs of pain,
At thy command, we will not falter,
Thankfully receiving all that is given
By thy loving hand.

Poignant words that became more so when, three months later, just as the war was ending, Bonhoeffer was hung in Flossenbürg prison.

Fast-forward to some eighteen years later, across the Atlantic in America, when another bride-to-be was grieving the death of her fiancé and found much comfort in Bonhoeffer’s poem. Her fiancé, who died from injuries in a sledding accident, was the son of author Joseph Bayly and his wife Mary Lou. When she mailed Bonhoeffer’s poem to them, Joe and Mary Lou also found comfort in “New Year 1945.”

Twelve years after this (thirty years after Bonhoeffer’s death), Joe Bayly received a letter from a pastor-friend in Massachusetts relating that he had visited a terminally ill woman in a Boston hospital for some period of time and had given her Joe’s book of poems, Heaven, as comfort for her soul. The pastor said that the dying woman had stayed awake late the previous night to read it and told him of the comfort and help she had received from it. A few hours later she died. The woman, the pastor revealed, was Maria von Wedemeyer-Weller, Bonhoeffer’s fiancée three decades earlier!

God’s comfort circulates among his children — and sometimes it comes full circle, as it did from Dietrich Bonhoeffer to Maria von Wedemeyer in her grief to Joseph Bayly, Jr.’s grieving fiancée to Joe and Mary Lou Bayly in their grief and then back to Bonhoeffer’s one-time fiancée as comfort in her dying hours. [2 Corinthians 1:3-7] alludes to this astonishing cyclical nature of comfort — its mutuality — its overflowing nature.

The soul of America needs reviving, and that endeavor will surely come with times of sacrifice, opposition and even affliction of various kinds. As we commit to rebuilding godly culture in our nation, we can be confident that God’s comfort will not only meet us in the place of opposition, but that His encouragement and strengthening is designed to abundantly exceed our distress. In fact, it will overflow in such abundance that it’s effect will be multiplied when we extend this same comfort to those around us.

Every time Nehemaih’s name was spoken, these truths were declared. As we study Nehemiah’s words, let’s be sure to declare these truths to our own souls and our fellow believers. We must be confident of the fact that the God who gives comfort and consolation in the midst of darkness, is with us.

“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.” (Acts 9:31).

Prayer:
Note | The Rise & Build Campaign prayers are meant to be read aloud since faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17). When we all pray the same prayer, we take advantage of the power of agreement (Matthew 18:19-20). Don’t be shy – prayer this prayer out loud!

Father, You are the source of all comfort. I am answering Your call to rise and build Your Kingdom, in America, and ultimately the world. As I encounter affliction through this work, I trust that You will strengthen me much and graciously give me abundant encouragement. I wait for You. Lend me Your confident trust when mine is insufficient. Speak to me about the good things You plan to do in me, and in America, that I may wait in ambush for your goodness with hope and joy. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Build Assignment:
Note | Build Assignments will typically only involve two items, but this week is extra special with four. 🙂

  1. Meditate on the hope we have in Christ.
  2. Write a list of your community’s School Board members.
  3. Write a list of your County leadership (often County Commissioners).
  4. When is your community’s next School Board meeting? County-level leadership meeting? Add these meetings to your schedule and commit to:
    • Attend the meeting (Note: These meetings are often virtual in 2021)
    • Ask at least one question during each meeting. Not sure what to ask? Visit our Facebook Group to ask for insight from others.