AND CRIED WITH A LOUD VOICE

The massive task of rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls and setting up the gates was now completed. All attempts by opponents to sabotage the project had failed and the sustained, heartfelt prayers of Nehemiah had been wonderfully answered by ‘the God of heaven’ to whom they had been addressed.

This wonderful title holds within it suggestions of glory, sovereignty, and power. Others of Nehemiah’s references to God indicate a more local appreciation of God than this. He makes reference to ‘our God’, 4. 4, 20; 5. 9, etc., that is, the God of Israel, to whom the nation could look for His special interest and divine favour. Nehemiah’s companions would have taken note, and heart, from his words. Most moving of all, however, was Nehemiah’s use of the term ‘my God’, both for reference and as a form of address. What confirmation of his personal experience of God! He had learned that the great God of heaven, the God of Israel, was the God of individuals, even hearing and answering the single prayers they utter, 2. 8, 18; 5. 19; 6. 14; 7. 5, etc.

When one task is completed, others remain to be done. One of the great lessons we must learn in the field of Christian service is that large-scale spectacular effort in a crisis situation is commendable, and often it brings about wholehearted response and support by the Lord’s people for a short period of time.

Thereafter, maintenance of long-term, routine programmes of service must be undertaken, and it is at this point that support begins to wane. Tasks of this sort were now facing Nehemiah and the Jews. Only thus could the original work be consolidated; in deed, the entire effort hitherto had been but a means to an end. God must have His people in a fit moral and spiritual state to mark them out as altogether distinctive among the nations. They must heed His voice and obey His commandments. They must be subject to a process of godly order in whatever they do. So, at this time, practical arrangements are established by Nehemiah; the law is read and the people unitedly respond to its strictures, confess their sins, and pledge themselves to follow its precepts. Then, they cried out with a loud voice of thanksgiving to the Lord, their God, ‘Blessed be thy glorious name’, v. 5.