OCTOBER 8 – Reading 281

by John Pra | October 8

“REMEMBER YOUR WORD”
(Nehemiah 1:1-3:32)

Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ – Nehemiah 1:8-9

The book of Nehemiah is the last part of the story of the Old Testament. The next words that we find recorded in Scripture about the people of Israel come 400 years later in the New Testament. The people of Israel had been in exile in Babylon (modern day Iraq) for seventy years. When they returned home to Jerusalem the city needed to be restored, the Temple rebuilt, and community life reestablished. Some of that was happening, but there was still work to be done. This is where Nehemiah comes in.

Nehemiah begins with a prayer. News from Jerusalem has broken his heart: the remnant is shamed, the walls are rubble, the gates are ash. He sits, weeps, fasts, and then speaks — not first to Artaxerxes, but to the God of heaven. And at the center of his prayer is this audacious line: “Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses…” (Nehemiah 1:8).

Nehemiah dares to ask the Almighty to remember. Not because God forgets, but because prayer is the God-ordained way we take hold of His covenant faithfulness. Nehemiah bases his prayer on this. He doesn’t speak vaguely; he anchors his plea in the specific promises God has already spoken.

Like Nehemiah, we must pray Scripture-shaped prayers. We need to remind our hearts — and humbly “remind” our Father — of what He has pledged in Christ. Not because He is reluctant, but because He delights to be approached through the very words He gave.

And here is our greater confidence – all the promises of God find their “Yes” in Jesus (2 Cor. 1:20). Nehemiah could plead the Mosaic covenant; we plead the new covenant sealed in Christ’s blood. When we pray, “Remember Your word,” we hold up the cross and empty tomb as the guarantee that God cannot deny Himself.

So bring your ruins. Name your sins. Mourn what is broken. Then, with Scripture in your mouth and the Holy Spirit in your heart, say boldly: “Remember Your word.”

Application:

• Pray God’s promises back to Him. 

Make Scripture the backbone of your prayers.

• Return – and keep returning – to obedient living (v. 8-9)

Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I come humbly confessing my sins. I am prone to wander. My ruins are of my own making, yet I cling to Your promises and plead, “Remember Your Word.” You are the God that cannot lie. Your promises are true. For the honor and glory of Your name hear my prayer. Amen.