“O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.
“Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’
“The people you rescued by your great power and strong hand are your servants. Nehemiah 1:5-10 NLT
In the book of Nehemiah, God reveals his vision and a calling for the people of Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls but the enemy comes in to purposely discourage them from completing the work the Lord has commanded them to do. Nehemiah seeks the Lord and does not allow the enemy to distract him or his people from fulfilling the Lord’s plan. Instead Nehemiah sets his heart on obedience, clearly discerning the strategy of the enemy and moves forward taking necessary steps to ensure obedience to God’s command. First, he prays, then, he assigns watchman, warriors, leaders and builders according to their region. Finally he encourages the people to keep their eyes on the Lord and walk in joyful obedience to him.
“Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!” Nehemiah 4:14 NLT
I found verse 4:23 interesting and wondered about what it could mean,
“During this time, none of us—not I, nor my relatives, nor my servants, nor the guards who were with me—ever took off our clothes. We carried our weapons with us at all times, even when we went for water.” Nehemiah 4:23 NLT
I searched the scriptures I found many places where we are encouraged to take off our old clothes and dress in the clothes of righteousness, repentance and cleanliness, etc. Then, I read this scripture in Isaiah 52:1 and realized it pertained specifically to Jerusalem, “Wake up, wake up, O Zion! Clothe yourself with strength. Put on your beautiful clothes, O holy city of Jerusalem, for unclean and godless people will enter your gates no longer.” Nehemiah prayed a prayer of repentance and in humility clothed himself and the people with God’s strength and beauty placing the nation in a position of total dependence on God. They did not eliminate this clothing during the time of trial and persecution but continued to stand for the Lord in the midst of difficulty. God honored this humble servant by giving him wisdom, a courageous heart and skillful strategy against the enemies’ tactics.
I believe God hears our prayers of repentance and humility and he is sending us forth clothed with his beauty and strength. The enemy is coming in to mock us and is setting up schemes in attempt to divert us from God’s calling on our lives, trying to deceive even the elect (God’s people). We are seeing this stratagem throughout society and in the church today, the lines are drawn and a great exhortation is resonating from the throne of God to “Choose today whom you will serve.” This honor is being bestowed upon every saint to take a stand for righteousness realizing there will be great costs. We have an opportunity to choose to sell everything to buy this pearl of great price, laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven or succumb to the ways of this world.
Therefore, through the pain, the tears, the tough times and good times we must cry out to God together, encouraging each other, standing guard together, seeing each other clothed in his strength and beauty, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
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