Nehemiah 2:19–20 ‘The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.’ (v20)
Challenges will always come our way. The author James writes, ‘Consider it pure joy… whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance’ (Jas 1:2–3)
We may not enjoy them, but life is full of hurdles to be overcome. The good news is that the ‘God of heaven will give us success’ (Neh. 2:20).
God does not put difficulties in our way to trip us up and catch us out; He allows life’s challenges to rear their ugly head to give us the opportunity to grow, be stretched and learn to rely on Him.
If the challenge was too great, He would not put it in our way. In the story of Nehemiah, the people who remained in the city of Jerusalem had lived with broken walls for decades.
They had become used to living in despair. It had become their normal. The idea of Nehemiah bringing a vision of possibility was too much for some and they ‘scoffed contemptuously.’
But Nehemiah was full of faith in God, not only believing that they would try and rebuild the walls, but that there would be success!
How often do we pray hopeful prayers that lack the faith that there will be a successful outcome?
We pray to the God who can do ‘immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine’ and who ‘owns the cattle on a thousand hills’, yet so often we pray with hesitation and lack confidence that our loving Father will give us success.
A Prayer To Make:
‘Lord, thank You that You are for us and want us to succeed. Sorry when we have reduced your power to our limitations. May you get all the glory when we succeed in all that we set our hands to. Amen.’
An Action To Take:
Write down a clear prayer where you want to see success. Place it somewhere you look at each day such as car dashboard or bathroom mirror. Pray for success.
Scripture To Consider:
Ps. 37:1–6 & 50:7–12; Rom. 8:31–39; Eph. 3:14–21
