Latest / Equipped: A Podcast Platform for the Equip Ministry of Cuyahoga Valley Church / LaunchPad: Day 8
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_00: Nehemiah 2, verse 3.
- 0:04SPEAKER_00: If you've ever experienced loss or walked alongside someone who has, you may be familiar with the five stages of grief.
- 0:11SPEAKER_00: The five stages begin with denial and end with acceptance.
- 0:16SPEAKER_00: Acceptance isn't the end of grief, though.
- 0:18SPEAKER_00: Although it may take a while to get there, acceptance just means you're able to acknowledge the reality of the loss and begin to live in that new reality.
- 0:27SPEAKER_00: Then more hard work begins.
- 0:29SPEAKER_00: Nehemiah experienced a great loss and it affected him deeply.
- 0:33SPEAKER_00: And rightly so.
- 0:34SPEAKER_00: His response is appropriate and relatable, and God, in his sovereignty, had placed Nehemiah near enough to a king for his grief to be noticed.
- 0:44SPEAKER_00: The king invites Nehemiah to give a voice to his grief, to name the burden he had been carrying since hearing the news about Jerusalem.
- 0:52SPEAKER_00: This probably wasn't new information to the king, but it seems as though he doesn't have the same reaction that Nehemiah had.
- 0:59SPEAKER_00: They are different people with different backgrounds.
- 1:01SPEAKER_00: Of course they wouldn't have the same reaction to this news.
- 1:04SPEAKER_00: Perhaps it didn't matter to the king in the same deeply personal way, but it certainly mattered to Nehemiah.
- 1:10SPEAKER_00: The king may not have been moved by the devastation of Jerusalem, but he was moved by Nehemiah's reaction to it.
- 1:18SPEAKER_00: Not only that, he also had the resources to do something about it.
- 1:21SPEAKER_00: Nehemiah took a chance expressing his vulnerability to the king, but remember, the king invited it.
- 1:28SPEAKER_00: God extends the same invitation to us.
- 1:31SPEAKER_00: He invites us to pour out our hearts before him.
- 1:34SPEAKER_00: We see this over and over again in the Psalms.
- 1:37SPEAKER_00: David cries out from a cave in Psalm 142.
- 1:43SPEAKER_00: With my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord.
- 1:46SPEAKER_00: I pour out my complaint before him.
- 1:48SPEAKER_00: I tell my trouble before him.
- 1:51SPEAKER_00: Was David telling God anything he didn't know?
- 1:54SPEAKER_00: Of course not.
- 1:55SPEAKER_00: God knew exactly where David was and how he felt about it.
- 1:59SPEAKER_00: Still, it was important for David to express his feelings to God.
- 2:03SPEAKER_00: It's important for us too.
- 2:05SPEAKER_00: There are some experiences that we share and others that are unique to us, but even shared experiences affect us all differently.
- 2:13SPEAKER_00: We have to acknowledge our feelings and bring them into the light before God.
- 2:17SPEAKER_00: God gives us the opportunity to come to Him with our grief.
- 2:21SPEAKER_00: And because of who He is, we can be confident that He's able to do something about it.
- 2:26SPEAKER_00: He changes hearts, He changes circumstances, He heals the broken.
- 2:31SPEAKER_00: He makes a way.
- 2:33SPEAKER_00: Before Nehemiah could begin the work of rebuilding, he had to acknowledge what had been broken and how it impacted him.
- 2:40SPEAKER_00: Before restoration could begin, the ruins had to be named.
- 2:44SPEAKER_00: Time and again, David found comfort from the Lord after admitting what was going on in his heart.
- 2:50SPEAKER_00: Let's take some time today to bring our feelings before God, simply because we can.
- 3:01SPEAKER_00: And don't stop there, surrender those burdens to him and invite him to heal what has been broken.
- 3:08SPEAKER_00: Here's a question to consider What burden are you carrying because of what's broken around you?
- 3:15SPEAKER_00: And a prompt for prayer.
- 3:17SPEAKER_00: Pray for the strength to let go of your grief and trust that God will restore what's been broken in his time.