January 20: Nehemiah 1:1-11 

The Plea for help (verses (10-11) 

When Nehemiah prays that God will prosper His servant (Nehemiah) and grant him mercy in the sight of this man (the king), he was offering himself to be used by God to be a part of the answer to his prayer. “Here I am. Use me!” Are you willing to offer yourself as a part of God’s solution? 

We often pray for God to answer our prayers, but I wonder if we ever consider that God may want to use us to answer our prayers. Now I realize that we don’t normally have the ability to answer our prayers, but we should consider that God may not only choose to use us, but through His Holy Spirit, He will enable us to do what He calls us to do. 

Whom would God choose to use? 

Brothers, consider the time of your calling: Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were powerful; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast in His presence.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 

“The ancient Christians were for the most part slaves and men of low station; the whole history of the expansion of the church is in reality a progressive victory of the ignorant over the learned, the lowly over the lofty, until the emperor himself laid down his crown before the cross of Christ.”  

Alford, quoting Olshausen

Because Nehemiah offered himself to God, God used him to remove the trouble and reproach of the people in Jerusalem, God used him to rally the people to rebuild the wall in record time and bring restoration in the spiritual and social life of the community. 

APPLICATION

Do you fit in the plan of God by these standards? Remember, God isn’t interested in what you can do for Him. He wants to put on display what He can do through people who will simply make themselves available to be used by Him. To God be the glory! 

Is the refrain of the hymn, To Be Used of God, the cry of your heart?

To be used of God, to sing, to speak, to pray; 
To be used of God to show someone the way. 
I long so much to feel the touch 
Of His consuming fire; 
To be used of God is my desire.