July 2, 2023

Nehemiah 9: 32 “Now, therefore, O our God, the great, mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love, do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes . . .” (NIV)

It [prayer] is a statement not of your needs but of your need for him.*

If you want to know what hardship this verse refers to, take some time to read the book of Nehemiah. It’s only 13 chapters and is a very interesting story. There you will learn two important facts about the problems faced by the people in Jerusalem at this time: 

1.    they pretty much deserved what they were getting;

2.    it wasn’t the worst that could happen. 

When you are dealing with difficulties, you probably don’t want to hear about how you were asking for it, or that other people are worse off than you are. We know we don’t deserve God’s favor; we are aware of other people’s suffering; so should we not bother him with our complaints? Or should we bravely – and humbly – bring our troubles to the Lord? 

I say “yes,” we should bring all our troubles to him. It doesn’t have to be the worst problem in the world before we can ask God to care and intervene. I have found it to be true that: 

• if it’s important to me, it’s important to God; 
• if it shouldn’t be important to me, God will show me without belittling my feelings; 
• sometimes, understanding the true weight of my burden is as good as a solution. 

Like the people of Jerusalem, we offer up our prayer: please don’t let this hardship seem trifling to you. In all things, we can trust God to be loving and faithful.

His care for us is personal and he deals with each of us individually.*