Purpose Study Bible 350: What Makes You Cry?

Let's start our study of Nehemiah by looking at chapter 1, verse 4:

When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

Many people heard the report about Jerusalem, but only Nehemiah allowed it to break his heart and move him to action. He was so moved and devastated that he couldn't eat. He prayed and came up with a plan that involved taking the lead in restoring the city of his fathers.

When you flow in your creative purpose, you see things that others don't see, and it's so clear to you that you often can't understand why everyone can't see it––and that's okay. They can't because it's not related to their purpose. You cry and mourn, but others can't enter into the depth of your pain because they can't see what you do. God may be trying to make it clear, like He did for Nehemiah, that you are to get involved, using your emotions to motivate you to action.

What makes you cry? What moves you when you see it to the point that you think, Someone needs to do something about this? Could that someone be you? What situation or injustice or opportunity is God's call to action for you? Have you spent more time complaining about a problem than asking whether God wants you to become part of the solution?

We never see throughout this book that God spoke to Nehemiah or called him to return to Jerusalem, yet we can't doubt that God was moving him to do so. In the same way, God may be calling you, but it's not through His still, small voice but the loud voice of a need that you, and only you, can see.