NO MAN IS AN ISLAND

NO MAN IS AN ISLAND

NEHEMIAH 1:10

"THEY ARE YOUR SERVANTS AND YOUR PEOPLE, WHOM YOU REDEEMED BY YOUR GREAT STREGTH."

This is the second of three prayers by Ezra and Nehemiah that we will look at in these devotions. All three prayers are exemplars of the mind of an intercessor – that deep sense of solidarity with a people, treating their sins as one’s own and pleading for God’s mercy for "us" not, "them." John Donne’s famous meditation captures the perspective of these great men of prayer.

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the man; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind: And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Only love can cause us to see others this way. Paul told husbands to love their wives as they love their own bodies, for that is how Christ loves the church – as his own body (Ephesians 5:25-33). Ezra and Nehemiah love the people of God the way Christ loves the church.

In this prayer, Nehemiah draws on a text from Moses' intercession and puts himself in the same place Moses was when he pleaded with God for the life of the nation. Nehemiah prays, "They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed" (Nehemiah 1:10). The first time that kind of prayer was prayed, the Israelites were close to extinction following the incident with the golden calf (Deuteronomy 9:25-29). So Moses did a daring and provocative thing: "He stood in the breach before [God] to keep his wrath from destroying" the nation (Psalm 106:23). Now Nehemiah does the same.

What would happen to our personal life, and the prayers of our church, if these were the perspectives we brought to prayer; a deep sense of solidarity with the people we pray for and the courage to stand in the breach between them and destruction? It would be harder to get drowsy and trivial when we pray.

PRAY:

Holy God, my heart is narrow! Expand it with your holy presence,

that I might make room for others in my prayers.

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

info@biblestoriestheatre.org

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

LIKE AN EAGLE

ISAIAH 40: 30-31

40:31 THEY WILL SOAR ON WINGS LIKE EAGLES

Isaiah must have watched eagles closely to see the way they soar. As birds go, eagles’ wings are big, but the muscles that make them flap aren’t.

Pound for pound, an eagles’ strength is no match for the strength of a humming bird.

The strength of eagles is not in their flapping but in their soaring. An eagle will perch high atop a canyon wall and wait for the thermals - - warm wind currents that rise up from the canyon below. When the rising wind is just right, the eagle will fold its wings to its sides, literally cast itself into the chasm and plummet into the abyss. 

Isaiah would not have known this in his day, but God has equipped eagles with tiny sensors in their beaks to let the birds know when they have reached the optimal speed. When this happens, the bird will spread its wings, catch the thermals, rise up into the sky and soar. Isaiah didn’t know the mechanism, but he could see the effect.

Isaiah must have watched eagles closely to see the way they soar. As birds go, eagles’ wings are big, but the muscles that make them flap aren’t. Pound for pound, an eagles’ strength is no match for the strength of a humming bird. The strength of eagles is not in their flapping but in their soaring. An eagle will perch high atop a canyon wall and wait for the thermals - - warm wind currents that rise up from the canyon below.

When the rising wind is just right, the eagle will fold its wings to its sides, literally cast itself into the chasm and plummet into the abyss.  Isaiah would not have known this in his day, but God has equipped eagles with tiny sensors in their beaks to let the birds know when they have reached the optimal speed. When this happens, the bird will spread its wings, catch the thermals, rise up into the sky and soar. Isaiah didn’t know the mechanism, but he could see the effect. 

Isaiah must have watched eagles closely to see the way they soar. As birds go, eagles’ wings are big, but the muscles that make them flap aren’t. Pound for pound, an eagles’ strength is no match for the strength of a humming bird. The strength of eagles is not in their flapping but in their soaring.

An eagle will perch high atop a canyon wall and wait for the thermals - - warm wind currents that rise up from the canyon below. When the rising wind is just right, the eagle will fold its wings to its sides, literally cast itself into the chasm and plummet into the abyss.  Isaiah would not have known this in his day, but God has equipped eagles with tiny sensors in their beaks to let the birds know when they have reached the optimal speed.

When this happens, the bird will spread its wings, catch the thermals, rise up into the sky and soar. Isaiah didn’t know the mechanism, but he could see the effect.

This is a great picture of hoping in God. Through no strength of our own, we cast ourselves upon God, fall into his mercy and soar on his promises. Our strength comes from trusting and soaring, not flapping and working.

To fully appreciate the power of this verse, read the entire chapter. The key sentence is, "To whom, then, will you compare God?" (40:18).

Isaiah’s method is to use negative contrast to show God’s incomparable majesty. He takes the things we already think to be great - - the earth, the seas, nations and the starry heavens – and shows them to be nothing compared to God. God has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, held the dust of the earth in a basket; before him all the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and the stars march out before him like obedient troops on the parade ground.

                   This is the God into whose power we cast ourselves                      and soar like eagles!

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

info@biblestoriestheatre.org