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Under Construction, Week 6, Day 37

by David Joynt on September 16, 2019

Under Construction, Week 6, Day 37

NEHEMIAH 1:4 | When I heard these words I sat down and wept, and mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

How much does the work of God matter to you?  For some of us it is a priority along side many others.  For some it is pretty marginal.  For others it is at the center of their heart and their soul.  Nehemiah hears of the scary state of Jerusalem.  The city lies unprotected without walls or gates.  Its citizens are reduced to “trouble and shame.”

The depth of his reaction is telling.  He goes into full blown mourning, fasting and praying for days, as if he has lost a family member.  The fate of God’s work with his people is at the center of his concern.

Is the fate of God’s people a priority among others for you?  Marginal? Or is the center of your heart and soul?

 

Tags: praying, shame, trouble, fasting, mourn, mourning, fast

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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