Nehemiah asks God to “remember.” It’s not that God has forgotten or could forget. Rather, Nehemiah is laying out the basis of his plea. He has boldness to ask of God not because he is worthy or deserving or has any reason in himself to request. His confidence rests in the unshakable promises of God and the unchanging God of promise. There is something more to prayer than the bottom line. In a sense, the prayer is in the process.

“[I]f My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways,then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14, NKJV)
Nehemiah still hasn’t gotten to his request of God. We will learn that he is not only grieved by the state of disrepair of the city he loves, but he wants to do something about it. His reflex is to turn to the God of heaven. He will ask God to grant him success in the eyes of the king for the mission of rebuilding he wants to undertake. But he has yet in his prayer to get to the point, although perhaps that is point.
Often in prayer, we cut to the chase, quick to ask that we may receive. We are not very adept at wrestling with God, laying our hearts bare before him, grappling with all the things that weigh upon us and the realities we face. We don’t spend time working through our troubles with God, reminding ourselves of His character and His assurances, magnifying His name.
Nehemiah has been open and honest about the sin of Israel. It is their own fault that Jerusalem is in ruins and the people in exile. God had warned them repeatedly, but they refused to listen. They had been unfaithful. They were covenant breakers. But God’s steadfast love would not be deterred. His purposes in redemption would not be frustrated.
In wrestling with God, Nehemiah lays these truths on the table, not to challenge God but to bring to bear His precious promises.
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How do we receive the benefits of Christ’s perfect and all-sufficient mediation which enables us to grow in salvation? The means of grace. Therefore, it is right and proper (and lovingly pastoral) to communicate to our people their need for the means of grace. It is for their growth in faith, assurance, holiness, love, identity in Christ, doctrine, service, fellowship, missions, evangelism, biblical worldview, and much more. To downplay the means of grace is to neglect someone’s growth and joy in Christ—and that is a serious error.

“Perhaps more than any previous generation of Christians, our generation needs to be saturated in the wisdom, grace, goodness, and health-giving clarity of God’s truth. We need our minds decluttered and then refreshed by the ‘wisdom that comes down from above’ (James 3:15). We live in a world of deceptive illusions—powerful, seductive illusions—that are out to ensnare us and kill us. Calvin was absolutely right: we need every given opportunity to hear God’s living, clarifying, deception-scattering word. So my question to you is this: Do you prize every given opportunity to hear God’s Word? You could read this as a rebuke, and in a measure you might be right in doing so. But, rather, see this question as a loving exhortation to hunt out every opportunity to sit under the ministry of God’s Word. Not because quantity matters more than quality; but because God Himself speaks to us by His Spirit through His Word every time it is faithfully proclaimed. I have a good friend in the USA who was accused by some church members of being ‘legalistic’ because he encouraged them not to be satisfied with coming to worship once a week. His encouragement was not legalistic, it was the kind, thoughtful, caring encouragement of a pastor set apart to care for Christ’s sheep. May we all be like the Psalmist who wrote, ‘I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!”’ (Ps. 122:1).”
– Ian Hamilton in The Gospel-Shaped Life
This is one of my favorite responses to hear from a couple during premarital counseling: “The worst part about dating or being engaged is the fact that you have to go home separately each night.” That is always a good sign–for numerous reasons. But the primary reason that this encourages me is the fact that the couple is sad when they must be apart from one another.
You do not have to convince those who truly love each other to spend time together. In a loving relationship, the hard part is times apart. It is true, loving relationships go through seasons. Interestingly, those who truly love each other can often feel certain levels of conviction that they could be doing more to love that person better. Sometimes this can be true but other times it is frankly just a longing to have more capacity to love someone more.
It is not legalistic to tell a couple who loves each other to make sure they make time to be with each other. It is part of what will only strengthen their relationship and help them to delight in their relationship.
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The Bible is clear.  In the opening account of the beginnings of human history we learn that our earliest forbears disobeyed their Creator and suffered punishment, as they had been warned.  That punishment is death – cruel, ugly, horrible, unnatural death.  That is our inheritance from that beginning to this day. Death is the consequence of sinful disobedience.  Trivialise death and you trivialise sin. 

I do not fear death.  There are reasons why I would welcome it, but I definitely have no thought of ending my present life.  I want all that to be clear.
Like most people, I have never been pre-occupied with thoughts of death or dying.   However, also like most people, death has been no stranger in my life.   I was a teenager when my sister died and later my mother.  My mother’s death, in tragic circumstances, deeply affected me. I had thoughts then about there being some deeper meaning to life.  Mum had taught me prayers as a child, and I had been to Sunday School, but I had more questions than answers on life.  Dad died the year after I was married, and one brother a few years later.   My closest brother died later still, and after sixty-eight years together, my dear wife departed last year.  I am acquainted with death.
A dictionary definition of ‘death’ says:
1/ Final cessation of vital functions;
2/ Event that terminates life.
This turns us to the meaning of ‘life’ where the definition is not so simple.  In fact, it is lengthy and complicated.  Personally, I think of words like ‘being’ and ‘existing’.  Briefly, one has to know about life to understand death.
In this enlightened age we tend to ‘go online’ for more information about most things.  So, I searched ‘death and dying’, and wow!  I was surprised.  What I had always understood to be a taboo subject was up front there.  I was presented with many options as to where I could go for information:   ‘Goodreads.com’ offered me 1,347 quotes on death and dying.   Among other options were ‘Death is nothing at all’, ’82 death quotes that comfort and inspire you’, ‘119 death quotes that will bring relief’, and there were many others.   Those that I sampled were generally upbeat about death, and I was supposed to feel warmed and reassured after reading them.
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