As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. Nehemiah 1:4 (ESV)
When tragedy comes knocking on our door, we often want to avoid facing it. We want to ignore it or push it away from our attention and go on with our life. But tragedy is something that we all must face as human beings. We will face tragedy of one kind or another whether it is personal or familial, communal or national. We will all face the tragic events of life that force us to face the reality that things are not as they should be. We can't merely explain things away with a theory and then walk away unconcerned. We must in Christ face them and seek his grace to overcome them and to take godly action in response to them.
There are three phases that Nehemiah goes through when he hears the tragic news about the state of Jerusalem, the city of his ancestors. He first has an emotional reaction of sorrow that causes him to sit down, to weep and mourn for days. This was not something he read in the Persian Empire Gazette while he drank his coffee and then went to work with a sigh. This news about the state of his people was a message that impacted him emotionally and physically. He didn't look the other way when it came. He faced it and honestly looked at the tragedy and responded emotionally to it.
Secondly, Nehemiah took his mourning, his concern, his tears and sorrow to the God of heaven in prayer and fasting. He was part of a religious and cultural tradition that gave him room to weep and emotionally enter into the tragedy. But that tradition also had taught him to lift up his lament to the Lord God. This tradition of prayer is found everywhere in the Psalms. It is a form of prayer that the Jewish people practiced individually and corporately. They brought their sorrow and tears, their complaints and fears to the Lord God of heaven. Nehemiah did not carry the burden himself, but he brought the burden of the tragedy to the Lord through fasting and prayer. In chapter one we have a synopsis most likely of the kind of prayers he was praying "for days." This was not just a quick prayer before a meal or before bedtime. This was a constant prayer, a steadfast prayer that was lifted up to the God of heaven with great urgency, sorrow, and grief.
Finally, the next phase of Nehemiah's reaction to tragedy was to formulate a plan of action. The prayer and fasting led to a plan that was beyond Nehemiah. He needed God to open doors of power and provide material resources miraculously. He asked God for favor with the king of Persia whom he worked for. God did just that, and Nehemiah entered into that plan of action and led his people to rebuild the ancient ruins of Jerusalem as Isaiah prophesied centuries earlier (Is. 61:4).
As we encounter tragedy, we need to ask ourselves, some questions. Have I really faced this tragedy and allowed it to impact me or am I avoiding it? Have I taken the burden of this tragedy and brought it persistently to the Lord in prayer, even with fasting, or have I just been carrying it inside of me? What new action is the Lord calling me to take in response to the way things should be, but aren't? What action am I avoiding because I know it will be painful or difficult?
Nehemiah faced the pain of tragedy and did not run from it. I encourage us to use Nehemiah's example as a template of how we can by the grace of God move through tragedy and not be overcome by it, but use the tragic as an opportunity for God's kingdom to come and his will to be done. To God be the glory!