Hear O God, For We are Despised - Nehemiah 4:5

In the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah shared how he was threatened by “Sanballat and Tobiah” again, and he prayed, “Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity:”, and in chapter four and verse five of Nehemiah, Nehemiah prayed, “cover not their iniquity”, where we read,

And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before you:

for they have provoked you to anger before the builders.

The verse reads, “And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before you:” Nehemiah began with the words, “and cover not their iniquity” or “and do no conceal or hide their, Sanballat, Tobiah's and the adversaries of Jerusalem's, perversity, depravity, guilt and punishment”, “and let not their sin” which means “and do not allow and permit their, “Sanballat, Tobiah and the adversaries of Jerusalem's, error, wrong, mistake and missing of the mark” “be blotted out” or “exist as abolished, exterminated and wiped out” “from before you” which means “made separate and apart from the front and presence of you, Jehovah God”. Nehemiah prayed that Jehovah God would not conceal the perversity of his and the people of Israel's enemy, and he asked God not to allow their error and missing of the mark to be wiped out in his presence. 

The verse continues, “for they have provoked you to anger before the builders.” Nehemiah added the words, “for they have provoked you to anger” or “because, since and on account that they, Sanballat, Tobiah and the adversaries of Jerusalem, have caused you, Jehovah God, to be vexed, indignant, grieved and wrathful” “before the builders” which means “in front and in the presence of the people who are rebuilding, establishing and reconstructing the barrier wall”. Nehemiah shared how his and the people of Jerusalem's adversaries caused Jehovah God to become filled with wrath in the presence of the ones building the wall. 

When we consider Nehemiah's words in this verse, we discover how he continued his prayer to God by asking Him not to conceal the perversity of he and the people's enemies, nor did he want their errors and wrongs to be wipe away from them. They caused God to be filled with wrath in the presence of those reconstructing the wall, and we can only imagine what it means to face His “anger”. God loves the people of Israel, and those who oppose them, oppose God Himself. God wants to have a personal relationship with every person through His Son Jesus who died on the cross and was resurrected three days later for the sins of all mankind, and when we yield to Him, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and give us the wisdom to continue in His Kingdom work even when His “anger” is “provoked” by those who oppose us. 

Next time Nehemiah says, “so we built the wall”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".