Where are the broken hearts?

 They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

⁴ When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. ⁵ Then I said:

“Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ⁶ let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. ⁷ We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.

⁸ “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, ⁹ but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’


 Nehemiah 1:3-9

I want to preface this by saying a few things. First, that it is likely to be long (that will be the only thing I will apologize for here). Second, that it is more or less my stream of thought while on the bus today. And lastly, I believe the darkness is losing ground. What I'm talking about here seems to me to be a bit more serious than I like, with a really heavy tone. But I don't want that to take away from the hope that I see. The darkness is losing ground and I believe that a new revival that's gonna blow up like an A-bomb is already stirring itself up worldwide. This is just what's in my head and heart right now...

Man. Throughout scripture, we're told that we should be joyful, at peace, kind, wise, humble, and any number of other traits and attitudes. We are called to have tender hearts, and advised to guard them. But where are the brokenhearted Christians?

I see a world of people driven to new levels of depravity, a nation in a downward spiral, and I don't see many people who care. Now, I'm not talking about nationalism here. I'm talking about brotherhood.

You see, we as Christians don't let things bother us. On one hand, that is a very VERY good thing, because we need to have the peace of Christ and the rest that comes with that. But having peace and just not caring are not the same thing.

And saying this, I can see a lot of people who will nod their head and say that they agree that things are bad and need to change. But where is the action that comes with that?

When I look to scripture, from the old testament prophets to Jesus on the Mount of Olives, I see many times weeping and anguish accompanied by an earnest, caring, feeling, brokenhearted prayer.

When I look at us today, I rarely see that. Christians, we have a staggering number of children growing up without fathers, a stupidly high divorce rate, we are desensitized to what has become a cultural norm of adultery. We have 22 veterans who commit suicide daily. In the US, we have come to the point that there is such a mix of fear and selfishness and confusion and apathy that there are an estimated 3000 abortions carried out daily. Worldwide, that number is 125,000. We are faced with the epidemic of porn that at best preys on guilty pleasure to trade sin (death) for cash, and at its worst makes the beloved and valuable human beings involved seen only for their meat; as if they existed only for the enjoyment of someone else. That contributes to human trafficking, which is so much worse...

There are more than these. And we have all heard them. But that is not enough! We have all been affected by these things. We can no longer pretend like we can exist in our bubble and that those ugly things exist outside of it. These things should break our hearts, Christians. And it's time to do something about it!

Be like Nehemiah! Be brokenhearted! Then the ONLY response is a fervent prayer born out of sorrow and love, a prayer for the WE, not for the THEM. We are responsible for this. And we have to care.

Care. Pray. Love. It's more than a tag line; you've really gotta change your heart if you wanna change the world.

And I believe that we can. I believe that if We as the body of Christ put ourselves into one of those spirits of biblical intercession for Us as a people, as a broken and fallen and sinful nation, it would kick start something that's already brewing.