When I heard the news………
The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:
In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
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.”
When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. Nehemiah 1:1-4
Imagine life before Google. Before the internet. Before television and phones and the Royal Mail.
How did anyone find anything out back in the day?
By asking someone. A real person. A person who had actually been there and experienced things first hand and seen for themselves.
Imagine not knowing how things are going for the rest of your people, while you’re isolated and cut off from them in the citadel of Susa.
So when someone comes to visit from Judah, you seize the opportunity. You ask for an update. And the news is not good.
Great trouble and disgrace.
The walls broken down.
The gates burned with fire.
Not the news you were hoping for.
When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.
We hear so much bad news every single day. We are bombarded with images and personal accounts of indescribable suffering. Our news reporters commentate on the ground as the horror unfolds.
We can research anything at any time.
And how do we respond? Has overexposure made us numb? Sometimes, yes. Maybe it has had to. Maybe that is the only way to survive and carry on.
Sometimes, like with the atrocities in Paris, we are touched. The whole nation was touched. Maybe because it was close to home. Maybe because these were people just like us. Maybe because it could have been us.
Other times, a particular image or phrase or situation pierces our heart.
Sometimes the news hits us between the eyes. We can remember exactly where we were when we heard the news of the twin towers on 9/11. Or when Princess Diana died. Or when we saw those very first images of the famine in Ethiopia.
And we’re stopped in our tracks. We have to sit down. Shed a tear maybe. Weep. We’re overwhelmed by the sorrow and suffering in the world. Crushed by grief and helplessness.
Or we ask someone how they are and expect to hear ‘fine’ and instead hear that the cancer has come back, or their marriage has broken down or their teenager is self-harming or their parent is showing signs of dementia or they have lost their job…..and your heart goes out to them. You feel for them. You want to help but feel so helpless.
Because there are plenty of ruins all around us all of the time, aren’t there? Plenty of trouble and disgrace. Broken relationships. Charred remains. Damaged, hurting people.
The world is a mess. Us humans have done a great job in screwing it all up. And there seems to be no end to man’s inhumanity to man. No end to the atrocity and hatred and violence.
Of course, it stops us in our tracks.
Of course, we have to sit down.
Of course, we feel like crying.
Where is the love?
Where is the hope?
Where is God in all of this?
And what is your next response?
What do you do then?
It doesn’t end there, does it?
As we’ll find out tomorrow.
