“And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of Heaven” (Nehemiah 1:3-4).

News reports from the Middle East reporting the terrible peril of Christians had just finished before breaking for commercials in the doctor’s office. Two men, unknown to each other, sat side by side listening to the television set. The two responses couldn’t have been further from each other. Sam looked at the man sitting nearby and said, “I could care less what these people do to each other as long as they stay away from us. They’ve been fighting for generations. Let them kill each other, each and every one of them.” Hunter, the man sitting nearby, was shocked at the cruel and indifferent statements of this stranger named Sam. “I respect the fact that you are entitled to your opinion,” Hunter said. “But I also totally disagree with you. I am a Christian, and the ways that the radical Jihadists have seized their homes, killed their families, and are forcing them to flee for their lives greatly concern me!” Hunter said with great emotion. Later that day as Hunter was telling his wife about the encounter in the doctor’s office, it struck him that he needed to pray about the situation much like Nehemiah prayed about his situation many years earlier. It was a life-changing moment for Hunter. How about you? How much are you praying about the situation in the Middle East? Nehemiah is such a great example to us.

For today: Let’s be careful not to be removed in our concern for others!