We launched a new sermon series this past weekend at Mercy Hill Church called Rebuild: How God Restores What We Have Broken. This series walks through the book of Nehemiah and reminds us that God can rebuild what looks irreparably broken.
Over a hundred years after the exile, God empowered his people to rebuild the walls of their homeland. What looked hopeless and beyond repair was restored—and not by human ingenuity, but by divine faithfulness. God used Nehemiah, a man serving in a pagan palace far from home, to bring hope to a people living in shame.
This is not just a story about ancient ruins; it’s about a God who rebuilds broken people and broken places. Nehemiah’s story is proof that God rebuilds for our good and his glory. What sin tears down, grace can restore.
We all know what it’s like to face something broken—a relationship that’s fractured, a habit we can’t shake, a dream that feels dead, a nation that feels lost. The book of Nehemiah shows us that God is still telling a love story in this world that he will not abandon. Between now and the day when his Kingdom comes in full, the grace of God seen in his rebuilding work helps us live with hope, purpose, and faith.
Week 1 Big Idea: We Should Pray Big to God and Be Used by God.
The story begins with crisis. Nehemiah hears devastating news from Jerusalem:
“And they said to me, ‘The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire’” (Nehemiah 1:3).
For Nehemiah, this wasn’t just bad news—it was a blow to his heart. The walls represented the security, dignity, and mission of God’s people. Without them, the city was vulnerable, exposed, and shamed. So, Nehemiah did what most of us struggle to do when life falls apart—he didn’t just act; he prayed.
Crisis Calls Us Back to Dependence
Nehemiah was living in Susa, the luxurious capital of the Persian Empire. As the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, he had access to comfort, influence, and privilege. Yet, when word came that his people were suffering, his heart broke. He sat down, wept, fasted, and prayed.
That’s the first lesson of this story: crisis calls us back to dependence. When things are comfortable, we tend to forget our need for God. But when life gets hard, we are snapped back into spiritual reality. Crisis shatters the illusion of control and forces us to look up. It reminds us that we are not the builders—God is.
Sometimes the most gracious thing God can do is allow us to walk through a situation that drives us to our knees. It’s in those moments that prayer moves from routine to real. We stop offering God polite, sanitized prayers and start crying out for help.
Nehemiah didn’t just pray once; he prayed for days. He fasted. He wept. He mourned. His heartbreak over a broken city led him to depend on a God big enough to restore it.
Pain Is Part of the Christian Life
There’s a cultural myth that following Jesus should shield us from pain. But Scripture tells a different story. Pain isn’t an interruption to the Christian life—it’s a part of it.
When Nehemiah heard the news about Jerusalem, he didn’t suppress his emotions or distract himself with palace life. He allowed himself to feel deeply. He sat down and mourned. The pain he felt was not a sign of weak faith; it was evidence of a heart aligned with God’s. I heard one pastor say it this way: “God uses people mightily who see the world through tears.”
If you come from a worldview that denies God, then pain is nothing more than an illusion—just neurons firing in a meaningless universe. But Christians know better. Our tears tell the truth: something is deeply wrong with the world, and we long for it to be made right. That longing is holy. It’s the same longing that led Jesus to weep at Lazarus’s tomb. God uses those who see the world’s brokenness through tears and let that pain move them to prayer.
Can We Repent of Our Callous Hearts Toward the World?
Nehemiah’s heartbreak challenges us. Have we become too numb to the brokenness around us? We live in a world scarred by sin—violence, division, injustice, sexual immorality, and idolatry. We scroll past suffering like it’s background noise. We drive by strip clubs and abortion clinics. We see spiritual confusion in our schools and workplaces. And too often, our hearts stay hard.
Nehemiah’s first response wasn’t to rant on social media or point fingers at the culture. It was to fall on his face before God. Before he picked up a brick, he bent a knee. The question for us is: Have we lost our tears? Have we grown callous toward the world that God so loves? Real revival always starts with repentance—and sometimes that repentance begins with weeping over the state of our own hearts.
Prayer Declares Dependence on God Against the Broken World
Nehemiah’s prayer in chapter one gives us a window into what true dependence looks like. He began with worship:
“And I said, ‘O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments’” (Nehemiah 1:5).
Nehemiah didn’t start by listing his problems; he started by declaring God’s greatness. Before he looked at the rubble of Jerusalem, he fixed his eyes on the God of heaven. That’s what prayer does—it lifts our gaze.
Prayer is rebellion against the world’s evil status quo. It’s how believers wage war against despair. It’s how we push back darkness. A prayerless life isn’t neutral—it’s independent from God. But a praying life is an act of defiance against the brokenness of the world.
A Model for Powerful Prayer: A.C.T.S.
Nehemiah’s prayer follows a timeless pattern that still helps us today—A.C.T.S.: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.
- Adoration: Nehemiah begins with who God is. “The great and awesome God who keeps covenant.” He reminds himself—and us—that God is both powerful and faithful.
- Confession: Then he owns the sin of his people. “We have acted very corruptly against you.” Nehemiah doesn’t distance himself from the problem; he identifies with it. He doesn’t play the victim—he acknowledges that he’s part of the problem.
- Thanksgiving: He recalls God’s past faithfulness, thanking God for his steadfast love and redemption. Gratitude fills the space before the request.
- Supplication: Finally, he makes his request: “give success to your servant today.” But even his asking is humble and others-focused. He’s not asking for comfort; he’s asking to be used.
A Broken Heart May Be God’s Invitation
Nehemiah ends his prayer with a bold request:
“O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man…” (Nehemiah 1:11).
That man was the king. And the next chapter shows us that Nehemiah wasn’t just praying for God to act—he was praying for God to use him as the answer to the prayer.
So, here’s the point: A broken heart may be God’s invitation. The very thing that breaks your heart may be the thing God is calling you to help rebuild. Maybe you’re counseling a friend through a failing marriage, rebuilding trust in a broken relationship, trying to change a toxic culture at work, or helping a ministry rise from ashes. You see the problem because God placed you where you could see it.
Nehemiah could have prayed, “Lord, send someone else.” But he didn’t. He said, “Here I am, Lord—use me.”
Pray with a Willing Heart to Be Used by God
Nehemiah’s story shows us that the most powerful prayer we can pray isn’t just “God, fix this,” but “God, use me.” We can and should pray big prayers—prayers for healing, provision, salvation, revival. But the biggest prayer of all is one of surrender: “God, build me into the kind of person you can use.”
Nehemiah’s name means “The Lord has comforted.” That’s not an accident. God was preparing Nehemiah for this very moment—to pray, to act, and to rebuild. The same is true for us. God places us in the middle of brokenness not to be spectators but to be servants.
The Gospel: Our Foundation for Prayer
Nehemiah prayed with confidence because he trusted in God’s covenant promises. As followers of Jesus, we pray with even greater confidence—because we’ve seen those promises fulfilled in Christ. Nehemiah pointed back to Moses and the redemption from Egypt. We point to Jesus and the redemption from sin.
Just as God sent Moses from the palace to the pasture to rescue his people, God sent Jesus from heaven to earth to rescue us. He lived the life we couldn’t, died the death we deserved, and rose again to give us new life. On the cross, he took the full weight of our rebellion and rebuilt the bridge we had burned.
That’s why we can pray big. Not because we’re worthy, but because the One who rebuilds has already done the impossible—he’s rebuilt our relationship with God. If Jesus can rebuild our souls from death to life, he can rebuild anything.
Final Word
The story of Nehemiah begins not with construction but with contrition. Before the wall was ever built, a man knelt and prayed. When crisis hits, when pain overwhelms, when the world feels irreparably broken—remember this:
- Crisis calls us back to dependence.
- Pain is part of the Christian life.
- Prayer declares dependence on God against the broken world.
- A broken heart may be God’s invitation.
And it all begins when we pray with a willing heart to be used by God. God can rebuild what looks irreparably broken—and he often starts by rebuilding us.
Watch the full sermon from week one of our Rebuild sermon series here:
Andrew Hopper
