Godʼs People on Mission

Nehemiah: Concern for Godʼs Great Name

When Nehemiah heard the report of the state of the walls and the city of Jerusalem, something inside him responded so strongly that he sat down and wept and mourned for many days. We donʼt know how long heʼd been away from Jerusalem, or if heʼd ever lived there. With the siege and fall of the city, well over a century earlier he certainly hadnʼt lived there in peacetime. He served in a country a long way from Jerusalem. He knew that the exile and the destruction were deserved, due to the unfaithfulness of Israel, and he repented on their behalf. But he also knew the impact this had on Godʼs reputation – on His Name. Remembering the truth of the Lordʼs Words, He prayed Godʼs Promise:

but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.ʼ (Nehemiah 1:9)

Sure, Nehemiah was concerned for the people, and for the nation, but it was Godʼs Name that moved Him, and great men and women of faith who love God and His Word know how important this is. Isaiah was also one with deep concern for the Name of the Lord:

Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence—2 As fire burns brushwood, As fire causes water to boil—To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence! (Isaiah 64:1 –2)

And so too was David:

For Your nameʼs sake, O Lord, Pardon my iniquity, for it is great. (Psalm 25:11)

God declares His Own concern for His name through the prophet Ezekiel:

22“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy nameʼs sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. 23 And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,ˮ says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. (Ezekiel 36:22 – 23)

As we continue to seek to follow God faithfully, to honour Him with our lives and serve Him with all our heart. To be someone who is ready and desiring for God to move and act in our lives, then it is important that we revere the Name and the reputation of God above all others – especially our own.

When we fail to stand out from those around us, through our integrity, humility, grace and love, then how can our actions be considered any different than the Israelites, whom God declared had profaned His Name among the nations. If we understood the damage we do to Godʼs Name through our behaviour, especially the actions of Churches and their leaders, we would cower in fear – and we should.

Today, wherever we find ourselves, let us consider whom we represent, that we walk in Christʼs footsteps, and importantly, that we bear His Name.

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. (Luke 11:2)

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, But to Your name give glory, Because of Your mercy, Because of Your truth. 2 Why should the Gentiles say, “So where is their God? ˮ (Psalm 115:1)