In this episode of Pray the Word on Nehemiah 7:66, David Platt praises God for the great love that he has shown us through Jesus Christ.
“The whole assembly together was 42,360.”
-Nehemiah 7:66
So how does that verse lead us to pray? That the whole assembly together was 42,360. This counting of God’s people who were settling in Jerusalem. And when I read this verse, and all the names of people we see in the book of Nehemiah, I’m reminded that every single person counts in the economy of God. It doesn’t say there were around 42,000 people. It was 42,360. I read that, and I just see a picture of God’s love for the one, for each one. And I’m driven to pray for that kind love in my life, that I wouldn’t just love people in general, but that I would love the individual people around me, that I wouldn’t just love and want to see the nations come to know the love of God, but that I would love particular individual people, from particular nations.
Oh God, we praise you for your love for us.
Nehemiah 7:66 Leads Us to Pray for Afghans
I think about an Uber ride I was in just the other day with a man from Afghanistan and just sharing the gospel with him, and praying for him and for his family that’s back in Afghanistan, and inviting him to come to church. He’s never been to church before. I just think about God’s love for him, not just for Afghans. Yes, for Afghans, but for him, specifically. And so can we just pause and pray that God would help us to love individual people around us, even as we’re reminded today, that God loves each one of us. And God loves you personally.
Praising God for His Love
Oh God, we praise you for your love for us. We praise you for your care for each one of our lives. God, I praise you for your love for my life. Even just the fresh reminder that you gave me in prayer. On my knees before you, just hearing you say in a fresh way, you love me and you’re for me. And God, I pray that over every single person listening right now, all who’ve put their trust in Jesus. They would hear you saying that over them right now, specifically, individually, not just everybody who’s listening to this podcast, but each of them. They would hear you saying to them, you love them. You’re for them. You’re with them.
Nehemiah 7:66 Reminds Us that God Loves the World
God, we know you love the world. We praise you for your love for the world, for all people in it. And God, I pray that if anybody’s not trusting your love, that they would feel this personally right now and put their trust in you, in Jesus, who’s died on a cross sin, the sins of all who trust in him, and his love for them. And God, oh God, we praise you for your love for each of us, and for your love for all the peoples of the world. So, God, we pray today for Tunisian Arabs in Tunisia, 10,917,000, approximately. You know if it’s 10,917,422, or if that number just changed to 423, even as we’re praying.
Praying for Tunisian Arabs
You know every single one of these Tunisian Arabs. God, we pray there’s as far as we know, 0.0% of them are followers of Jesus. God, we pray that you would change that. You love each one of them. God, we pray for the spread of the gospel to Tunisian Arabs, the spread of the good news of your great love in Jesus. God, we pray for the spread of your love to individual Tunisian Arabs, to all 10 plus million of them. You know exactly how many there are. God, we pray that they would know your love for each of them.
And God, you would help individual ones of us to go and take the gospel to them, and each one of our lives to live for the spread of your love among all the individuals of this world. God, we praise you for your indescribable, unfathomable love for the many, for the one, for each of us, for the nations. So, help us to live according to Nehemiah 7:66, spend our lives spreading this love even as we spend our lives enjoying this love. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
