Remember me, O my God, for good

“And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.” - Nehemiah 13v31

Nehemiah had gone from being a simple cupbearer for the king of Babylon to being the legal governor of the restored city of Jerusalem. He had done an amazing work in having the walls built and bringing the city together. In cooperation with Ezra he had seen a great revival in the land.

At the very end of the book he is remembering some of what had happened and he asked God to remember the good that he had done. The idea is that he is asking God to bless his efforts. We see this happening quite often in the Old Testament. Part of the reason of course is that they did not have to comfort of the Holy Spirit to assure them of their salvation. However, there is a principle that we can apply.

Nehemiah did his best and then he left the rest up to God. There is a good pattern here for us as we serve God today. We must do all that we can humanly do for the Lord, then all we can do is to leave the rest with Him.

The question becomes, are we well and truly doing our best for Him? Only then can we step back and ask Him to remember and bless our efforts.