Your servant

Your servant
O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man." For I was the king's cupbearer. Nehemiah 1v11

When you read this verse you might think that Nehemiah sounds a bit over the top with his use of the words ‘servant’ and ‘servants.’ It seems like he is trying to convince someone that he really was a servant.

I don’t think that is too far from the truth. Being a servant goes against the grain. We don’t really like the concept of being a slave or a servant. Being a servant mans there is a resigning of our will to someone else’s. It means that our goals and plane are subordinate to the master. We become subject to the the master.

Nehemiah knew that his relationship to a holy God was indeed one of servant-hood. He knew that he really deserved nothing. Everything he asked from God he asked on the basis that he was the servant and God was his master.

Paul had the same concept of servant-hood. He often referred to himself as the doulos of God.; the bond-servant, the slave.

I read this in the Valley of Vision this morning - ‘ Let thy will bind our wishes.’ That sentiment clearly expresses the attitude of service that both Nehemiah and Paul spoke of. We need to remember, especially in tough times, that we are the servants and that God is the perfect, benevolent, caring and loving Master.

Indeed, may His will bind our wishes.