A Heavy Heart

“I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem.”  Nehemiah 2:12

Growing up around church I often heard the phrase, “The Lord put this on my heart.”  To my literal seven year old mind, having something laid on your heart would be heavy to bear and make it hard to breathe, so why would God want to do a thing like that?  Perhaps because God knows that sometimes the only way to get us going is to get us gasping.

The news of Jerusalem’s devastation was not merely information that Nehemiah could pass along to others.  The moment he heard, his heart was heavy, and he knew God wanted him to lend a hand—or two—to the situation.

Wall-building and wine tasting were not remotely on the same job skills spectrum, but since God had put this in his heart, Nehemiah traded the comfortable and the  known for the difficult and the uncertain—because he could not breathe easy until the walls were rebuilt. 

What has your God put on your heart?  A person?  A project?  A person who is a project?  Most likely, it won’t be comfortable.  Without doubt, it will require some effort. And almost certain, it will demand a sacrifice.   But when God puts something on your heart, it’s a blessing—not a burden.

Don’t keep gasping.  Get going.