The Burden That Won’t Let You Go
"When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of the heavens." - Nehemiah 1:4
Big visions don’t usually begin with inspiration. It begins with heartbreak.
When Nehemiah heard the news about Jerusalem, he didn’t shrug it off. He didn’t say, “That’s a shame,” and move on with his life. He sat down. He wept. He fasted. He prayed. Because vision isn’t born out of comfort. Vision is born out of burden.
He had never even seen the broken walls with his own eyes. But the moment he heard about them, he couldn’t unhear it. That is what happens when God starts to speak. You get burdened for something that doesn’t directly affect your paycheck or your personal safety. You start to feel the weight of something that everyone else seems to ignore.
You might not be a city builder like Nehemiah, but God still gives burdens. For a coach, it might be a team of kids who have never been believed in. For a parent, it might be the spiritual temperature of the home. For a leader, it might be the culture of compromise in a generation. It could be a neighborhood. A school. A church. A broken system. A hurting friend.
What bothers you that doesn’t seem to bother most people? What are you sensing in your spirit that keeps following you around? That might just be your burden. And that burden might just be the beginning of your vision.
You don’t need to post about it right away. You don’t need to act like a hero. You need to do what Nehemiah did. Get quiet with God. Sit down. Let it hit you. Weep over what is broken. Pray for what could be. Fast. And seek the Lord.
Before vision ever leads to action, it should lead to brokenness. That’s how you know it’s from God. The burden doesn’t push you toward a platform. It pushes you to your knees.
Big visions don’t usually begin with inspiration. It begins with heartbreak.
When Nehemiah heard the news about Jerusalem, he didn’t shrug it off. He didn’t say, “That’s a shame,” and move on with his life. He sat down. He wept. He fasted. He prayed. Because vision isn’t born out of comfort. Vision is born out of burden.
He had never even seen the broken walls with his own eyes. But the moment he heard about them, he couldn’t unhear it. That is what happens when God starts to speak. You get burdened for something that doesn’t directly affect your paycheck or your personal safety. You start to feel the weight of something that everyone else seems to ignore.
You might not be a city builder like Nehemiah, but God still gives burdens. For a coach, it might be a team of kids who have never been believed in. For a parent, it might be the spiritual temperature of the home. For a leader, it might be the culture of compromise in a generation. It could be a neighborhood. A school. A church. A broken system. A hurting friend.
What bothers you that doesn’t seem to bother most people? What are you sensing in your spirit that keeps following you around? That might just be your burden. And that burden might just be the beginning of your vision.
You don’t need to post about it right away. You don’t need to act like a hero. You need to do what Nehemiah did. Get quiet with God. Sit down. Let it hit you. Weep over what is broken. Pray for what could be. Fast. And seek the Lord.
Before vision ever leads to action, it should lead to brokenness. That’s how you know it’s from God. The burden doesn’t push you toward a platform. It pushes you to your knees.
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