When God Breaks Your Heart
Priceless Lessons from Dr. Price · Nehemiah: Building What Matters
When God Breaks Your Heart: 6 Movements That Reveal Your Calling
By Dr. Richard Price · Preached July 26, 2026 · Schrader Lane Church of Christ, Nashville, TN
Nehemiah didn't go looking for a calling. He asked one ordinary question about home — and the answer broke his heart. Dr. Richard Price teaches that the six ways Nehemiah responded to that broken news are the same six movements God still uses to shape servants before He hands them an assignment.
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Nehemiah had a good life. He served in the palace of one of the most powerful men on earth, trusted enough to carry the king's own cup to his lips. He wasn't hunting for a mission. He wasn't praying for an assignment. He was just having an ordinary conversation with travelers from home — until one question changed everything: How are the Jews who survived the exile, and how is Jerusalem? The answer broke his heart. And according to Dr. Richard Price, that's exactly how God starts His greatest works.
"I believe that God begins His greatest works," Dr. Price said, "by first breaking the hearts of His servants for the things that break His heart." That's the premise behind Nehemiah 1:2–4, the second installment in the "Building What Matters" series preached at Schrader Lane Church of Christ. Before God gave Nehemiah a wall to build, He gave him a burden to carry.
Your Calling Is Hidden Inside Your Compassion
We tend to ask God the wrong first question. "What should I build? What ministry should I serve in?" Dr. Price suggests a better one: "What breaks the heart of God?"
Moses suffered before he saw the burning bush. Isaiah saw God's holiness before he ever preached a word. Jeremiah felt God's burden before he spoke God's word. Paul met Christ on the road before he planned a single missionary journey. Nehemiah doesn't begin with blueprints — he begins with bad news. As Dr. Price put it, "The places where your heart refuses to remain comfortable may be the very place where God intends to use you."
People Over Property: What Broken Walls Really Reveal
Notice what Nehemiah asks first. Not "How are the walls?" but "How are the people?" Dr. Price pointed out that broken walls in the ancient world meant exposed families, failed commerce, and public shame — broken walls always meant broken lives. "God has always been more concerned with people than He has been with property," he preached. "Buildings ought to serve people. Ministry serves people. Programs serve people."
That's the line between a critic and a servant. The critic notices what's broken and says so. The servant asks, "Lord, how can I help?" Galatians 6:2 doesn't just command us to acknowledge burdens — it commands us to carry them.
"Your calling is often hidden inside your compassion." — Dr. Richard Price
The Six Movements of a Heart God Can Use
When the bad news landed, Nehemiah didn't organize a committee. Scripture records six quiet, deliberate responses in Nehemiah 1:3–4 that Dr. Price called "the autonomy of a heart that God can use":
- Hearing — Real hearing lets truth enter the heart, not just the ears (Romans 10:17). Dr. Price warned that our generation "consumes tragedy every day" until we become desensitized. Nehemiah refused to let suffering become ordinary.
- Sitting — "His world stopped." Before God moves us forward, He often pauses us. Psalm 46:10 calls this stillness a surrender, not inactivity.
- Weeping — A royal cupbearer, unashamed to cry. "The strongest men in Scripture knew how to weep," Dr. Price said, pointing to Joseph, David, Jeremiah, and Jesus Himself, who wept at Lazarus's tomb.
- Mourning — Deeper than sadness, godly mourning drives us toward God, not away from Him (Matthew 5:4). "The more I cried," Dr. Price shared from his own life, "the more I ran to Him."
- Fasting — A declaration: "God, I need You more than I need food." Notice what Nehemiah didn't do — he didn't vent on social media or organize a protest. He fasted.
- Praying — The first response, not the last resort. "The burden may be mine," Dr. Price said, "but the solution belongs to God" (James 1:5).
Prayer Isn't Preparation — It's the Work
Here's where Dr. Price reframed something many of us get backward: "We develop strategies before seeking the Savior. We organize committees before seeking Christ." Nehemiah does neither. He meets the King of Kings before he ever speaks to the king of Persia.
Jesus modeled this pattern before every major turning point — an entire night in prayer before choosing the twelve apostles (Luke 6:12), and a knee bent in Gethsemane before the cross (Luke 22:41–42). "Prayer is where God shapes the servant before He sends the servant," Dr. Price said. Some of your greatest victories will never happen in public — they'll happen in private, where no one sees you but God.
Holy Burdens Cost Something
Not everyone in Persia wept over Jerusalem's ruins — the walls had lain broken for decades, and plenty of people simply knew about it. Only one man carried it before God. "That's the difference between information and calling," Dr. Price explained. Different believers carry different burdens — children, the elderly, justice, education, missions — because 1 Corinthians 12:18 tells us God distributes gifts across the body as He chooses.
And holy burdens always cost something. For Nehemiah, it cost comfort, security, and status in the Persian palace. For Christ, it cost far more. "Though He was God," Dr. Price preached from Philippians 2:6–8, "He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to... He emptied Himself." Centuries after Nehemiah left one palace, Jesus left the glory of heaven itself, entered our brokenness, and, as Isaiah 53:4–5 foretold, carried our sorrows so we could be made whole. In Him, 2 Corinthians 5:17 promises, the old life is gone and a new one has begun. That's not just Nehemiah's story rebuilding a wall — that's the gospel rebuilding you.
This Week's Challenge
Ask yourself Dr. Price's question honestly this week: What breaks my heart? Set aside fifteen quiet minutes — no phone, no plan — and simply sit with it the way Nehemiah did. Let it move you to prayer before it moves you to action.
Where Is God Calling You to Feel Something This Week?
Nehemiah's burden wasn't meant to leave him overwhelmed — it was meant to reveal his assignment. The same is true for you. The brokenness that interrupts your comfort, the ruin you can't stop thinking about, the ache that won't let you go — that may not be an inconvenience. It may be an invitation.
Where is God calling you to show greater compassion this week? We'd love to hear how this lesson is meeting you — leave a comment below, share this post with someone who needs it, and explore more from the Priceless Lessons from Dr. Price series at Barry's Bureau.
Listen / Watch / Learn More
Watch the full sermon, "When God Breaks Your Heart," preached by Dr. Richard Price at Schrader Lane Church of Christ (49:28) — Watch on YouTube.
Suggested image: A weathered stone wall catching early morning light, with a single figure kneeling before it in prayer — visualizing the burden that becomes a calling.
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Priceless Lessons from Dr. Price
When God Breaks Your Heart — Quiz
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Priceless Lessons from Dr. Price · Study Game
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