Nehemiah 1:9
But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.
Nehemiah received the report to which this promise belongs while serving with the cup in the Persian court, when messengers from Judea told him that Jerusalem the chosen city lay desolate. The place of his fathers' sepulchers lay waste, with damaged buildings and ruined walls, and the returned exiles were in affliction and reproach. The temple and portions of the city had been rebuilt, but the work of restoration was hindered, the temple services were disturbed, and the people were kept in constant alarm because the walls were still largely in ruins.
The promise is that if God's people turn to Him in penitence and faith and keep and do His commandments, though they were cast out to the uttermost part of heaven or earth He will gather them from there. He will bring them to the place He chose to set His name, cause the light of His countenance to shine upon them again, maintain the cause of His penitent people, restore their strength, and build up their waste places. The promise was given through Moses more than a thousand years before Nehemiah pleaded it, yet it remained in force and stood unchanged through the centuries because God's word cannot fail.
Israel's sins in turning from God separated them from Him, and He permitted them to come under the control of heathen nations to show He would not serve with their sins. His faithfulness in fulfilling that warning to scatter them abroad among the nations gives assurance He will be equally faithful to fulfill the promise to gather. He does not bring restoration through those who refuse to serve Him with singleness of purpose and have corrupted their ways before Him, but through a man He could use like Nehemiah to put down false principles and restore heaven-born principles that had been supplanted.
The verse belongs to the petitions Nehemiah wept and prayed before the Lord in faith, marked by private penitential confession and anguish. Humbled before God and giving Him the glory due His name, he pleaded the promise made to those who turn and keep the commandments. It was part of his prayer for help that God heard, showing that when God's people pray and plead the promise He moves upon heathen kings to come to their help. He works through kings to carry out His purpose and answer the many prayers ascending for needed help even when enemies work zealously against them, and read with a humble heart touched by the Holy Spirit it corrects false ideas about religious liberty and shows correct principles that change the present order of things.
Taking fast hold of the promise by faith in prayer strengthens faith and courage and fills the mouth with holy arguments. Yet prayer does not finish duty but must be united with holy endeavor, diligent and provident care, earnest prayerful efforts, prudence and painstaking effort, careful consideration and well-matured plans essential to sacred enterprises, since neglecting them hinders Providence. God's people are to humble themselves in prayer yet never obliterate the line of demarcation between His commandment-keeping people and those who have no respect for His law.