Prayer in Nehemiah (21)
“Remember me, O my God, for good!” (Nehemiah 13:31, NKJV)
“Remember me, O my God, for good!” (Neh. 13:31) With those words, the historical account of Nehemiah draws to a close. Its last breath conveys communion with God, reminding us of what has driven the events recorded within.
We are also reminded of what is to fuel our lives in seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Prayer is not merely an expression of piety in communion with God but also an expression of faith for the advancement of God’s kingdom. In His providence the living God enfolds our petitions as His means to His ends, something in full display in the book of Nehemiah.
What does Nehemiah mean when he asks God to “remember”? He opened the book on the same note. “Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name’” (Neh. 1:8–9).
The expression “remember” also occurs in the body of the book and appears all the more emphatic as the book draws to a close (Neh. 13:14, 22, 29, 31). Nehemiah seems to command the attention of God on the basis of remembering. “Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.” (Neh. 13:14)
Perhaps the context of Nehemiah helps us to understand the significance of remembering. God has allowed the people to return from exile to rebuild the wall and the temple and to reestablish sacrifice. Though God had disciplined His people in their infidelity, He would remain faithful.
The book begins with this address: “I pray, LORD God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments” (Neh. 1:5). Nehemiah invokes the covenant name of God and describes the parameters set by Him.
The whole of Nehemiah carries this tone of relationship with God and it is in the context of that relationship that Nehemiah invokes the call to remember.
In the Law of Moses the covenant demands of God are laid out, along with blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. Also laid out are God’s mercies to repentance. “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me, and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt— then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land” (Lev. 26:40–42).
This is the precise situation in which Nehemiah and the returning exiles found themselves. They had been unfaithful but they had humbled themselves and God had heard their prayer. The permits for the rebuilding of the wall were not issued by any earthly government but by the LORD God Himself.
But there would come another day when the call to God to remember would be invoked. Although the people under Nehemiah exhibited encouraging signs, they would again falter and fail and prove themselves unfaithful.
Yet God would not be deterred. And so we read from the mouth of Zechariah, whose son would herald the Messiah: “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant” (Luke 1:68–72).
The context of covenant tells us that the request for God to remember is always and exclusively answered in Jesus.
In our worship, work, and walk what should we ask God to remember in the context of our relationship with Him through Jesus Christ?
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
