Prayer in Nehemiah (4)
“[I]f My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14, NKJV)
Nehemiah still hasn’t gotten to his request of God. We will learn that he is not only grieved by the state of disrepair of the city he loves, but he wants to do something about it. His reflex is to turn to the God of heaven. He will ask God to grant him success in the eyes of the king for the mission of rebuilding he wants to undertake. But he has yet in his prayer to get to the point, although perhaps that is point.
Often in prayer, we cut to the chase, quick to ask that we may receive. We are not very adept at wrestling with God, laying our hearts bare before him, grappling with all the things that weigh upon us and the realities we face. We don’t spend time working through our troubles with God, reminding ourselves of His character and His assurances, magnifying His name.
Nehemiah has been open and honest about the sin of Israel. It is their own fault that Jerusalem is in ruins and the people in exile. God had warned them repeatedly, but they refused to listen. They had been unfaithful. They were covenant breakers. But God’s steadfast love would not be deterred. His purposes in redemption would not be frustrated.
In wrestling with God, Nehemiah lays these truths on the table, not to challenge God but to bring to bear His precious promises. After admitting the sin of God’s people and their just deserts, Nehemiah goes on in prayer: “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.’ Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand” (Neh. 1:8–10).
Nehemiah asks God to “remember.” It’s not that God has forgotten or could forget. Rather, Nehemiah is laying out the basis of his plea. He has boldness to ask of God not because he is worthy or deserving or has any reason in himself to request. His confidence rests in the unshakable promises of God and the unchanging God of promise.
There is something more to prayer than the bottom line. In a sense, the prayer is in the process. We make eye contact with God in His glory and grace. We rehearse His mercies and acknowledge our frailties. We express ourselves, not only in what we want but in fellowship with the God of heaven. We reinforce our faith as we nourish it with the truth of God’s word. We pray with thanksgiving and great expectation.
Nehemiah has an urgency about him. He has heard the plight of his people and he wants to take action. That is the upshot of his plea to the Lord God: “O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man” (Neh. 1:11).
But in his eagerness Nehemiah does not rush. He lingers before God. He waits on the Lord. It was winter (Chislev, Neh. 1:1) when he first receives the news but it is four months later (Nisan, Neh. 2:1) that God will get the ball rolling in answer to Nehemiah’s prayer. Spoiler alert: God answers his prayer in the affirmative and grants him success before the king.
Why should God listen to you? How is praying in Jesus’ name a qualifier for your whole prayer and not just a prelude to an “amen”?
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.
