“Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.” (Psalm 139:10, NKJV) 

God’s Word features two prominent figures leading the return of the Jews to the Promised Land after the exile, Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra was a priest who was concerned with the rebuilding of the temple. Nehemiah was in service to the king of Persia and was concerned with the rebuilding of the wall. 

Upon arrival in Jerusalem at the permission and with the provision of Gentile rulers, whose hearts were made favorable by God, Ezra would concern himself with reestablishing the cultic practice related to temple worship. Nehemiah would focus on the well-being of the city, including the rebuilding of the wall for its protection. 

Since Ezra was a priest, it is not surprising to see him involved in ministry of the word and prayer, the tools of a spiritual leader. Nehemiah, however, was a civil servant, a cupbearer to the king in Persia and governor (Neh. 5:14) in the land of Judah. Yet prayer features large in Nehemiah’s life. 

Perhaps that, too, is expected. After all, Israel was a theocracy. We see David and Solomon, kings over Israel, being men of prayer. But Nehemiah’s prayer is not only a dimension of his political leadership; it is integral to his personal piety and practice. 

We look at leaders in Christ’s church and we see the urgency and necessity of prayer for them. Whatever sphere is in view, whether church, home, government, world, prayer is featured as the conduit for believers to the living God for the work only He can do. Prayer defines the man and directs the mission. 

I had a friend who would bemoan the fact that Christians had reduced prayer as an intercom from the den to the kitchen asking God to wait on their wants, rather than a walkie-talkie in the hands of soldiers on the field crying out to God to supply their needs for His service. 

When Nehemiah arrives at Jerusalem to survey the damage, he encounters opposition and he rallies the troops by directing their eyes to their hope and their help.

"You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.” And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. So they said, “Let us rise up and build.” Then they set their hands to this good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?” So I answered them, and said to them, “The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem” (Neh. 2:17–20). 

The entirety of Nehemiah’s exhortation is framed and filled with prayer. There is nowhere that the hand of God is not brought to bear. 

How pervasive should prayer be in your life? Take stock of your responsibilities and influence and saturate them with the presence, the promise, and the power of the God of heaven. 

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.