I Am Only One (Part 2)

Nehemiah’s Prayer

(Nehemiah 1:1-11)

Just as He did with Hannah in I Samuel chapter one, God gets right down to business introducing us to Nehemiah and showing us his heart.  I love that about Him; He’s always concise and to the point.

My first impression of Nehemiah is his friendliness and concern for others.   I can just picture him heartily greeting his friends, and immediately inquiring concerning those that were not with them.  In contrast to Hannah, Nehemiah’s heart and focus and prayer are primarily for others.    

Now, let me just say that there is nothing wrong with either scenerio.  As we will see God hears and honors both.  I’ve heard people say that they never pray for themselves because it seems selfish, and God has already given them so much that they have no heart to ask for more.  This is common in Buddhism; they only give thanks to Buddha, never asking for anything.  While this sounds noble on the surface, for Christians it is a sign of flawed theology. 

It would be like me going to my dad only to ask for things for all my family and friends, and thank him for all he’s done for me and them in the past, but never sitting down and sharing my heart or needs with him.  I know I wouldn’t enjoy a relationship like that.  It would be more like going to Google for answers than a personal relationship with a God who created us for intimacy and fellowship.  Certainly there are times when we feel led to simply give thanks to God, and times when we  intercede on the behalf of others, but we get from God in order that we might be able to give.  If we are not first and foremost what we need to be to and for God, emptied of ourselves and filled with His Spirit, we cannot lead others aright or effectively.  There is nothing wrong with asking for the desires of our heart along with our needs, in fact it’s commanded, “Ask, and it shall be given you…”  Matthew 7:7

Yes, God already knows, but He wants to hear our voice.  All the riches of heaven are at our disposal for the asking.

Nehemiah’s response to the answer of his inquiry concerning his friends touches my heart.  As soon as he "heard these words, he sat down and wept, and mourned, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven.   Again, all of these things, the sitting, the weeping, the mourning, the fasting, would have been exercises in futility apart from prayer to God.  However, they are common to the human experience, and while they are indeed worthless alone, they become sacred when mixed with prayer.   

My most recent experience with this was several weeks ago when Jill shared with me the possibility of her having breast cancer.  I was out running errands when I received her message asking for prayer.  Immediately I could feel the panic start to rise, and the dread settle in the pit of my stomach.  And I cried out to God on her behalf while sitting in my van.  By the time I was done praying, that fear and dread had been transformed into glory and praise!  I was no longer sorry for her, I was excited and even envious!  I saw how the Lord had been using her in her zeal and fire for the Lord, and how the greater the trials, the greater the miracles, and ultimately the greater the GLORY God would get which He knows is the primary desire and passion of her heart!  She is trusted and chosen, and already God has used her mightily just a few short weeks into her journey with invasive breast cancer.   

That prayer for Jill changed me.  Prayer changes not just things, but people, too! 

Just like Hannah, Nehemiah immediately acknowledged what He knew to be true of God.  There is no doubt concerning to whom He is praying.  He is very specific – “O Lord God of heaven…”  We should be very specific in our prayers, and address God with reverence, humility, and love.  He also acknowleged God’s role in answering prayer, keeping “covenant and mercy:” and his role in getting his prayers answered, “for them that love Him and observe His commandments.” This is a common theme in the prayers of Daniel and Solomon, too, almost down to the exact words!

All three also ask for God’s ears to be attentive and His eyes open.  For me this translates to, “Lord, I need to know You are hearing me on this.  I need to know You are seeing what’s taking place.  Search me, O God, and know my heart.  Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me.  I can’t afford to have anything between us.  You must hear me, Lord!  Please, hear me!”  If you study this out, you will notice that this is a common element in David’s prayers, especially throughout the book of Psalms.  Ask…”day and night” if you must, but ask.  Our importunity is God’s opportunity!  (Importunity is an insistent or presseing demand.)

I particulary love this next part!  I have never in all my years under the teaching and preaching of the Word of God heard this taught.  Nehemiah, Solomon, and Daniel all ask God to forgive others, not just themselves.  How could I have missed this?  I have only always been taught the importance of confessing my own sins because I can’t possibly know another’s heart. 

I can’t, but God does.  Those who are repentant are sanctified by my prayers, and those who are not, God deals with them.  (Nehemiah 1:11)   

This has been a new and vital aspect to my prayer life in recent months.  I find myself constantly praying, “Lord, if there is sin in our family, I pray that you would bring it to light, and forgive us.  Please, God, constrain us from doing anything that might bring shame to Your holy name!” 

This was Job’s heart.  Job 1:5 says,  “And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.  Thus did Job continually.”  I have heard him criticized for this, as it seems he was being “too worried” about his kids, but I think he is to be commended!  In my life, this has proven to be the cure for worry with regard to my children.  It requires a simultaneous acknowledgment of my lack of control  hand-in-hand with God’s ultimate control.  Open hands are always full, and are a universal sign of surrender when raised in praise to God!  “Oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh, what needless pain we bear!  All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”

Nehemiah’s prayer also illustrates that it is possible to be very general and yet very specific at the same time in prayer.  He refers to large groups of people at once, “the children of Israel, thy servants” and “my father’s house;” and confesses sin from every aspect on their collective part, "We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments…”  

I have found it very easy to implement this into my prayer life!  Instead of being overwhelmed by praying for individual people point-by-point, I have found myself naming people and then praying Scripture over them.  Here’s an excerpt of my daily prayer, “Lord, I think of (my friend’s names).  I pray that they would be filled with the knowledge of Your will in all wisdom and knowledge and spiritual understanding; that they may stand perfect and complete in all Your will, O Lord.  Let Thy work appear unto them, and Thy glory unto their children.  Please prosper and establish the work of their hands, Lord, and may Your beauty be upon them in all they think, say, and do.  I pray that they would be quiet, confident, and joyful in Your strength.  Oh, and me, too!”

Nehemiah also reminds the Lord of His promises and claims them which is another common theme in these men’s prayers, “Remember, I beseech thee, the word that Thou commandest Thy servant Moses…”  And again, we see him using the “if and then clause.” “If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad the nations:  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.”

We need to be reminded, and often, of the role we play in the answers to our own prayers.  How frequently I sabotage my own prayers through a lack of faith, an unrepentant spirit, or even ignorance of God’s heart and will in the matter at hand!  It’s precisely why we need to be in God’s Word and on our knees daily, keeping short accounts with God - sin confessed and forsaken; we will eventually be in a place where we need God to hear us NOW, and we never know when that moment may be.  Plus, it’s just plain good practice.  Practice equates progress and growth in our Christian life!  We need to learn how to pray effectually and fervently, and this has come for me only through observing the Word of God and practice.  

Also, we need to know God’s promises before we can claim them.  God’s promises are glimpses of His heart.  It’s hard to pray, “not my will, but Thine be done,” if we don’t first know and trust our Father’s heart. 

The purpose of Nehemiah’s prayer is what ours should always be, his and his loved ones' good and God’s glory.   And that purpose is abundantly fulfilled in the remaining chapters of the book!  The result of this and any prayer of the kind is always the glory of God PLUS additional benefits for us!  Nehemiah knew God's hand to be upon his life, and God prospered the work of his hands.  Prayer became as vital to him as breathing, and was the main component of his work.  May the same be true of us.

“Now these people are Thy servants, and Thy people, whom Thou hast redeemed by Thy great pwer, and by Thy strong hand.  O Lord, I beseech Thee, let now Thine ear be attentive to the prayer of Thy servant, and to the prayer of Thy servants, who desire to fear Thy name…”  Humility exudes through his prayer.  He “beseeches” God, over and over again, three times in this short prayer of six verses.  His prayer is not about Nehemiah, what he is or isn't…it’s all about God and His glory!

Therefore, God used Nehemiah mightily on behalf of his loved ones in answer to his own prayer.  

Effective prayer produces effective saints.