Nehemiah 1[i]
Jerusalem
lay in ruins for 70 years.
Nebuchadnezzar
and his army tore down the walls, burned the houses, destroyed the temple, and
those they did not kill, they took captive to Babylon.
Then Cyrus
issued a decree, and fifty thousand Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem to
rebuild the temple.
Fifty
thousand is a small number compared to the people and nations already occupying
the territory to which the Jews returned.
In spite of
opposition, the temple was rebuilt, being completed on March 21, 516 B.C.[ii]
The time from
538 B.C. to 516 B.C. represents 22 years during which the Jews labored in the
rebuilding of the temple.
Nehemiah
1:1 dates itself as being in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes’
reign. This puts the events of Nehemiah
1 at 446 B.C. This means another 70
years have passed since the end of the Jewish Exile.
Nehemiah
works for the King. He is the King’s
cupbearer. (Nehemiah 1:11) The cupbearer
was a high-ranking official. The
cupbearer served the drinks at the royal table, and he guarded against the king
being poisoned. In order to protect the king from poison, it was the job of the
cupbearer to swallow some of the drink before serving it to the king. (A nice job to have unless someone tried to
poison the king.)
Nehemiah
1:2-4 says:
Hanani, one of my brothers, came to
visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had returned
there from captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem.
They said to me, “Things are not
going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and
the gates have been destroyed by fire.”
When I heard this, I sat down and
wept. In fact, for days I mourned,
fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.
Have you
ever received news that caused you to mourn, fast and pray for days?
We all face
these moments in life.
Where do
you turn?
When
Nehemiah heard that Jerusalem still lay in ruins, he was devastated. He mourned, fasted and prayed for days. The prayer recorded in Nehemiah 1 takes less
than 5 minutes to read. Therefore, we
can assume it is a synopsis of his prayers.
It is an actual prayer, but I am sure it grew out of days of struggling
in his heart.
God caused
this prayer to be recorded for our instruction.
It is not the only example of prayer in Scripture, and much needs to be
learned about prayer by experience and applying the whole of Scripture. However, by examining this prayer we can
discover principles that will help us grow in our prayer life.
The Apostle
Paul taught us that we should never stop praying. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 he tells us:
Rejoice always, pray without
ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus for you. ESV[iii]
Let’s take this
instruction seriously, and see what principle we can apply from Nehemiah’s
example.
The first
principle we learn is that we should pray fervently.
We see this
principle in Nehemiah 1:4.
When I heard this, I sat down and
wept. In fact, for days I mourned,
fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.
Nehemiah’s
petition was not half-hearted nor was he detached emotionally.
James 5:16
says, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces
wonderful results.”
Our Lord
Jesus addressed our desires when he said, “Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6, ESV)
From these
two passages of Scripture and others, we can see that our desires and emotions
are involved in prayer.
E. M.
Bounds wrote:
Desire is not merely a simple wish;
it is a deep seated craving; an intense longing, for attainment. In the realm of spiritual affairs, it is an
important adjunct to prayer. So
important is it, that one might say, almost, that desire is an absolute
essential of prayer. Desire precedes
prayer, accompanies it, is followed by it.
Desire goes before prayer, and by it, created and intensified. Prayer is
the oral expression of desire.[iv]
The
intensity of our desire is not what brings an answer. Jesus says, “If you abide in me, and my words
abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7, ESV) Abiding in Jesus and in His word creates in
us spiritual desires and a “hungering and thirsting after righteousness.” When Jesus prayed in the Garden, He prayed
that the cup might pass from Him, but then He appended this request with “Not
my will but thine be done.” This shows
us the nature of a spiritual hunger that wishes for the will of God to be
accomplished above all else.
This is not
a cold mechanical thing. It is a fervent
desire born of days of mourning, fasting and prayer. God does not want us cold. He said to the Church of Laodicea, “I know
your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!” (Revelation 3:15, ESV)
We need to
abide in Jesus and let His word abide in us to the point that our desires are
in line with God’s desires. This brings
about fervent prayer.
In addition
to praying fervently, we also see that we must pray with humility. This is the next principle we see in
Nehemiah’s prayer. We must pray with
humility.
Nehemiah
prayed with humility when he said:
“O LORD, God of heaven, the great
and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love
him and obey his commands, listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for
your people Israel. I confess that we
have sinned against you. Yes, even my
own family and I have sinned! We have
sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you
gave us through your servant Moses.
(Nehemiah 1:5-7)
Two aspects
of humility are apparent in this part of Nehemiah’s prayer.
First, he
acknowledges who God is. Nothing can
keep us humble like acknowledging that God is the great and awesome God who
keeps his covenant of unfailing love.
When Isaiah
saw the glory of God he said, "It's all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people
with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the
King, the LORD of Heaven's Armies."
(Isaiah 6:5)
The first
aspect of humility is acknowledging who God is.
The second aspect of humility follows naturally from this
acknowledgement. The second aspect of
humility is the confession of our own sin and sinfulness.
In regard
to his sin, David said, “Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done
what is evil in your sight. You will be
proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.” (Psalm 51:4)
When a person sees God for who God is, that person then understands that
God’s judgement is just.
Nehemiah
saw the sinfulness of his ancestors, and saw their sinful attitudes and
practices in himself. He did not try to
find someone else to blame. He did not
point the finger at anyone else. He
confessed his own sin and sinfulness.
If we
cannot take responsibility and admit our sin, we cannot be right with God. 1 John 1:8 says, “If we claim we have no sin,
we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.”
Prayer
starts with desire and continues with humility.
The next principle we see is that prayer requires faith.
When I say
faith, I do not mean blind, leap-off-a-cliff hope. Faith is the substance of things hoped for
according to Hebrews 11:1. We see faith
expressed in Nehemiah’s prayer when he prays:
“Please remember what you told your
servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the
nations. But if you return to me and
obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of
the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be
honored.’” (Nehemiah 1:8-9)
Nehemiah is
praying based on God’s revealed will, God’s word.
Romans
10:17 says:
So faith comes from hearing, and
hearing through the word of Christ. ESV
Faith is
based on an understanding of what God has said and then trusting that God will
do what He has said. Effective prayer is
based on the word of God. Nehemiah
prayed with confidence because he prayed according to God’s word.
Desire,
humility and faith are principles of prayer that we see in Nehemiah’s
prayer. Obedience is the final principle
that ties these all together. Nehemiah
prays:
“The people you rescued by your
great power and strong hand are your servants. O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who
delight in honoring you.” (Nehemiah
1:10-11)
Nehemiah
began by acknowledging that God is “the great and awesome God who keeps his
covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands…” (Nehemiah 1:5) He ends his prayer by pointing out they are God’s
servants and that they delight in honoring God.
When God’s
people refused to pursue Him with fervency, acknowledge Him in humility and
approach Him with faith, God did not hear their prayers and instead sent them
away into exile.
Romans 8:28
is a favorite verse for many. Romans
8:28 says, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the
good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” This verse does not promise that God causes
everything to work together for the good of everybody. Things did not work out for the good of
Pharaoh. Things did not work out well
for Haman. Things will not work out well
for any persons who set themselves in opposition to God.
The promise
of Romans 8:28 is for those who love God.
Psalm 37:4 says, “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your
heart's desires.” The requirement here
is that one takes delight in the Lord.
When we
love God and take delight in Him, obedience is a natural outgrowth of our
relationship with Him. We naturally love
His commands and want to do what pleases Him.
When God’s
children pursue Him with fervency, acknowledge him with humility, approach him
and faith and love Him in obedience, He hears, He listens and He answers.
[i] Unless
otherwise noted Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living
Translation. Copyright © 1996, 2004,
2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used
by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Steam, Illinois
60188. All rights reserved.
[ii]
NIV Study Bible, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI.
copyright 1985, 1995, 2002. pg.
679
[iii] Scripture
quotations marked ESV are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News
Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[iv]
The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer.
Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI.
copyright 1990. pg. 29
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