A Word in Season: Hear the Prayer (Nehemiah 1:5-11)

Nehemiah is in exile. He's in a place called Shushan, serving the Persian king, Artaxerxes. And there news is brought to him of the desolations of Jerusalem and the devastations of the people of God at the time in which he is living.

And when Nehemiah is gripped by this news report, he says that he sat down and wept and mourned for many days and was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. How do we respond to the news of desolations and devastations among God's people and in God's kingdom?

Yes, now we're dealing with spiritual realities rather than with the physical Jerusalem. But when we see God's name dishonored, when we see God's people divided and scattered, when we see that God's word seems to have little power in the earth, when there's little in the way of unity and godliness among the saints, is it not right that we too should sit down and weep and mourn?

Is it not a time for us to be fasting and praying to the God of heaven? And so it was that the Lord in his mercy records for us the prayer of Nehemiah in chapter one, verse five and following. And first of all, there is adoration of God.

Adoration of the Great and Awesome God

Nehemiah knows who he's dealing with. It is the Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant and mercy with those who love him and observe his commandments. Nehemiah comes, not brashly, not boastfully, but with absolute humility and recognition of the majesty and the holiness of God.

And therefore it's quite natural that that's followed by confession of sin. Now notice that Nehemiah is a man who walks with and knows his God, but still he speaks on behalf of all. We confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against you.

Both my father's house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you. We have disobeyed your commandments. Nehemiah recognizes that like Isaiah, he himself is a sinful man among sinful men.

His relative obedience does not make him a sinless man. And so on behalf of all, he lays his sin before the Lord God of heaven. There's also appreciation of promise that goes at least two directions. There's a recognition that when God threatens punishment for sin, God is faithful.

Confession of Sin and Appreciation of God’s Promises

There's a recognition that when God assures us that there will be blessing upon a return to him, that that also is absolutely certain. And so Nehemiah asks God to remember the things that he has said, what he commanded through Moses, about the unfaithfulness of Israel that would result in their scattering and about God's faithfulness to them if they would return to him, that he would gather them back together and that he would glorify his name among them, that he would unite them again for his worship and his work.

So Nehemiah understands what God has said. And there's also a recollection of favor. He points back again, displaying before God the realities of God's covenant dealings. These are your servants, these are your people.

These are the ones whom you have redeemed. Do not then, O Lord, leave them in this miserable state and condition. Remember who they are and to whom they belong, that you have set your love upon them. And then there's a supplication for blessing.

Supplication for Mercy and Specific Prayer

On the back of all these things, Nehemiah pours out his heart to God. O Lord, I pray, please let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants. Again, that sense of entering in together, 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.

It's quite remarkable how Nehemiah's prayer boils down to this very specific request. He's the king's cupbearer and he's going to need the king's favor if he is going to advance the cause of the Lord God at his time and in his place.

And so it ought to be then with us, with this sense of the majesty of God, the sinfulness of our own sin, the promises that God has made, the favor that the Lord has shown and the power and willingness of the Lord to bless, we ought to, as it were, make these the great weight behind the point of specific prayers that the Lord would favor us in our time and in our place to make us true agents of his son and to glorify his name, that the desolations and the devastations that we too often see near us and around us might be addressed by God for the glory of his great name.