Nehemiah 2
About four months after Nehemiah had heard of the sad state of Jerusalem and had begun praying, he was sadly performing his duty as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. Having not shown his sadness before, his downcast face was immediately noticed by the king who wanted to know the reason why. Nehemiah was dreadfully afraid but respectfully answered that it was because his ancestral homeland was laying waste and the gates burned.
When the king replied asking Nehemiah what he would request Nehemiah prayed to God before asking the king if he could go to Jerusalem and rebuild it. After asking how long he needed the King gave his permission and additionally agreed to give him letters of credential to allow his passage through the land and to authorise the use of timber for the building work.
Much to the displeasure of the governors of regions surrounding Jerusalem Nehemiah arrived with an armed escort. Keeping his counsel about the reason for his visit after 3 days he secretly went out on horseback with a few of his men to survey the damage and disrepair of the city walls. He then met with all the Jewish leaders and officials and informed them of the way the LORD had worked to give them the King's permission to rebuild Jerusalem.
They were all encouraged and began rebuilding amidst laughing and scorn from the surrounding regions who said they were rebelling against the king. In particular three governors were mentioned, Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem.
Nehemiah responded by asserting that God would prosper them and they his servants would build, but that these other men had no heritage or place in Jerusalem.
As I read this chapter I was immediately struck by the little word 'so' in verse 4, 'Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.'
It is as if Nehemiah straight way turns it over to the LORD, almost like a natural reaction - we often say we do such and such as a natural reaction to something - for example, my petrol tank was almost empty so I pulled over at the next garage to fill up. In the same way it sounds to me, that after hearing the king ask Nehemiah his request, so he prayed to God, and yet we know that naturally we don't automatically pray to God, unless we have a living relationship with God, and even then we seem to sometimes forget.
But here Nehemiah's heart honoured God in recognition of God's complete control and authority in the matter. Perhaps he prayed that shortest of prayers so well known by the Lord's children, 'Lord help me', or perhaps it was a continuation of his prayer from chapter 1, 'Lord, may the King be favourable to me', or perhaps it was a complete resting in the LORD, 'My God, this is of thee, may the King's answer be thy answer, and thy will be done'. We later read in verse 12 that Nehemiah believed that God had put this desire in his heart to go to Jerusalem and repair it, and he illustrates that belief here, as he looks to God to work it out.
Do you feel to have this complete dependence on God, dear reader? Nehemiah's words show us his closeness and trust in God....in verse 8 he says, 'according to the good hand of my God upon me', in verse 12, 'neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do', in verse 18, 'I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me', and lastly in verse 20, 'I answered them...The God of heaven he will prosper us'. Nehemiah had a personal loving relationship with God.
Do I and do you automatically turn your daily life's events over to God? Do we pray without ceasing as we are exhorted? You may wonder how we can possibly do this, but I believe it is a constant turning events, feelings and circumstances over to the Lord as we go through the day. The phone rings, 'Lord give me grace', the conversation is difficult, 'Lord guide my words', we answer abruptly, 'Lord forgive me', we travel somewhere, 'Lord protect me', we get arm ache carrying the shopping home, 'Lord give me strength, forgive me for thinking how hard this is, Lord I thank thee for giving us all this food, for taking care of us'...and so on.....
There are days when we are not like this, we seem to forget the Lord, becoming so wrapped up in our lives, and then when we come to our routine time of worship we realise how we have been living as if we are independent of him. When we have a more urgent problem or difficulty, it may be that we find our thoughts turn to the Lord more naturally as we feel a greater need of him.
May the Lord keep us close by him, walking with him, lifting our thoughts and prayers constantly to him, trusting him for all our needs and events, that we might shine as vessels of grace, giving glory to him as we profess his name. 'So, I prayed'.
I love these thoughts Ellie! I long for each day to be filled with constant communion with God but it’s so easy to get immersed in what we’re doing and then find we haven’t even thought of Him for a while!
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago the Lord laid those verses in Thessalonians on my heart, ‘rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks’ and has taught me many sweet lessons through them but I still have so much to learn! Xx
That's a lovely verse Sharon, and such a witness to others when you are enabled to do so and yes so sweet when you feel that constant communion. We will always feel that we fail won't we, until we reach heaven? How we can look forward to that constant being in his presence with no striving or forgetting to turn to him! And he is so patient with our forgetting him here isn't he, although we lose out on his comfort when we do? It reminds me of the hymn 'What a friend we have in Jesus' and the verse,
Delete'Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer'.
I find I often have to pray, Lord remind me to pray!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Sharon xx