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The Prayer of Nehemiah
Nehemiah 1: 1-11
Vs. 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes
open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day
and night for your servants, the people of Israel, confessing the sins
of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Both I and
my family have sinned.
As a child, I remember my parents instilling in me the
power of prayer. I used to pray for everything: food, clothing, getting
A’s in all my classes etc. I used to even pray that my favourite
character would not be harmed in the TV episodes that I used to watch.
Trusting in the power of prayer, I genuinely believed that our big and
awesome God could somehow save even my favorite fictitious character
from her demise. Though my understanding of prayer as a child was
simplistic, it was child-like faith that brought me to believe that all
things are possible through God.
In a brief eleven verses, the first chapter of
Nehemiah shows us the humble prayer behind a broken yet faithful man of
God. At the time, Nehemiah was in exile among people of pagan beliefs.
Despite holding a prestigious position, Nehemiah asks the Persian king
for a leave of absence to go back to the shattered home of his
ancestors to help reconstruct the walls of Jerusalem. The city walls,
which represented protection and power, were in shambles and in
desperate need of restoration. Nehemiah prayed day and night, and asked
the Lord to have mercy once again on His people.
As we reflect on a few components of Nehemiah’s prayer, we
as believers should be encouraged and challenged in our own prayer
lives:
Adoration & Thanksgiving: In verse 4, Nehemiah opens
his prayer in praising God for who He is and thanking Him for His faithful
covenant with His people. Similarly, we should be spending time
praising God for His continued faithfulness in our lives. As William A.
Ward once said “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you
used one to say thank you?” In all circumstances, we should spend
time in prayer glorifying the faithful God we serve.
Confession: Nehemiah continues his prayer, confessing not
only his sins but also the sins of his people. Nehemiah does not try to
excuse or justify sin, but recognizes that he and his people have
fallen short of following the commands God had laid out for them.
Confession should be a vital part of our prayers because we should
realize that every sin committed is treason against a holy God, and we
are in need of repentance.
Supplication: Nehemiah ends his prayer in supplication,
asking God to extend mercy and grace on him and his fellow people. When
was the last time our hearts burdened for the hurting people not only
around us, but also around the world? As believers, we should learn how
to pray for those around us, locally and globally.
God has willed for us to be a praying people and has
allowed our prayers to make tremendous impact on the world. Like
Nehemiah, let us continue to worship and seek God with complete
obedience and humility.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we praise You, for You are a good,
merciful and faithful Father. We ask that You burden our hearts for
those around us. May our hearts align with Your vision and will. In
Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE
DAY
“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants
it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there’s nothing else
we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all” –
Oswald Chambers
Shannon Thomas, Long Island MTC, NY
Christian
Education Forum, Diocese of NAE of the Mar Thoma Church
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