August 30
Reading: Nehemiah 1
1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.
Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol, 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem.
3 They said to me, “The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.”
4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
5 I said, “I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, 6 let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.
8 “Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; 9 but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’
10 “They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand.
11 “O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.”
Now I was the cupbearer to the king.
The book of Nehemiah tells of the fifth and final of the major migrations of the Jewish exiles in Babylon back to Jerusalem. These events took place beginning in 445BC, more than one hundred years after the decree of Cyrus to rebuild the Temple. It is then that Nehemiah, in Susa, far to the east of Babylon, learns of the troubles of his Israelite brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. Nehemiah is crestfallen.
What does he do? He prays. Verses 5-11 are devoted to his prayer. It is instructive to see that the first thing a man of God does, when brought face to face with a problem, is to pray. This is always the right thing to do. What do you do first when confronted by trouble?
The contents of Nehemiah’s prayer are an example to us all. From the beginning, the prayer is supplication, asking God for something. But right away Nehemiah is describing God as He is. (vs. 5) This is praise. The prayer begins with praise to God. Then comes a humble request for God to listen. (vs. 6) This shows that the one praying is not taking God for granted or thinks he has a right to be heard. It is a request. Then comes confession of sin. (vss. 6-7) Always we are dependent upon God’s mercy. Following this is the request for God to remember His promises. (vss. 8-10) Specifically, Nehemiah is reminding God of His promises to restore Israel. He closes the prayer with a reiteration of the humble request for God’s attention. (vs. 11)
It is good to have patterns for prayer that honor God, express that we understand who we are before God, and remind God of His promises. We do the reminding, not because God is forgetful, but to show our faith. We believe in who He is and that He keeps His promises. He does.
The way this first chapter ends sets us up for the events of the next chapter.