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Nehemiah 1

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Verses 1-6, “The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, 'The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.' So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for  many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said: “I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and 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, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’ Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants 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.” For I was the king’s cupbearer.”

The distress that the returning Jews were in was after their seventy years of captivity in Babylon. Ezra returned to the land, with a very small percentage of the Jews, and began the restoration of the temple, but the walls of Jerusalem were still in rubble and the gates burned with fire nearly a hundred years later. Although they attempted to rebuild the walls, they were stopped by their enemies and did not resume the work. A city without walls was not exactly the picture of strength and prosperity, and the people were vulnerable to attacks. The nation may have survived; but due to their current state, they were not thriving...but barely alive.

Nehemiah was the king's cupbearer in Persia, who had a heart for the people back in the land of Jerusalem. When he heard of their current condition, he mourned for days. Nehemiah prayed and fasted for four months before actually doing anything. He approached God in humility...acknowledging His sovereignty, confessing the sins of himself and the people, and praying for the fulfilment of God's promises to the nation. His prayer would prove to be effective because his heart was right toward God.  James 5:16, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

God's promise that Nehemiah prayed was recorded for us in Deuteronomy 30: “Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”

Nehemiah could pray for fulfilment of this promise because he had kept his part of the condition placed upon it...obeying God's commandments. Therefore, he could boldly ask for favor with the king to do something about the condition of the Jewish nation. He also prayed that his work would prosper by the hand of God. In like manner, we too can approach God with our requests.  Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  However, if you have no faith, as evidenced by your failure to obey his word, God will not be pleased with you. He only rewards His true followers, so do not expect that everyone will get a prize. 

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