“O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands…”
Nehemiah 1:5
The Old Testament book of Nehemiah is classified as an Historical book of the Old Testament. In the oldest Jewish and Greek manuscripts of the Old Testament, Nehemiah was considered as one in the same book with Ezra. Ezra was written about 440 B.C. and Nehemiah was written about ten years later in 430 B.C. Taking into consideration the fact that the book of Nehemiah was written about 2,500 years ago, we need to ask ourselves, “what significance do these historical events recorded in the book of Nehemiah have in my life as a Christian living in the year 2021?”
The answer to this question also applies to all books of the Bible that we read. The Bible is not like any other book; it is not just a selective collection of words written on pieces of paper collected over the centuries.
In all the 176 verses of Psalm 119, David describes the reality and the experience of God’s word in his life. He uses multiple synonyms to describe to the reader the many ways he relates to God’s word in his life such as; the “law of the Lord”, “his statutes”, “precepts”, “decrees”, “commands”, “righteous laws”, “your word”, and many others. The following three verses from Psalm 119 are just a small example of how the Bible is beneficial and applicable to the reader today.
Psalms 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Psalms 119:27
Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders.
Psalms 119:130
The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.
In addition, the writer of Hebrews 4:12 tells us the following, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” What makes the Bible or the Word of God alive and relevant to us today is that the Holy Spirit speaks to us through God’s Word.
When reading the Old Testament book of Nehemiah or any other book of the Bible we should prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to help us to see and understand the many spiritual principles from the life and experiences of the person we are reading about that are applicable to our lives today. We will not only learn about the personality of the person we are reading about but also, we will learn about who God was in the life of that person and most importantly we will learn about who God can also be and what He can do in our lives today.
It will be too time consuming to study each verse of every chapter of the book of Neimiah and comment about the many events that Nehemiah experiencedfor us to discover and learn how they can apply to our lives.
As was commented last week in our study of Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” All of the situations that Nehemiah experienced prove the truth and validity of Romans 8:28 even though it was written thousands of years after the life of Nehemiah.
Nehemiah was a descendant of those who were brought from Israel as captives by Nebuchadnezzar. Seventy years later under the reign of Cyrus, the Jews begin to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Ninety-two years later Nehamiah chapter one begins with the account of Hanani and others telling Nehemiah the state of the city of Jerusalem and primarily the condition of the walls of the city.
Nehemiah tells us he was the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes (Neh. 1:11b). This is a very important point to consider in the context of the fact of what God had called Nehemiah to do. A cupbearer was, “One who tasted and served wine to the king. Ancient kings had to be very cautious about what they ate and drank. They used trusted servants to taste everything before they consumed it. If the servant lived or did not get sick, the king and queen then ate or drank.”
Nehemiah 1:1-3
The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. 3 They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
There were many things that Nehemiah could have questioned Hanani and the others about, however Nehemiah was only interested in knowing two points. “I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.”, Verse 2. It is obvious from Nehemiah’s two questions what was most pressing on his heart.
When God places an issue on our hearts to pray about, we intentionally will seek out as much information as possible about the person or persons and or the situation that is weighing our hearts. As we see with Nehemiah, there was a deep concern that God had placed on Nehemiah’s heart for the status of the people of Israel and Jerusalem. When Nehemiah questioned Hanai and those who were with him, he did not know how God was going to use him in the months and years to come in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.
In Nehemiah 1:4-11 we see how serious of a burden he had for his people and their capital city. We read in verse 4 his reaction to the answers that he heard. “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.” It is interesting that Nehemiah had such a great concern for his people and Jerusalem in spite of the fact that he was born in captivity in Babylon. All that he knew about his people and Jerusalem was second hand information. Nehemia’s deep concern that God had placed on his heart is seen by is reactions to what was told to him, “I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed…”.
When a burden and sincere concern is so great and pressing on a Christian’s heart, it will always result in prayer. What we can learn about Nehemiah’s prayer in the following verses gives us an example of how we can approach God when we are praying for someone and or a situation.
5 Then I said:
“O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands,
– Acknowledging who God is and His relationship with those who have a relationship with Him.
6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel.
– The humble request of God’s acknowledgement of his and others continual prayers.
I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
– The importance of and taking the responsibility of confessing our sins and the sins or the acts of disobedience and rejection of God and His word by us andothers. We all want God to hear and answer our prayers but are we willing to acknowledge our sins and those of others first?
8 “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’
– Applying the Word of God to the context of the topic of our prayer.
10 “They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.
– In humility acknowledging God’s purpose and His acts that establishes our identity in Him.
11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name.
– A humble request recognizing that others also are praying for the same thing as we are.
Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”
We might not know why God has placed on our hearts the concern to pray for a person, persons and or a situation, but this last sentence of Nehemiah’s prayer can imply he had sense about something that God was going to do.
Warren Wiersbe in his commentary says the following about Nehemiah’s prayer of which we can learn other points that can apply to us when we present our requests to God in prayer.
Pastor John
“It has well been said that prayer is not getting man’s will done in heaven but getting God’s will done on earth. However, for God’s will to be done on earth, He needs people to be available for Him to use. God does “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us (Ephesians 3:20, NKJV, italics mine). If God is going to answer prayer, He must start by working in the one doing the praying! He works in us and through us to help us see our prayers answered.
Real prayer keeps your heart and your head in balance so your burden doesn’t make you impatient to run ahead of the Lord and ruin everything. As we pray, God tells us what to do, when to do it, and how to do it…”
