Neh 1:8-9 | KingComments | STEP | The pleading ground ( ) After the message, Nehemiah will have felt powerless. What can he do? Pray! He prays to “the God of heaven.” His prayer is based on the revelation of God, as he has come to know Him. Although he does not know God as we may know him, as Father, he prays to Someone He knows, to Someone of Whom He knows where He lives. There is not any bravado. There is confidentiality and at the same time respect. Nehemiah knows God as the “great and awesome God”. In the face of God’s overwhelming greatness, he feels small. In front of the awesome God he is filled with awe. In His holy presence he feels how sinful he is (cf. ). But instead of getting out of his way, he resorts to that God in his need (cf. ). Nehemiah is not afraid of God. Someone who gives God the place that belongs to Him and takes a position appropriate for him before God, does not need to be afraid of God. He not only knows Who God is, but also how God acts. God’s “covenant” and His “lovingkindness”, which is inseparable from it, form the argument for Nehemiah. The LORD spoke about this to Moses ( ). This is also the plea for the prayer of Solomon ( ). The blessing of God’s covenant and His lovingkindness is for those who love Him and keep His commandments. Love and obedience always go hand in hand. They are the two characteristics of a person born of God. They have to do with the nature of God. “God is light” ( ) and “God is love” ( ). The nature of God is manifested in His children through brotherly love and the keeping of the commandments of the Lord Jesus ( ). For Whom Nehemiah Prays ( ) Nehemiah made a passionate appeal to God to hear his prayer and to see him, the supplicant. He calls himself “Your servant”. There is no feeling of exaltation, of belonging to God’s chosen people, which the name “Israelites” would suggest. He begs for his brethren, the Israelites, whom he also calls “Your servants “. He unites them with himself to appear before God, together with them. He prays for them, but including himself with them. Day and night he intercedes for them. Feelings of grief and affliction have not subsided over time. What he prays has occupied him constantly, even during his daily work, which he has simply had to do. He has not publicly displayed his grief. That it will eventually be visible in him ( ), is inescapable and underlines the fact that he is constantly busy with God’s people, his people and their circumstances. Confession ( ) As already noted, Nehemiah does not only bring his fellowmen before God. He realizes that whoever prays for another person and brings that other person into God’s presence, thereby also comes into God’s presence himself. Thus you cannot remain upright yourself. He who thinks so, resembles the Pharisee about whom the Lord Jesus talks in Luke 18 ( ). That man prays, even mentions the Name of God, but does not stand in the presence of God. He is completely surrounded by his own presence. In that state it is not possible to intercede and you can’t possibly be an intercessor. To intercede presupposes to be aware of another person’s need, without feeling superior to that other person. Nehemiah is standing before God. When he starts praying for his fellow people, he first sees his own sins and the sins of his family. Before he confesses the sins of the people, he first confesses those of himself and those of his family. In this way he paves the way spiritually to become a true intercessor. Then he does not pray for ‘those others’, but speaks of “we” who have sinned heavily against God and disobeyed Him. God has made His commandments known, but the people do not care. He acknowledges that as a result they have forfeited every right to a blessing. God’s Word in the prayer ( ) Nehemiah quotes God’s Word to agree with its truth. God has acted, as He has said. The people have been unfaithful, and God has had to scatter them among the nations. Nehemiah justifies God’s actions and acknowledges their own unfaithfulness. But he does not leave it at that. He also knows what else God has said. He pleads with God that where He has fulfilled one word, He will also fulfill the other. This is real living “on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” ( ). This is how we should pray: in the awareness of what God did for us when He sent His Son to die for us on the cross, and what He did in His resurrection and ascension, and what He is going to do on His return. As we look at Christ on the cross and shedding His blood, we will experience the power of active prayer. His actions in the past guarantee the fulfillment of His promises in the future. With Him it is true that results from the past are a full guarantee for the future. Nehemiah’s words are not a literal quotation from God’s Word. They are a summary of what God has said will happen, both in unfaithfulness and in conversion ( ). We may remind Him of this and draw courage from it, as Nehemiah did. The Word gives hope ( ). Nehemiah emphasizes in his prayer what God has said about Jerusalem: “The place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.” That’s what he’s about, that place. Nehemiah’s heart is full of the same thing of which God’s heart is full. Your servants and Your people ( ) By what right does Nehemiah speak of “Your servants and Your people”? Because God Himself delivered these people from Egypt and made them His people. Nehemiah reminds God of what He did many centuries ago. And even more recently, even though it is only a remnant that has left, He has delivered His people from exile. Everything has shown that God did not abandon His people. Wouldn’t He look at their misery in which they ended up again after their return to the land? Nehemiah knows the heart of God. God has done too much for these people not to care about them now. Again we see a parallel between Nehemiah and Moses. After the sin of the people with the golden calf, God speaks to Moses about “your people” ( ), as if His people were the people of Moses and not His people. But Moses knows the heart of God and speaks to God about “Your people” ( ). Faith sees and maintains the connection that exists between God and His people. Other intercessors ( ) Nehemiah does not imagine that he is the only one who cares about God’s people. Though he is alone, he knows that there are more who pray for God wanting to bring a turn in their fate. He does not make the mistake of Elijah in believing that he is the only faithful one left ( ; ). God always provides a remnant, consisting of several believers who remain faithful to Him at a time of general unfaithfulness. When our hearts are weighed down by a heavy burden, we should not think that we are the only ones who feel this burden. Maybe we are alone, but we should know that God also makes others feel the same burden (cf. ). Prayer in view of his position ( ) The goal and the task for his people have become clear to him in prayer. But it is not yet clear when he can begin. For this he depends on the king’s permission. Time and permission lie humanly speaking in the hand of the king. Nehemiah acknowledges in his prayer that he is dependent on the king. That is why he asks God to let him have mercy of the king “today”. His task now is to wait for God’s answer. Why would he mention that he is the king’s cupbearer? It seems that he does so because it is necessary for the report of his conversation with the king in the next chapter. He could have started to bring this up when he had a visit from Jerusalem. But he doesn’t see his social position as something to boast about. Nehemiah always gives the necessary information, without putting himself in the spotlight. By stating “now I was the cupbearer to the king”, Nehemiah emphasizes his complete dependence on the king. Cupbearer is a position of great trust and responsibility. But Nehemiah does not use his position to influence the king and thus seek enlightenment for his people. Nehemiah might also have thought: “What happened to Israel is all their own fault. Nothing can change that. I have a good job and God Himself will take care of His people, He doesn’t need me for that.” Nehemiah doesn’t do either. He makes himself one with the people and confesses the sin of the people as his own sin. Like Moses, he prefers to suffer affliction with the people of God rather “than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” ( ). We can only serve God if we are willing to bring sacrifices. What we find with Nehemiah, who lives at the end of Israel’s history, we also see with Moses, at the beginning of Israel’s history. Moses also enjoys special privileges. He is at home in the court of Pharaoh, but he too does not use his position for the benefit of his people. As the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he could even have waited a while until he himself ascended the throne. He could have said that God’s providence put him in that position. But he loves God above the people and wishes to do only what God asks of him. Some lessons 1. In the prayer of Nehemiah we are being taken into the deep feelings of a man burdened by the affliction of God’s people and the dishonor inflicted upon God with it. Thus we may speak to God with confidence and reverence from the fullness of our hearts. Boldly, but not irreverently, we may make God a partaker in our distress. God has known that for a long time, of course, but He wants us to pray to Him. He wants to use the prayer of His own in the fulfillment of His plans. That gives prayer a special value and meaning. 2. In his prayer Nehemiah does not put himself above the people, or next to them, but he makes himself one with the people. It is necessary that we know ourselves to be inseparable from the people of God in order, as it were, to come together with them before God’s face. This profound awareness leads us to confess our own sins, the sins of our family and the sins of the people. 3. He justifies God. God has rightly scattered them. The people have broken their allegiance, and God has no choice but to act this way. However, we also know that God can gather again what He has scattered, albeit on the condition of repentance. We may appeal to God’s faithfulness to His Word and to His past actions. 4. When we have thus set our hearts free in prayer, we can ask God to clear the way for us to go and help His people. Nehemiah depends on the permission of the king to go. Acting on his own power is strange to him and it will have to be the same with us. 5. He has placed everything in the hands of God. Now it is waiting for His answer, for His time, an important point for anyone who wants to do something for the Lord.

‏ Nehemiah 1:8-9

The Prayer of Nehemiah

The pleading ground (Neh 1:5)

After the message, Nehemiah will have felt powerless. What can he do? Pray! He prays to “the God of heaven.” His prayer is based on the revelation of God, as he has come to know Him. Although he does not know God as we may know him, as Father, he prays to Someone He knows, to Someone of Whom He knows where He lives.

There is not any bravado. There is confidentiality and at the same time respect. Nehemiah knows God as the “great and awesome God”. In the face of God’s overwhelming greatness, he feels small. In front of the awesome God he is filled with awe. In His holy presence he feels how sinful he is (cf. Isa 6:1-5). But instead of getting out of his way, he resorts to that God in his need (cf. Isa 5:8).

Nehemiah is not afraid of God. Someone who gives God the place that belongs to Him and takes a position appropriate for him before God, does not need to be afraid of God. He not only knows Who God is, but also how God acts. God’s “covenant” and His “lovingkindness”, which is inseparable from it, form the argument for Nehemiah. The LORD spoke about this to Moses (Deu 7:9). This is also the plea for the prayer of Solomon (1Kgs 8:23).

The blessing of God’s covenant and His lovingkindness is for those who love Him and keep His commandments. Love and obedience always go hand in hand. They are the two characteristics of a person born of God. They have to do with the nature of God. “God is light” (1Jn 1:5) and “God is love” (1Jn 4:8 ; 16). The nature of God is manifested in His children through brotherly love and the keeping of the commandments of the Lord Jesus (1Jn 2:3-11).

For Whom Nehemiah Prays (Neh 1:6a)

Nehemiah made a passionate appeal to God to hear his prayer and to see him, the supplicant. He calls himself “Your servant”. There is no feeling of exaltation, of belonging to God’s chosen people, which the name “Israelites” would suggest. He begs for his brethren, the Israelites, whom he also calls “Your servants “. He unites them with himself to appear before God, together with them. He prays for them, but including himself with them.

Day and night he intercedes for them. Feelings of grief and affliction have not subsided over time. What he prays has occupied him constantly, even during his daily work, which he has simply had to do. He has not publicly displayed his grief. That it will eventually be visible in him (Neh 2:2), is inescapable and underlines the fact that he is constantly busy with God’s people, his people and their circumstances.

Confession (Neh 1:6b-7)

As already noted, Nehemiah does not only bring his fellowmen before God. He realizes that whoever prays for another person and brings that other person into God’s presence, thereby also comes into God’s presence himself. Thus you cannot remain upright yourself. He who thinks so, resembles the Pharisee about whom the Lord Jesus talks in Luke 18 (Lk 18:11a). That man prays, even mentions the Name of God, but does not stand in the presence of God. He is completely surrounded by his own presence. In that state it is not possible to intercede and you can’t possibly be an intercessor. To intercede presupposes to be aware of another person’s need, without feeling superior to that other person.

Nehemiah is standing before God. When he starts praying for his fellow people, he first sees his own sins and the sins of his family. Before he confesses the sins of the people, he first confesses those of himself and those of his family. In this way he paves the way spiritually to become a true intercessor.

Then he does not pray for ‘those others’, but speaks of “we” who have sinned heavily against God and disobeyed Him. God has made His commandments known, but the people do not care. He acknowledges that as a result they have forfeited every right to a blessing.

God’s Word in the prayer (Neh 1:8-9)

Nehemiah quotes God’s Word to agree with its truth. God has acted, as He has said. The people have been unfaithful, and God has had to scatter them among the nations. Nehemiah justifies God’s actions and acknowledges their own unfaithfulness. But he does not leave it at that. He also knows what else God has said. He pleads with God that where He has fulfilled one word, He will also fulfill the other. This is real living “on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4).

This is how we should pray: in the awareness of what God did for us when He sent His Son to die for us on the cross, and what He did in His resurrection and ascension, and what He is going to do on His return. As we look at Christ on the cross and shedding His blood, we will experience the power of active prayer. His actions in the past guarantee the fulfillment of His promises in the future. With Him it is true that results from the past are a full guarantee for the future.

Nehemiah’s words are not a literal quotation from God’s Word. They are a summary of what God has said will happen, both in unfaithfulness and in conversion (Deu 4:27-31 ; Deu 30:4-10). We may remind Him of this and draw courage from it, as Nehemiah did. The Word gives hope (Psa 119:49).

Nehemiah emphasizes in his prayer what God has said about Jerusalem: “The place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.” That’s what he’s about, that place. Nehemiah’s heart is full of the same thing of which God’s heart is full.

Your servants and Your people (Neh 1:10)

By what right does Nehemiah speak of “Your servants and Your people”? Because God Himself delivered these people from Egypt and made them His people. Nehemiah reminds God of what He did many centuries ago. And even more recently, even though it is only a remnant that has left, He has delivered His people from exile. Everything has shown that God did not abandon His people. Wouldn’t He look at their misery in which they ended up again after their return to the land?

Nehemiah knows the heart of God. God has done too much for these people not to care about them now. Again we see a parallel between Nehemiah and Moses. After the sin of the people with the golden calf, God speaks to Moses about “your people” (Exo 32:7), as if His people were the people of Moses and not His people. But Moses knows the heart of God and speaks to God about “Your people” (Exo 32:11). Faith sees and maintains the connection that exists between God and His people.

Other intercessors (Neh 1:11a)

Nehemiah does not imagine that he is the only one who cares about God’s people. Though he is alone, he knows that there are more who pray for God wanting to bring a turn in their fate. He does not make the mistake of Elijah in believing that he is the only faithful one left (1Kgs 19:10 ; 18; Rom 11:2-5). God always provides a remnant, consisting of several believers who remain faithful to Him at a time of general unfaithfulness.

When our hearts are weighed down by a heavy burden, we should not think that we are the only ones who feel this burden. Maybe we are alone, but we should know that God also makes others feel the same burden (cf. 1Pet 5:9).

Prayer in view of his position (Neh 1:11b)

The goal and the task for his people have become clear to him in prayer. But it is not yet clear when he can begin. For this he depends on the king’s permission. Time and permission lie humanly speaking in the hand of the king. Nehemiah acknowledges in his prayer that he is dependent on the king. That is why he asks God to let him have mercy of the king “today”. His task now is to wait for God’s answer.

Why would he mention that he is the king’s cupbearer? It seems that he does so because it is necessary for the report of his conversation with the king in the next chapter. He could have started to bring this up when he had a visit from Jerusalem. But he doesn’t see his social position as something to boast about. Nehemiah always gives the necessary information, without putting himself in the spotlight.

By stating “now I was the cupbearer to the king”, Nehemiah emphasizes his complete dependence on the king. Cupbearer is a position of great trust and responsibility. But Nehemiah does not use his position to influence the king and thus seek enlightenment for his people. Nehemiah might also have thought: “What happened to Israel is all their own fault. Nothing can change that. I have a good job and God Himself will take care of His people, He doesn’t need me for that.”

Nehemiah doesn’t do either. He makes himself one with the people and confesses the sin of the people as his own sin. Like Moses, he prefers to suffer affliction with the people of God rather “than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” (Heb 11:25). We can only serve God if we are willing to bring sacrifices.

What we find with Nehemiah, who lives at the end of Israel’s history, we also see with Moses, at the beginning of Israel’s history. Moses also enjoys special privileges. He is at home in the court of Pharaoh, but he too does not use his position for the benefit of his people. As the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he could even have waited a while until he himself ascended the throne. He could have said that God’s providence put him in that position. But he loves God above the people and wishes to do only what God asks of him.

Some lessons

1. In the prayer of Nehemiah we are being taken into the deep feelings of a man burdened by the affliction of God’s people and the dishonor inflicted upon God with it. Thus we may speak to God with confidence and reverence from the fullness of our hearts. Boldly, but not irreverently, we may make God a partaker in our distress. God has known that for a long time, of course, but He wants us to pray to Him. He wants to use the prayer of His own in the fulfillment of His plans. That gives prayer a special value and meaning.

2. In his prayer Nehemiah does not put himself above the people, or next to them, but he makes himself one with the people. It is necessary that we know ourselves to be inseparable from the people of God in order, as it were, to come together with them before God’s face. This profound awareness leads us to confess our own sins, the sins of our family and the sins of the people.

3. He justifies God. God has rightly scattered them. The people have broken their allegiance, and God has no choice but to act this way. However, we also know that God can gather again what He has scattered, albeit on the condition of repentance. We may appeal to God’s faithfulness to His Word and to His past actions.

4. When we have thus set our hearts free in prayer, we can ask God to clear the way for us to go and help His people. Nehemiah depends on the permission of the king to go. Acting on his own power is strange to him and it will have to be the same with us.

5. He has placed everything in the hands of God. Now it is waiting for His answer, for His time, an important point for anyone who wants to do something for the Lord.