11 " O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear Your name, and give success to Your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”
Tucked away in the middle pages of the Old Testament, we find the story of Nehemiah.
Nehemiah was not a king, prophet, judge or minister.
He was basically a government administrator/official. And not even for his own country. He would have been called the "deep state" if that phrase had yet been invented.
But in Nehemiah 1 we see a peerless model for life of faith...and for prayer.
Nehemiah's heart is broken by the reports from home. Jerusalem is a crumbling mess.
Hundreds of miles away, all he can do is pray. And pray he does. He wept, he mourned, he fasted, he prayed. He confessed, he repented, he urged God to remember His people.
And then...he saw that he was already in place to be part of the answer to his own prayers.
He had the ear of the king. And the rest of the story is how he used this position to repair the beloved city of Jerusalem. He moved from broken hearted to answered prayer.
The order here matters.
1. He was disturbed by what was broken around him.
2. He translated that burden to meaningful ongoing prayer.
3. Then he was ready to act.
As we think about the prayers of the Bible, I want that to be the pattern for my life as I grow in faith. I pray the same for you.
Your pastor
Tim
