Many believe that Ezra wrote the actual account of this man Nehemiah. Nehemiah worked on building the physical realm of Jerusalem while Ezra worked the spiritual realm. You might could say that Nehemiah worked on “rebuilding the ruins of the City” while Ezra worked on “rebuilding the ruins of the people.” They both worked together to rebuild the city and the people of God. So, many believe Ezra was the scribe who penned these words in the book of Nehemiah.
Both the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are written at a time when God’s people had been exiled. The city of God had been destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. Many of the best and brightest had been carried into captivity, possibly in an effort to “Babylonize” the people of God. But there were remnants that remained in Jerusalem. And over the years, several groups had returned to the city.
Now, some 70-100 years later, paraphrasing what is taking place, Nehemiah is meeting with some friends who have come from Jerusalem, and he is asking how things are going there. And here is what he discovers:
- The remnant that are in the city are in great affliction, they were in hard times;
- The walls of this once great city of God laid in waste and the gates thereof are burned with fire;
- But far worse, this once great nation had now become a reproach to God;
Nehemiah heard these words, and before he prayed, notice what he does. Verse 4 says, “When I heard these words, that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days . . .” Can I just stop right here and say it’s OK to cry and to mourn. John 11:35 tells us that when Jesus came to the tomb of His friend “He wept.” Now our problem is not that we cry and mourn at times, the problem is when we STAY that way.
So, Nehemiah “wept and mourned certain days,” How many days, I don’t know, but then look at what he did, “He fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.” Notice when Nehemiah had a broken heart, his first choice was to go to God in prayer. It wasn’t an afterthought, it wasn’t something he was going to do when he got around to it, it wasn’t a last-ditch effort. No, the first thing he did was to fall on his knees and call out to the God of heaven. Nehemiah decided he was going to “Look toward the hills from whence cometh our help” amen! It wasn’t the last thing – it was the first thing.
So Nehemiah “. . . wept and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.” But Nehemiah’s prayer didn’t allow him to change his position among the people. Notice this: Nehemiah’s position was that as the King’s cupbearer. And it was a high, trusted position, Yet, although he had a high position in the King’s house, he didn’t let that negate his position and responsibility as part of the family of God. The moral of this story is folks, Don’t allow your position at work, or your education level get in the way of your position in the family of God! YOUR POSITION SHOULD NEVER CHANGE YOUR POSTURE WITH THE PEOPLE GOD!
In verse 5, Nehemiah is going to begin this prayer, and notice how he begins, He begins by attributing 3 separate titles to God. He begins by saying, “I beseech thee, O Lord God of Heaven (there’s the first one), The great and terrible God (there’s the second one), that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:”
- The Lord God of Heaven – speaks of a Ruler
- The Great and terrible God – is Nehemiah giving Him reverence
- But the God who keepeth covenant and mercy – is a God of relationship.
Nehemiah viewed God the way we ought to view God. He is our supreme ruler, Heaven is His home, Earth is His foot stool. We should honor and revere Him and fear Him, But I’m glad He is my God and I have a personal relationship with Him. David said in the Psalms, “The Lord is MY Sheperd . . .” I’m glad this morning that I have a personal, one-on-one relationship with the God who created the universe, who hung the moon and the stars.
I believe your prayer life will reveal a lot about how we view God. Talking with God ain’t like talking to your friends. So let me share a few things I see in Nehemiah’s prayer beginning in verse 6:
NOTICE FIRST THE CALL
Verse 6 begins, “Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, . . .”
How many of you agree with me that this is Nehemiah doing the praying? And who is he praying to? The God of Heaven right? Why would Nehemiah pray to the God who is all knowing, all powerful and all present, why would Nehemiah say, “LORD, would you listen to me? I’m talking to You.” So we ask, why even pray this?
I think sometimes we view prayer as an obligation. But what it really is, is an Opportunity. God doesn’t have to listen to us. Nehemiah said, “LORD, I know you are on the throne, and I know that down here, I’m simply the King’s cupbearer, I’m just one of your children. But Lord, if You would, if you have some time, would You listen to what I have to say? Would You please listen to my prayer?”
“Lord, I know You don’t have to listen to me, but Lord would You please hear my prayer?”
Folks, if you and I can get to the place where we pray not out of Obligation, but as an opportunity to get into the presence of God, where we can call out to God and say “LORD, it me again, I need You Lord. Will You hear my prayer?”
The Call of Nehemiah, not notice:
THE CONSISTENCY
Verse 6b “. . . which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants,”
This was not a one and done prayer like we so often prayed. This is something he prayed everyday until he heard something from God. I just think there is something to be said about a consistent prayer life.
You know, I believe God hears us the first time we prayer. But I also realize the Bible says that we are to pray without ceasing. I think God doesn’t answer us sometimes because He want to know if we will be consistent, if we really mean business or not. I know folks that have prayed for loved ones to be saved for years before anything ever happened. But they never gave up and they prayed consistently. Folks, I just believe God loves a consistent prayer life.
God wants our consistent prayer, not our convenient prayer.
The Call, the Consistency. Now Notice:
THE CONFESSION
“. . . and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.”
Nehemiah could have pushed the responsibility for the things that went wrong for Israel on to the generation that brought this destruction to the city of God and the people of God . . . but he didn’t. He said, “I and my father’s house have sinned.” Nehemiah said, “God, I’m just as guilty as they are.” “Lord, I have sinned as well, and I don’t deserve Your mercies, I don’t deserve Your grace, but I’m confessing to You now that I have sinned.” Nehemiah confessed that he needed God.
You know something folks, as God’s people, we are not exempt to messing up sometimes, we are not exempt from sinning sometimes. But it is up to us to go before God when we do and confess our sins. John tell us in I John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
And let me tell you right now, if you are a child of God and say you don’t sin, or you haven’t sinned, you’re a liar and the truths not in you. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
The Call, The Consistency, The Confession, Now notice:
THE CONFIDENCE
Verses 8-10, “Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.”
So here is Nehemiah talking to the all-knowing God, and Nehemiah says, “God, do you remember that promise you made to Moses?” And what Nehemiah was saying here was not so much that God would remember, but Nehemiah is going over in his mind the faithfulness of God and all that God had done for His people.
Sometimes folks, I get into a place where I’m talking to God and while talking to Him, I start remembering what God has done for me. I start remembering when God first cured my daughter’s cancer. Then I remembered when her cancer came back, and I found myself praying the same prayers again. It’s not that God forgot my prayers as much as it is I’m reminding myself that if He could do it then, then He can still do it now.
Nehemiah was confident that the God who delivered the Children of Israel for Moses, can deliver the children of Israel again!
Folks, you and I can be confident that if God has done it before, He can do it again. I look around our Nation and how far we have gotten from God. And I ask myself, “Lord is there any hope for America anymore? Lord can you bring revival to America again? Can you bring revival to my home and to my church? And I will say just as the prophet Ezekiel, “LORD GOD THOU KNOWEST!”
The Call, The Consistency, The Confession, The Confidence, now Finally:
THE CUPBEARER
Nehemiah finishes the chapter with these words that seem as though we’d have been fine without them, but here they are, “For I was the King’s cupbearer.”
This was a high-ranking position within the Kings Court, a very trusted position. The cupbearer was the one willing to bear the poison to save the King. Because of that, this was the most trusted position in the Persian Empire. Nehemiah was willing to give his life so that the King could be sparred.
Isn’t it ironic that it is the prayer of this Cupbearer that opened the windows of Heaven for God to once again restore the people of God and the City of God?
Now, let me share that second text with you so can get this text in context, as I tell you about another Cupbearer, who bore the bitter cup of my sins and your sins in the Garden of Gethsemane, so that we can have life and have it more abundantly. Matthew 26:39. records for us that Jesus fell on His face and prayer to the God of Heaven:
“Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me: Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”
The weapon of warfare Jesus used that night in the Garden was the weapon of prayer. This was a prayer from a Son to His Father – Jesus said, “Father.” It was a prayer of sorrow – “Let this cup pass from me.” But it was also a prayer of complete surrender – “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”
Jesus drank this Cup of Sin, Sorrow, and Separation, so that you and I could drink from the Cup of Salvation. The cup that I should have drunk, Jesus drank for me! Thank God today, that you and I can be Saved Through the Prayer of a Cupbearer!
Fighting for My Pea Patch 