Prayer

We come to our fourth and final look at prayer in the book of Nehemiah. Over the three previous posts (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) we witnessed prayer as a central feature of Nehemiah’s work of rebuilding the wall. Beginning with his initial prayer for God to restore the city and the people, to his prayerful response in the face of determined opposition, to the lengthy and moving public confession in chapter nine, Nehemiah’s life was lived and his work was accomplished in humble recognition of and dependency upon God. Today we will look at one final aspect of Nehemiah’s prayer life, his frequent petitions for God to “remember.” 

Does God Require Memory Aids?

First, we have to ask: by asking God to remember, are we implying that He somehow forgot? The answer, of course, is “no.” The Bible teaches that God is omniscient; that is, His knowledge is infinite. 

God Himself is a Being without limits. That is, He is “infinite,” which simply means that He has no boundaries. No limitations can be assigned to His essence. Considering this divine reality, here might be a good place to ask: have you ever allowed yourself to be really impacted by the last words to that most famous hymn of all, Amazing Grace?

When we’ve been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’ve first begun.

(Part 1, Part 2, and Part 4 can be found here).

Confession is an important but often neglected component of prayer. James 5:16 says this, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” You might have heard it said before that the word “confess” means “to say the same thing,” or “to concede.” But what are we conceding? What is the thing about which we are “saying the same thing”? Today we continue in our four-part series on prayer in the Book of Nehemiah, turning to chapter nine where we witness the people of Israel reflecting upon the holy law of God and humbly conceding before God the honest truth – that they had failed miserably to honor and obey that law. 

First, some fundamentals. What is logically prior and essential to the idea of “confession” is that there exists an objective standard that is over and above humans and meant to govern human behavior. C.S. Lewis observed in Mere Christianity a difference between what he called “the laws of nature” and “the law of human nature.” The “laws of nature” describe the general course of causes and effects, for example, gravity, which governs the natural world. Bodies do not “choose” whether or not to obey such laws. If one were to drop a pebble from a bridge, the pebble would fall in accordance with the “laws of nature” and eventually hit the water below. The pebble has no “choice” in the matter.

In contrast to the “laws of nature” is the “law of human nature,” also sometimes called “natural law” or simply “the moral law.” Whatever term is used, this law is stamped on every human heart and serves as a guide to the conscience. The Apostle Paul made note of this in his letter to the Romans: “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.” Unlike the “laws of nature,” which simply describe the general course of nature, the “moral” law prescribes what people ought to do, but in fact often do not. For example, if someone were to cut in line ahead of you at the ATM machine, you would naturally think to yourself (or louder!), “That man ought not do that!” At such a point your reaction is not a matter of merely describing what he did, but rather prescribing what he should have done – he should have gone to the back of the line! Whether or not the man actually behaves in accordance with what he knows to be moral truth, based upon the moral law we assume that he should at least know better and ought to have conducted himself accordingly. 

Two things thus become evident. One, there exists a moral standard which, like an umpire, stands over and above actual human behavior and is that by which human behavior is judged. Two, there is a matter of “choice” or “will” involved in how we are governed by the moral law. The moral law says, “Do no harm to a neighbor.” But that does not mean that in actuality we do no harm to a neighbor. We may in fact sow salt in his fields to destroy his crops. But our failure to live up to the moral law in no way changes what the law prescribes as the rule. 

The natural moral law, while universal, objective, and valid, is, however, somewhat vague in its prescriptions. That then leaves room for another type of law also meant to govern human behavior: the revealed moral law of the Bible. The Israelites were recipients and guardians of the law of Moses. The moral component of the law of Moses is a reflection of the character and nature of the unchanging God. Thus, while the civil and ceremonial laws were either inapplicable to the church or fulfilled in Christ, God’s moral law endures because God Himself never changes. And here we return to  Nehemiah 9.  

After the wall was completely rebuilt and the enemies from without were no longer the main cause of concern, the narrative turns to focus on problems that issued forth from within the ranks of the Jews, the first of which was their longstanding neglect of the law of Moses. Thus, of first importance was the reestablishment of that law as the explicit standard for the people’s behavior and practices. Nehemiah 8:1–3 describes the birth of this revival:

And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

This was done on the first day of the seventh month. Twenty-three days later the people of Israel again assembled themselves before the Lord and this time made public confession for their sins. It all began with an act of devotion and consecration: “And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.” Notice: they “separated” themselves. In the Christian era, the idea of living “separate” from the world has been applied in quite far-ranging ways. Some Christians have ignored the exhortation so as to render it moot. Others have built entirely separate communities and walled themselves off from the larger culture. Some have dressed in distinctive fashion to demonstrate “separateness”; others have disavowed modern appliances and means of entertainment.

All that should be noted here is that however this is applied in an individual’s life, God has said to all who name the Name of Christ that we are in fact a “peculiar people.” We are different, whether we like it or not. And that alone makes us separate, at least in God’s eyes. As Peter put it, we Christians “are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” If we identify ourselves in the same manner that God Himself identifies us – as His saints – we should follow that with a recognition that we have been “set apart”- or “separated” for His glory. At a minimum, this separation should manifest itself in a substantive change in our character and lifestyle which in turn provides a God-honoring display to the world of the inner transformation that has and is taking place within us by the power of Christ.

So first the Israelites separated themselves, as we are also called to do, as exhorted in Romans 12, 2 Corinthians 6 and 1 John 2. Then, after consecrating themselves, they read for three hours from the Book of the Law! Now this may sound like quite the chore, but how else were they then – or we today – to have a clear understanding of the lofty moral standards to which our Heavenly Father has called us? We have to know God’s word, or more to the point, we have to know God. Even today, public reading of the Word of God should be a rule in our churches. Paul told Timothy, “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.” The public reading of Scripture is what gave life to the spiritual revival in Nehemiah. 

So the Levites read and, for the benefit of the people, explained the Law. Then the Israelites all together “made confession and worshiped the Lord their God.” What is recorded in the remainder of the chapter amounts to one of the most detailed confessions in all Scripture. Let’s take a minute to highlight some of the most relevant points. 

Begin With Exclusive Worship

First, their confession began, as it should, with an acknowledgement of God’s exclusivity: “You are the LORD, you alone.” God has no rivals or equals. God is God alone; there is no other. This was a remarkable confession when one considers that for 1000 years of history, beginning with the day they worshiped a golden calf made with their own hands, Israel’s fundamental failure had been spiritual adultery. They were serial idolaters, consistently unfaithful to the one and only true God, their God. So this was a significant turnabout: “You alone are God.” It is an historical fact that the discipline of the exile effectively cured Israel of her idolatrous ways. From that time forward, even to the time of Christ, Israel never again “played the harlot” with the false gods of the surrounding nations.

So, let us pause for a moment and take some personal inventory: Is this an area where we too need to confess our own failings? Have we other “gods” in our lives who rival the true God for our affections and devotion? Jesus set the bar extremely high: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Is there a need this morning for us to confess our own unworthiness in this regard? I know for me the answer is “yes.”

Acknowledge God’s Sovereignty

Second, the Israelites acknowledged God’s relationship to creation as its Sovereign. This too is a highly significant matter, because it recognizes that God is not some tribal deity with mere local jurisdiction but is Supreme over all. He is the One who created the heavens and the earth and sustains the entire creation. Romans 1 tells of the tendency among humans to worship the creation rather than its Creator. This is a grievous sin which begins with a deliberate suppression of the divine truth that God has revealed through nature. I read just recently that the country of Bolivia is petitioning the United Nations to recognize the moral equality of bugs, trees, and…humans. The initiative calls for Mother Earth to have the same rights as humans, and for there to be a Ministry of Mother Earth established to hear nature’s complaints against her occupants, or should I say, invaders. Few if any of us would be guilty of such blatant and utter nonsense. But can we say with complete honesty that our priorities are fully in line with regard to His supremacy over all? Are there any ways in which we personally have placed more value on the creation than on the Creator Himself? If so, we must concede our faults; we must “say the same thing” about this form of idolatry that God Himself says about it. That is what it means to confess. 

Remember God’s Covenant Faithfulness

Third, the prayerful Israelites went on to acknowledge that God the Creator of all is also He who personally called Abraham to be the father of the Hebrew nation. Moreover, He is the One who delivered Israel after centuries of slavery in Egypt. He is the One who subsequently revealed to them the civil, ceremonial, and moral Law by which they were governed and protected. And He is the One who faithfully provided for them during their years of wandering in the wilderness where “they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.” In other words, not only is there but One God who is Maker and Creator of all, but that God is also the covenant God of Israel. With loving intentionality, He entered into a personal relationship with the people of Israel, choosing them from among the nations, and setting His affections on them. Yet, despite His patient lovingkindness and persistent faithfulness, for most of its history Israel treated their covenant God with either self-centered disinterest or downright contempt. Yet here they were at long last, assembled together in brokenness, making their confession before God. After years of prideful neglect, they were publicly conceding that they had “acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck;” that they had “disobeyed and rebelled against [God], killed those sent to warn them, and committed great acts of blasphemy,” and that they had “sinned against [God’s] rules, turned a stubborn shoulder, and would not give ear to God.” It took the exile to break them. Likewise, it frequently takes God’s discipline to break us as well. But just as brokenness eventually bore the fruit of repentance in the nation of Israel, so God our Father disciplines us that we may share in his holiness. 

We freely admit: no one likes to confess fault. Pride blinds us to our personal indiscretions, and beyond that, it negatively influences our willingness to own up to our failings. Nevertheless, God is not impressed with our pride and stands unflinchingly opposed to human arrogance. One of my favorite parables memorably illustrates this:

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

Luke 18:10-14

Rather than looking into the mirror of God’s righteous standard and thereby confessing his own unworthiness, the Pharisee measured himself against the lowly tax collector and judged himself as exemplary. The tax collector, on the other hand, recognized his utter lack of standing before an infinitely holy and righteous God, and subsequently cried out for mercy. He knew he was entirely unworthy of being in God’s presence, let alone deserving God’s favor. The one who appeared righteous was not, and the one who confessed his unrighteousness went away enjoying a right standing before God. The moral of the story and the message for today is captured well by Proverbs 28:13 which says, “whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”

Amen. 

This may sound like an odd question but, Do you have any enemies? Perhaps I should ask that a different way: Are there people in your life who persistently oppose your attempts to fulfill the will of God in and for your life? 

Our concern in posing this question, as we look again at prayer in the life of Nehemiah, is not primarily with those who for whatever reason are opposed to us personally, but more to the point, those who are first and foremost opposed to God, and for that reason find themselves at odds with us.

Like friendly political commentators who nevertheless take a seat on opposite sides of the ideological aisle, if we are standing for the truth of God and seeking to live it out in our lives, Scripture promises and experience confirms that we sometimes will find ourselves on “opposite sides of the aisle” with those who want nothing to do with God and might even like to see our Christian influence neutralized. Personal relationships notwithstanding, when it comes to matters related to the kingdom of God, what fellowship does light have with darkness? The apostle Paul warned that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Tim. 3:12) There’s no way around the fact that those who do the persecuting do so because they are enemies of the truth of God. They don’t have to be personal enemies – they may in fact be family, even as Jesus forewarned! – but they are nevertheless aligned against us because they are aligned against Christ Himself. 

We might consider as an example the vocal minority in America today who wish to expunge our public square of any and all vestiges of the biblical tradition which has for four hundred years helped to shape our nation’s heritage and history (Note: I originally wrote this about 10 years ago; things have degenerated significantly in that time). To be sure, good and reasonable people can have honest disagreements about such hot-button issues as the posting of the Ten Commandments in public settings, prayer at commencement exercises, or whose morality should be legislated by the state. A person who opposes a public symbol of faith like a nativity scene at city hall is not by virtue of that opposition necessarily a sworn  “enemy of God.” He may just be a person who has honest reservations about the legal permissibility of the government favoring or endorsing religion. On the other hand, there are those who seem to make it their life’s ambition to rub out whatever remains of Christian symbolism and influence on the public square. Some go so far as to argue that religious persons – Christians in particular – ought to stay out of the political process or, minimally, keep their biblical convictions altogether private.

Unquestionably, there are those among our countrymen today who despise God, wish that He didn’t exist, wish to convince others that He doesn’t exist, and will that our nation be governed free of any religious influence. These desire freedom from religion, not freedom of religion. If we were to borrow an analogy from the Book of Nehemiah, we might say that as followers of Christ with concerns over the growing moral crisis in our nation, many of us want to be involved in the process of helping to “rebuild the cultural walls” that are broken down and burned with fire. At the same time, there are others who seek to lay an altogether different moral and spiritual foundation and therefore resist every effort at repairing the old one. The conflict in the public square is just one type of example where we might encounter enemies of God who oppose us solely on the basis of our identification with God. It could just as easily be one family member who opposes our effort to win another family member to faith in Christ, or a peddler of false doctrine who has infiltrated the leadership of a local church, or a despotic government that openly persecutes its Christian subjects. Whatever the situation, we can learn some valuable lessons about prayer in the midst of opposition by following in the example of Nehemiah, to whom we now turn.

Upon the completion of the divinely-prescribed seventy years of captivity, commencing with the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, many Jews returned to their homeland to begin the painstaking process of rebuilding the temple and the city, with a view towards restoring the proper worship of God. By authority of the decree of Cyrus king of Persia, Ezra the priest returned in the year 458 BC to rebuild the temple and the altar, though even this required that he stare down fierce opposition from adversaries in the land. In a similar fashion, just over a decade later Nehemiah likewise faced unscrupulous foes who used seemingly every trick in the book to resist his efforts at rebuilding the wall of the city. 

Nehemiah was a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, meaning he was more than just a butler but instead like a trusted advisor. Nehemiah’s heart, however, was with his people the Israelites, so much so that news of the city’s disrepair brought him mournfully to his knees. Chapter 1:5-11 records Nehemiah’s prayer, which even today can be a helpful model for us when we pray, regardless of the occasion. Like Nehemiah, we too should boldly acknowledge the character of God in our prayers. It is not enough that we operate on the basis of some vague notion that the God to whom we are praying actually exists. Nor is it enough to address God by various names such as “Lord” or “Father” unless we also infuse those with a confident understanding regarding His unchanging character and nature. It is unlikely that we will have confidence in our prayers if we lack thoughtful understanding of the God to whom we pray. We should also, like Nehemiah, be keenly aware of God’s unchanging standards of holiness which issue forth from His unchanging nature. Only by seeing ourselves in the light of who He is and what He requires of us will we understand the ways in which we have fallen short of His glory, or even the depths from which we have been redeemed.

Moreover, we should pray that God would “remember,” or “act upon” His enduring promises to us in Christ. That means we have to actually know what those promises are, and then ask God to fulfill them in and through us. We should pray, not only in familiarity with God’s character, but also with knowledge of God’s will as revealed in His Word. And finally, we should gratefully acknowledge, as did Nehemiah, that we have been redeemed by God to be His servants. The redeemed of the Lord are those who have been freed from the grip of sin and death, not for the purpose of servicing our own desires, but instead that we would become bondservants of God our Redeemer. 

Nehemiah thus prayed, then he approached the king of Persia seeking permission to return to his homeland in order to rebuild the wall of the city. Securing the king’s blessing, Nehemiah returned to Israel, whereupon his first task was to inspect the wall and survey the work to be done. An inspiring account of that work follows in chapter three, where we read of the cooperative effort undertaken by numerous families who, side by side, each repaired a particular section of the wall.

Now, before the first sounds of construction were heard, we were introduced to Sanballat and Tobiah (and later, Geshem), men dedicated to inhibiting the work of God as it was being accomplished through the hand of Nehemiah. When these locals heard that the king had granted Nehemiah permission to commence with the rebuilding effort, “it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.” (2:10) Though they were unable to forestall the rebuilding effort, once the project was underway they set about with their obstructionism. We read this in Nehemiah 4:1–3:

…when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!”

Sanballat and Tobiah knew that a rebuilt Jerusalem posed a threat to their powerbase. They were petty lords, and intended the preservation of their petty fiefdom. As a result of their selfish ambition, they stridently opposed Nehemiah’s efforts at every turn. Their first attempt to disrupt the building process was by means of psychological warfare. They mocked Nehemiah and the Jews, thinking ridicule alone would be enough to intimidate them into submission. Instead, it drove them to their knees in prayer – in submission to God! So when their scoffing failed to extinguish Nehemiah’s resoluteness, they ratcheted up their opposition and “plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.” 

It is instructive to see how Nehemiah handled the opposition stirred up by his enemies, or more accurately, those who were enemies of God. Knowing full well that his commission issued from God Himself, Nehemiah offered stiff and unyielding resistance to those who opposed the rebuilding of the wall. But he did not resist in his own strength. He did not take matters into his own hands. He did not rely upon his own power, influence, or might. Rather, he bowed his heart before the God of Israel and offered this supplication: 

Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.

These words closely resemble what one finds in the so-called “imprecatory psalms,” for example psalms 35, 69, and 109, in which one calls upon God to pour out destruction and wrath on His, that is God’s, enemies. There is a harshness of rhetoric in these psalms as well as in Nehemiah’s prayer that at first glance seems disharmonious with Jesus’ injunction to turn the other cheek and to pray for, not against, our enemies. At the same time, it is important to note that such prayers of imprecation are first and foremost cries for divine justice offered by someone who was steadfastly refusing to take personal revenge into his own hands. As Paul exhorted in Romans 12:19: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’” An imprecatory prayer is a cry for divine judgment against sin, not merely a colorful request for God to take up the cause against one’s personal enemies.

Indeed, Nehemiah was clearly involved in executing the will of God, and his enemies were clearly doing whatever they could to thwart the execution of that will. So by praying that God would “turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives,” Nehemiah was far from seeking personal revenge. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem had provoked God to anger, and Nehemiah was asking God to oppose them just as they had opposed His will to see the wall rebuilt. In other words, Nehemiah’s prayer was an expression of zeal for the revealed will of God. He wanted the will of God to succeed.

Likewise, in saying we should pray for our enemies, Jesus is not teaching that we should pray for our enemies’ success in opposing God. That seems obvious enough. Instead, what we should want – and pray – is for our enemy to share in the same things that the Heavenly Father desires for us: that we (and they) would willingly cultivate a loving relationship with God through Christ, joyfully submitting to Him in all things, humbly seeking His glory and not our own. For God to accomplish such a redemption in their lives would be at the very same time to destroy their efforts at obstructing His will. The classic example, of course, is the testimony of the Apostle Paul himself. 

As we draw this brief devotion to a close, let us reemphasize a few of our main points.

First of all, if we are actively seeking that the will of God be accomplished in our lives, we will at times be met with opposition. As Peter tells us: be not surprised at the fiery trials that come upon us as though some strange thing were happening.

Second, when we are opposed by the world for pursuing the things of God (we hope, in the love of God!), we must be aware that the One ultimately being resisted is God. Those who oppose us for following God are God’s enemies. As the example of Nehemiah shows, it is not “unbiblical” to pray that the enemies of God would be foiled in their attempts to oppose the kingdom of God. We are never, of course, to take matters into our own hands nor seek personal vengeance. We must leave room for the vengeance of God. That is, in fact, why we pray instead of plot revenge. 

Even so, and finally, we must also bear in mind that we all were once enemies of God. Some of us, sadly, might even look into our past and be able to identify with the very kind of heavy-handed obstructionism practiced by Nehemiah’s enemies practiced. But we have since been reconciled to God through Christ, and now we have peace with God through Christ. This, therefore, is key for prayer in the face of opposition in light of the grace of the New Covenant: while rightly calling upon God to thwart any successful opposition to His will, we must also intercede on behalf of those who are behind the opposition, that God would redeem them by the merits of Jesus Christ just as He has also graciously redeemed us. 

Let us then not be demoralized by the resolve of God’s enemies. Let us, instead, be driven to our knees before God, petitioning Him to turn back the efforts of those who howl their displeasure when His people arise to do His will. Let us not avenge ourselves, but pray for a spirit of determination, the same as is evident in Nehemiah, with the further condition that we also be moved to call upon God for the salvation of those who today call God their enemy, but who by His abundant grace in Christ could one day call Him Father.