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Nehemiah - Renew and Rebuild
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Before we dive into Nehemiah's prayer, let me tell you about Ida Scudder. Ida grew up in India as the daughter of medical missionaries—both her parents were doctors doing gospel work. When she was offered a prestigious scholarship to boarding school in Massachusetts through D.L. Moody, she moved alone to New England, planning to stay there for the rest of her life in comfort.
But when she was twenty, she returned to India to visit her parents because her mother was very sick. One night, a man came to her father with his pregnant wife who was desperately ill. Her father offered to help, but the man refused, saying, "I would not allow another man to see or touch my wife." When her father warned that without medical care she could die, the man replied, "I would rather my wife die than for you to see her."
That same night, two more men came—one Hindu, one Muslim—each with a pregnant wife, and each refused help for the same reason. By morning, all three women and their unborn children had died.
Ida was devastated. That night, in anguished prayer before the Lord, she experienced what she later described as meeting God face to face. She sensed Him calling her to this work. She returned to New England, completed her education, attended medical school, and became the first woman doctor to graduate from Cornell University. For the next fifty years, she served as a medical missionary in India, asking every patient, "Can I pray for you? Do you know Jesus?"
This is the same kind of burden we see in Nehemiah. God's work of rebuilding and renewal begins with prayer.
Nehemiah heard devastating news: the people of God were in anguish, the walls of Jerusalem were destroyed, and God's name was being blasphemed. This news broke his heart. Rather than rushing to fix the problem, he took his burden to God in prayer. Everything we see in the book of Nehemiah—the rebuilding, the renewal of the people—began in prayer.
Let's read what happened:
As soon as I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, "Oh Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments." (Nehemiah 1:4-5)
Notice something crucial: between Nehemiah chapter 1 and chapter 2, four months passed. The month mentioned in 1:1 is Kislev, and in 2:1 it's Nissan. Nehemiah didn't hear about the crisis and rush into action. He prayed and fasted for four months before acting. This teaches us something vital: we must go first to God in prayer.
When you hear bad news, when you're burdened, when you're overwhelmed—go to God first in prayer and fasting. A man of God will kneel before God before he stands before another man. Nehemiah went before the Lord in prayer before he faced the king.
Prayer is not our last resort. After we've tried everything else, it is our first response. Many of us do the opposite. We develop a plan, we figure out a strategy, and then we sprinkle some Bible verses on top and say, "God, bless me." But that's not what Nehemiah did. He brought his burden directly to God.
Nehemiah faced a nearly impossible situation. He needed the favor of King Artaxerxes—the very king who had previously ordered the construction of Jerusalem's wall to stop. The Medes and Persians never changed their decisions. Yet Nehemiah didn't panic. He didn't vent or try to fix it himself. He went to God because he knew that only the Lord could change the king's heart.
Hudson Taylor, a missionary to India, later expressed this truth: "It is possible to move men through God by prayer alone." Nehemiah believed this. He trusted that God could move the mind and heart of an earthly king through prayer.
Here's the reality: When we do not believe that God can move people through our prayers, we become busy and anxious trying to move them ourselves. Much of our anxiety and busyness stems from trying to accomplish in our own strength what only God can do through our prayers.
But Nehemiah didn't only pray—he also fasted. Fasting embodies dependence on God. When he fasted, he was essentially saying, "Lord, I need you more than food. I would rather go without meals so I can draw closer to you and depend on you completely, because you are more important to me than food."
Fasting flows from a heart that desperately wants the grace, presence, and favor of God. Listen to how Psalm 63 captures this heart:
Oh God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1-2)
David fasted. The disciples fasted. The apostle Paul fasted. Jesus himself fasted. Brothers and sisters, let us fast.
I want to invite you practically: this coming week, set aside one day where you skip one or two meals for the purpose of seeking the Lord. Skip breakfast and lunch. Spend that time in prayer—not rushing, not distracted, but truly seeking God's face. Fast for the holiness of the church, for the health of your families, for joy, for freedom from discontent in our hearts. Fast that we would love Jesus more, that we would have the mind of Christ, that we would honor the Lord with our daily actions, that we would have a hunger for God.
We can fool others, but we cannot fool God. He sees our hearts. We can play games and pretend, trying to impress people, but our goal must be to impress the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. Let us fast and seek Him.
When we look at Nehemiah's prayer in verses 5-11, we see three components:
Many of us find prayer repetitive and boring. We pray the same requests every day—for our family, our job, our circumstances—and we feel like we're just repeating ourselves. What's the solution? Pray the Bible.
That's exactly what Nehemiah does. He prays God's word back to God. When you pray Scripture, you let the Bible shape your entire prayer life. For example, you might take a promise from Scripture and pray it personally:
This approach transforms prayer from repetition into a rich, biblical conversation with God.
Nehemiah begins his prayer by praising God:
Oh Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments. (Nehemiah 1:5)
Notice—before Nehemiah asks God to do something, he meditates on who God is. He worships. He's actually quoting Deuteronomy 7:9, praying God's own character and promises back to Him.
Before we look at the size of our brokenness, we acknowledge the greatness of our God. Praise is not grounded in how well we're doing; it's grounded in how great God is. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed and depleted. We don't praise God because of how we feel today. We praise God because of who He is and how awesome He is.
What's beautiful is that as Nehemiah praises and worships, God is preparing his heart for what comes next. Praise opens us to receive what God wants to do.
After praising God, Nehemiah acknowledges sin and his shortcomings:
Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant. Confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. (Nehemiah 1:6-7)
Notice his language: "We, we, we." He's including himself in the confession. He's not saying, "Well, they did it. I wasn't even born in Jerusalem. This isn't my fault." Instead, he's owning his sin and interceding for his people at the same time. He's not blaming others or making excuses.
This is the pattern throughout Scripture. David wrote in Psalm 32:5:
I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. (Psalm 32:5)
And in 1 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.
Any work of rebuilding or renewal begins with God's people coming before the Lord and confessing their sin. The exile wasn't an accident of history; it was the consequence of generations of disobedience. God's people had ignored His word, resisted His leadership, and pursued their own ways. Yet even in judgment, God left the door open for restoration.
Verse 8 says:
Remember the word that you commanded to your servant Moses, saying, "If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples. But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them... I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen to make my name dwell there." (Nehemiah 1:8-9)
There is no blessing from God if there is no confession and repentance. This is one of the great themes of the entire Bible. God never promises restoration without confession and repentance. You will not find anywhere in Scripture a promise that you can continue walking away from God and still enjoy His blessings.
God's grace is free, but it is never an excuse for persistent rebellion. Many people today assume that because God is loving, our response to Him doesn't matter. We convince ourselves that we can ignore His word, resist His commands, and still expect everything to turn out well. But Nehemiah understood something crucial: God takes both His promises and His warnings seriously.
True confession leads to repentance. Repentance leads to restoration. If we hide our sin, try to ignore it, or justify it, we should not expect the blessing of God. This is what the Bible teaches, not just in Nehemiah but throughout the entire Scripture.
After praise and confession, Nehemiah brings his petitions:
Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses... Give success to your servant today and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. (Nehemiah 1:8, 11)
Notice what he says: "Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses." When the Bible says God "remembers," it doesn't mean God has amnesia. Rather, it's biblical language meaning that God is ready to act upon His promises.
In Genesis 8:1, when God "remembered Noah" during the flood, the text tells us:
God made a wind blow over the earth and the waters subsided. (Genesis 8:1)
Similarly, in Exodus, when God's people groaned under slavery:
God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. (Exodus 2:24)
So when Nehemiah says "Remember," he's essentially praying: "Lord, you made this promise. Now act upon it."
Nehemiah is quoting Deuteronomy 30. God had promised: if the people return to Him and obey His voice, He will gather them from the nations where He has scattered them. Nehemiah is praying back to God His own promises: "Lord, you said this would happen if we returned to you. We're returning. Now do what you promised."
We never pray with more confidence than when we pray according to God's promises. Nehemiah's petition is rooted in the Bible, not in his feelings, intuition, or preference. Biblical petition is not asking God to adopt our plans; it is claiming His promises.
Here's the assurance: If you pray back to God what God promised, He will do it. But this is only possible if you know the Bible. If you're not reading the word of God, you will not be able to pray the word of God. If you don't know God's promises throughout Scripture, you won't be able to pray those promises back to Him.
We need to spend time with God's word so that we know what He has said, so that we can pray according to His words and promises.
Nehemiah's prayer concludes with a powerful statement:
Oh 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. Now I was a cup bearer to the king. (Nehemiah 1:11)
Do you notice what he does? He tells us his job—cup bearer to the king—but that is not his identity. Throughout his prayer, he says, "I am your servant. I am your servant." His identity is rooted in God, not in his occupation.
This is so important for us because we so often find our identity in what we do rather than in who we are in Christ Jesus. If we find our identity in our job, we're either arrogant when things go well or in despair when they don't. But if my identity, my value, my worth is found in Christ, I'm fine because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Being a cup bearer to the king was an influential position—Nehemiah had access to the king and significant power. But it also meant standing between the king and death. The cup bearer would drink from the cup first to ensure it wasn't poisoned. If poison was present, the cup bearer would die instead of the king. In essence, he would take a bullet for the king.
But our King is different. The Lord Jesus Christ did not give us the cup of poison—the cup of God's wrath—for us to drink. Instead, the Lord Jesus willingly came down from heaven and took that cup Himself. He drank the poison that was meant for us. He took our place and died for us.
Before the cross, knowing what was coming, Jesus said, "Let this cup pass from me." But then He said, "Not my will, but your will be done." Because Jesus loved us when we were dead in our sins and trespasses, He willingly and joyfully went and drank the poison that we deserved. He died in our place.
Jesus, the true King, became a cup bearer for us so that we would not die but live. He lived the perfect life we were supposed to live but couldn't. He went to the cross and drank the cup of God's wrath and judgment—the judgment that our sin deserves. And three days later, He rose from the dead, declaring victory over sin and death.
If you're here and you're not a Christian, I want you to know: the Lord Jesus loves you. It was His love for you that compelled Him to take your place. He came down from heaven to live the perfect life for you and to drink the cup of judgment you deserve, so that by repenting of your sins and putting your faith in Jesus, you will have life—life abundantly.
I invite you today to come to Jesus. Not to drink the cup of judgment and death, not to drink the poison your sin demands, but to receive the life that only Jesus offers. Will you trust Him today? Come to Him, and He will give you life.
Brothers and sisters, as we close, let me encourage you: Do not neglect the gift of prayer. Pray the Bible. Praise God. Confess sin. Bring your petitions to Him. Believe that God can move people through your prayers. What is impossible for us is possible with Him.
God's work of rebuilding and renewal begins with prayer. It began that way with Nehemiah. It has been that way throughout the history of the church. And it can be that way in your life, in your family, and in our church. Come to God in prayer.
