The Leader and Prayer

THE LEADER AND PRAYER - by Darren Choo

Nehemiah 1:4-11

11 May 2008

[Printable Version in.dbf format]
Includes Reflective Questions

Introduction

An amazing account was told in the life of the well known Indian Christian missionary and evangelist, Sadhu Sundar Singh. One day he was in a village preaching the Good News. However, to his dismay, the people in the village not only rejected the message, they even rejected him and threw him out. Disappointed, this man of God went alone to the Lord in prayer. As Sadhu sat there in communion with the Lord, he suddenly felt the compulsion to pray out loud and forgive the villagers. But unknown to him, an angry mob send by them was hiding nearby in some bushes ready to ambush and kill him. Upon hearing the prayer, they relented from their original intention and instead fled away in repentance.

Rev John Paton, pioneer missionary in the New Hebrides Island in the South Pacific, which is now called Vanuatu, remembered the time when hostile natives surrounded his headquarters intending on killing him and his family. In desperation, John and his wife prayed throughout that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. Eventually, when daylight came, they were amazed to see that their attackers were no where in sight. A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Christ and Paton, not forgetting that fateful night asked what kept the chief and his men from killing his family. The chief in surprised replied that they had seen a great many men in shining garments with drawn swords circling the house. That sight frightened the natives and they retreated.

Apparently the power of God manifested in the prayers of both Sadhu Sundar Singh and Rev John Paton overturned what seem to be life-threatening situations. These are just but two of many other examples where leaders, man and woman of God who prayed in the midst of difficult situations and God intervened. And if God is able to intervene in such life-threatening situations, surely in lesser times of pain and unhappiness God is able to do likewise.

As someone once said, “As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in school.” Certainly we can rely on prayer to bail us out. Philip Melanchthon, friend and associate of Martin Luther affirms that, “Trouble and perplexity drive me to prayer and prayer drives away perplexity and trouble.”

Do we then, as leaders, as disciples, pray? Do we seek God in prayer when faced with a dilemma?

As we continue on our study on the leadership of Nehemiah, we see that he was one such person.

If we recalled last week, V3 records of Nehemiah discovering the plight of his country. Instead of a land inhabited by a great nation, only a remnant of people now lived there. Instead of a magnificent city, Jerusalem is now in shambles and in ruin. And instead of a place of great glory, there is now nothing but great reproach.

Being a Jew, this piece of sad news must have been a great body blow to him. But despite the setback, Nehemiah being a man of prayer went to the Lord. As we unpack the passages in V4-11, we learn a few lessons about Nehemiah the leader and his prayer.

The first thing that strikes us is his reaction to the ordeal of his people. V4 reads

As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

In other words, he went to God in pray in a storm of emotion. Don’t miss the point here. The emotions displayed revealed the intensity of this man’s prayer. It is an indication of Nehemiah’s concern for the things of God and the love of his fellowmen. It would seem easier to pray when we feel strongly about something or when we have a great concern. On the other hand, if we don’t give a hang about anything, than we probably won’t pray and our pray life not surprisingly becomes dry and a drag. Dryness in our pray life simply means that we are out of touch with reality, that we don’t really see or is insensitive to what is happening around us. The absence of feelings in our prayer only means that we no longer care about the things of God – we have become lukewarm in our spiritual life.

At times like this, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to show us reality – the reality of people’s needs. God opened Nehemiah’s heart to the tragedy of His people, a tragedy that magnified the dishonour to God’s name. God enabled him to see this so that he might share God’s concern and be caught up into His purposes. This is what God wants from all of us. When God showed Nehemiah the report from Jerusalem, he became concern for the welfare of the people such that he responded by spending days weeping, fasting and praying for the current situation. Mind you that he needed do so. After all, he was the king’s cupbearer, a position of great responsibility and privilege. He was living faraway in comfort and need not bother with the problems back home.

But Nehemiah the leader chose not to ignore the sad news of his people but displayed great concern and emotion by praying for their predicament. As leaders in God’s kingdom, is our prayer life dry? Do we find it a drag to pray? May it never be so as we constantly ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to be concern for the things of God and to His purpose such that we may pray with intensity like Nehemiah did.

When we juxtaposition Nehemiah’s prayer to the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11:2, we find several parallels. In teaching His disciples how to pray, Jesus begins with adoration and praise to the Father: Father, hallowed be Your name. Not surprisingly, Nehemiah begins his prayer the very same way and this is the second key lesson we learn.

He starts by fixing his eyes on the God that he is approaching. And as he does so, Nehemiah praises two attributes of Yahweh. To Nehemiah, Yahweh is Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome (V5a). Put it simply, he recognizes the kind of God he has: The Lord God alone is mighty and is able to do everything! In times of experiencing great affliction or when about to undertake a great work, the power of a great God is needed to ensure success. Is the God we worship bigger than our problems? Is He able to handle all the challenges that we face? Certainly, Nehemiah believes so, for by acknowledging that God is great and awesome, he is making this truth known; the truth that no problem is greater or too difficult for our Lord. As we constantly remind ourselves that God is all powerful and focus on this and magnify Him in our adoration, we find our problem smaller in comparison to the One who is able to help us.

Nehemiah also recognised and declares that God is a covenant keeper who keeps His Word (5b). As the great covenant maker, the Lord promised to bless Israel richly if they obeyed His Word, but at the same time warning that He would chasten them if they disobeyed. And the fact that Jerusalem was in a ruin state and the nation feeble was because the people had sinned against the Lord. Nevertheless, Nehemiah knew that God as a promise-keeper would restore back their glory if they love Him and keep His commandments (V5b).

This leads us to our third key lesson in Nehemiah’s prayer – the need for confession, where in V6 he prays unceasingly day and night for the people of Israel, confessing their sins.

What was the nation’s sin against God? The passage doesn’t tell us except that the people have acted very corruptly against God and have not kept His commandments (V7).

Note however, that in his prayer of confession, Nehemiah used the pronoun we and not they. This is an indication that Nehemiah identified himself with his people’s sin. It would be easy to look back and blame his ancestors for the current reproach of Jerusalem and he was right, but Nehemiah’s cry was, “We have sinned!” The point of emphasis here is that in the body of Christ, we belong to another, we affect one another and we cannot escape one another. Just as in the case of Achan who sinned at Jericho, the result was that the whole of Israel was affected as well (Josh 7:1). Further, the Bible also tells us that through the sin of one man, the rest of all mankind was affected and resulted in sin (Rm 5:12). It is vital therefore that in our prayers we confess our sins, for where there is sin, God cannot move. Holiness and sin cannot exist in tandem together. For where there is sin, God cannot move. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James 4:16) .

Just as in the Lord’s Prayer, where Jesus stresses on the seriousness of seeking God’s forgiveness through confession (Luke 11:4), we too must follow the example of Luther who saw the need for daily confession.

"Without doubt, confession of sins is necessary, and in accordance with the divine commandments.”

But how do we know that God forgives our sins when we repent and confess to Him? It is so promised in His Word.

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land. (2 Chron 7:14)

Nehemiah’s prayer points to this promise of God as stated in the Old Testament Law. V9 is a summarized version of what God promised Israel in Deuteronomy 30:1-5 that He will bring them back if they repent. It was in this promise of God that Nehemiah was claiming as he prayed for the nation (V8). Similarly, what we are reciting in the confessional every Sunday in our liturgy,

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Finally we come to examine the most crucial aspect of Nehemiah’s prayer. Nehemiah now made his request known to God Almighty. Richard Foster says of petition, “God welcomes us with our 1001 trifles, for they are each important to Him.”

We should never hold to the idea that petition is a lower form of prayer. It is not, for supplication is part of our staple diet in prayer. It is in asking that we express a childlike faith in bringing our daily needs and desires to heavenly Father. And God as our Father delights in our asking. Even Jesus encourages His disciples not to be afraid to ask.

So far Nehemiah has not asked anything and it seems that when he did, his request in V11 was rather trivial.

Give success to your servant (Nehemiah) today and grant him mercy (favour) in the sight of this man (King Artaxerxes).

However, upon closer inspection on his request, we find that it is no trivial matter at all. What this request reveals is that Nehemiah had faith in his God to help the current predicament of the Jews. He believed that God in His faithfulness will help His people rebuild the city that he specifically prayed for success in finding favour with the king. Nehemiah was confident that God would work in the heart of Artaxerxes to support the project and supply all that was needed.

Too often, our prayers are vague and often lack the conviction of God’s trust. But the lesson we learn is the need to be specific and to pray in faith and confidence for them.

As Nehemiah approached King Artaxerxes to request for a leave of absence, thoughts must be going through in his mind:

Ultimately we will soon discover in chapter 2 that all was well. But it is important to note that even though he was granted favour, his prayer was by no means a magic formula that we can use to ensure success. Scriptures makes it clear that God only answer requests in line with His will. (1 Jn 5:14-15).

However, as we study closely, the success of Nehemiah’s prayer was also due to three other factors:

- That its gates and walls were broken does not speak well of God’s name and His glory

Church of the Ascension, 13 Francis Thomas Drive, Singapore 359339
Mailing Address: Toa Payoh Central Post-Office P.O. Box 162 Singapore 913106
Tel (65) 6283 3988 Fax (65) 6283 3220 Email: [Church Office][Website Editor]
All Rights Reserved
[Home] **