This book begins with a simple conversation that will change the entire reality of a man and a nation. When Nehemiah asked about the condition of the Jews and Jerusalem, the report was so shocking that the only option he had was “wept, fast and pray” (1:1-4) while he was doing that God asked him to do something about it, to change this reality for a better one.
I like the fact that Nehemiah was a man of prayer, a man who understood that you could not do anything without God’s guidance. In addition, because of that he took time to have a better relationship with the Lord before doing anything for him. Nehemiah knew that humanly talking this task was almost impossible and will require from him to do a lot planning and a lot faith, but also a lot of support from the king and from the Jews people in Jerusalem.
His prayer before talking to the king is a wonderful expression in how he understood Divine intervention in human affairs, he said, “O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man” (1:11)
Note that the end of verse 11 says that he was “the cupbearer of the king” a person of a lot influence in the presence of the king, but still he was not trusting in his position or personal influence, he was trusting in God’s grace. Chapter 2 shows us that Nehemiah was ready for his petition, when the king asked him “what do you request” (2:4) he prayed again and requested permission to rebuilt
Jerusalem. The opportunity will come, are you ready to say exactly what you need or are you going to be guessing about? Nehemiah was not guessing he had a time and a plan for his task, and the result was that the king sent him to do God’s will.
It seems that if we want to guess less and be more assertive in our lives and ministries for the Lord we need to pray more and built a better relationship with God. Chapter 3 is the amazing record of how God stirred up the Jews heart in order for them to join Nehemiah in the extraordinary call of rebuilding Jerusalem.