Comforting Prayer with Fasting and Weeping

Nehemiah 1:1-11 

    1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah.
It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, 2 that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, "The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire."

    4 So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

    5 And I said: "I pray, LORD God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, 6 please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father's house and I have sinned. 7 We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. 8 Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; 9 but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.' 10 Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. 11 O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man."

For I was the king's cupbearer.

The Hebrew for Nehemiah is, “Comfort of Yahweh,” and he was the cupbearer to the Persian king in the palace, who ends up leading the third and last return to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile.  The first chapter shows him praying for God’s people when word came from Jerusalem where the work to rebuild the house of God was met with misery and  taunting scorn from the adversaries all around.  He also heard about the walls of the city still in ruin and knew the work that would need to be done in restoration of the city surrounding and protecting the temple, and all these things caused him to weep in prayer and fasting.  He was mourning for the state of God’s house, city, and people from the place of his own captivity in Babylon.  The prayer of Nehemiah began with adoration of the LORD and confession of his people’s sins.  Then he prayed with supplication for God’s intervention for His people’s sake, with thanksgiving throughout the petition.  He acknowledged their sin in confessing their disobedience to His word clearly given for them to follow, and stood on the promises of God who said He would bring them back if they repented, returning to Him in faithful obedience once more.  He spoke of the promise to gather the scattered sinners to Himself where He put His name to live among them, namely Jerusalem in the temple which was His house.  Therefore, Nehemiah offered the people as servants to the LORD for redemption by His power to all who desired to fear His name.  He sought mercy to be used for the work ahead to which he was chosen and called.  Likewise, we who are on Christ pray for grace and mercy, knowing that Christ has called us to Himself out of our captivity to rebellious sin.  We pray in adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication for His people and His work which is the gospel of grace and mercy by His mighty hand in the work of Christ alone.  Do we then pray and fast for we His people to also repent and follow in this work until His return?  There is much work to be done to build His house, which we are in Christ.  May we petition the King of kings, and not merely the rulers of this world, learning from Nehemiah that the hearts and minds of the kings of this world are securely in His hands, just as we are.