When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and morurned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven (Nehemiah 1:4)
We’ve been looking at the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. To help us in this year of discernment ahead today we’re thinking about the call to fast and pray. Thinking what Nehemiah chapter 1 teaches us of this and how it might impact our discernment in the year ahead.
I don’t know how you respond to the news headlines but sometimes we attempted to turn it off because of the pain that we are faced with. we turn on the news currently and there are world problems and local problems galore. We see violence war and also difficulties with poverty, all impacting our world. Things in our communities and on a global scale that make us question what God is doing and get us thinking about how we can help because it seems to insurmountable.
There is something about this passage about praying for the needs of the world and as we look at the News items to be thinking about standing in the gap between God and the world and lay before God the needs, showing him a heartfelt anxiety about the current situation, laying it all before God.
This is what Nehemiah does in verse four of our chapter this morning – His fasting and praying is his way of standing in the gap of laying out the needs of the world before God.
What is the response when we watch the news? what is our response when we see the needs in our community? what is our response when we see the needs within our church? do we stand in the gap?
In our passage today We are introduced to Nehemiah through his prayer. At this point In the narrative we are probably 13 years after Ezra left for Jerusalem. We find out that Nehemiah is cupbearer to the Persian king, which is a really important role – there is a lot of privilege that comes with that role in terms of having the ear of the king, having access to the King. Between this prayer is chapter 1 and the action that carries on into ch2 there is probably a gap of about 4 to 5 months. Nehemiah has a reputation for being a man of action and we see that in subsequent chapters – but the fact that he’s spent these four months praying shows that for him it was a priority to come before God. Before any action took place Nehemiah shows us the importance of fasting and prayer.
In v 5 to 11 we have this wonderful prayer Of Nehemiah, It sets out a good pattern of prayer that we could follow. we read verse 5 that he focuses on the God of heaven which in fact we do in the Lord’s prayer that Jesus taught us. He recognises God’s greatness knowing who God is. The second part of his prayer inv6-7 shows real humility – there is confession not just for his own sin but for the sin of his people historically. Acknowledging the rebellion and where things have gone wrong. We touched a bit on this last week with the importance of safeguarding and realising where we may have got it wrong in the past and where we might need to improve on it in the future for the glory of God‘s name. There is something about confession that frees us, it’s not about making us feel guilty but it’s freeing us to sit in the gap open armed free of burden. In v8-10 in the build up to his plea. He recounts the history of who God is, of Gods history with his people. And remembers gods promises. That God would restore his people again and stands in the gap culminating in a plea in verse 11 that God would act making it possible for God’s people to again be settled in Jerusalem.
Only after this prayer do we then get the action – in chapter 2 we have an account of Nehemiah making a request of the King to return, we get the account of the journey and then as soon as Nehemiah gets there he makes a survey of what needs doing. In chapter 3 we have the account of him sharing out the workload, and in chapter 4 there is opposition which causes poor morale – Nehemiah acts by praying arming and continuing the work. This action is fuelled by this time of prayer that is represented in chapter 1 a time of discernment and seeking guards before the action commences.
The commentator Hannah Harrington says this about me Nehemiah: Despite Nehemiah’s powerful role he is a man of prayer with all the necessary humility that entails most of his prayers are short but the considerable number of them reveals a lifestyle of spontaneous recourse to Yahweh whatever needs arise, in this instance the phrase day and night indicate sustained prayer on behalf of Israel.
What can We learn from Nehemiahs prayer? We can use scripture to aid our prayers, we can come before God in humility in our prayers with our confession and we can persevere in our prayer life praying for particular things again and again. When we think about a year discernment, sitting and waiting can be uncomfortable particularly for people of action. but there is something in Nehemiah’s pragmatic approach and his humility that meant he realised he needed to begin with prayer and then came the action. Where do we need to fast and pray for the needs of the world but also thinking about discernment for the year ahead both corporately and in our Individual lives. Nehemiah’s prayer teaches us things about this.
Nehemiah’s Praying involved fasting and fasting can come in many shapes and sizes what it boils down to is fasting from things in order to give us more time to set aside for praying with God enables us to have a single focus on him and what we are bringing before him.
Being part of a church means we have a mission from God to be his people in the areas that we are based. Sharing God with our community. how will fasting and praying impact our mission? When we stand in the gap seeking gods well asking him questions what then will he do what will the actions be? The amazing thing about prayer is that all of us can take a part in that in this year of discernment ahead. We can all play a part. How will we respond when we watch the news? how will we respond when we see the needs in our community? how will we respond when we see the needs within our church? Will we stand in the gap? I Wonder what God might be stirring us to do as we take 2024 to discern his will. we can discern this together as we use Nehemiah’s pattern of prayer, as we fast and pray, so that when we do come to a point of action we know it is fuelled by him.
St. Luke's Church Ramsgate 