A man of prayer (1)

[Nehemiah 1:1-4]

On the afternoon of Sunday, December 21, 2003, according to God's grace and guidance, I became the senior pastor of Victory Presbyterian Church.  The following year, in January 2004, I chose the Book of Nehemiah among the 66 books of the Bible and began to proclaim the word of God.  The reason I chose the Book of Nehemiah is because I had a heart that longed for the Lord to accomplish the work of rebuilding Victory Presbyterian Church through us while meditating on Nehemiah with the concept of “rebuilding”.  In particular, I wanted the Lord to build a “wall” again while tearing down our “walls” that had foundations but collapsed, or our “walls” that needed to be demolished.  How should we rebuild the “walls” that have been or should be demolished in our church?

Pastor J. I. Packer, in his book “A Passion for Faithfulness: The Wisdom of Nehemiah,” said: ‘Nehemiah built the (Jerusalem) walls through God, and God built the saints through Nehemiah’ (Packer).  This word gives us two lessons: (1) The first lesson is that we must build the “walls” of Victory Presbyterian Church by relying on God and following His guidance.  (2) The second lesson is, God's interest is to raise saints, that is, people, through us.  This means that our church should do the ministry of building one person rather than a church building or program.

God built people through Nehemiah.  What kind of person was Nehemiah?  In today's text, Nehemiah 1:1-4, we meet Nehemiah, a man of prayer.  While meditating on Nehemiah, “Man of prayer (1)”, I would like to answer the question “Why should we pray?”  I hope that each of us can be motivated in our prayer life.  Why should we pray?  In the book “Necessity of Prayer” by E. M. Bounds, Bounds says that there are two types of prayer: (1) The petition of faith and (2) The prayer of submission.  The petition of faith refers to word-centered prayer (Rom. 10:17).  This prayer of faith will surely be answered.  The prayer of submission is not based on a clear word of promise, but is to hold on to God with a humble and broken heart and ask Him for what the prayer's soul desires (Bound).

This prayer of submission is not a prayer that God will always answer.  If we think of Nehemiah's prayer (Neh. 1:1, 7), it seems to be the second of the two types of prayers mentioned by E. M. Bounds, the prayer of submission (request).  Nehemiah was born and raised in Babylon, a foreign land, because of his ancestors taken captive to Babylon.  He was a Jew who served as “cupbearer to the king” (v. 11) in the palace of Susa (v. 1), one of the royal palaces in Media and Persia.  Here, the king's cupbearer can also be said to be the Prime Minister in today's terms.  His role was to taste the wine to see if it was poisonous or not.  He was the one who held an important position in charge of the king's life.  Furthermore, the cupbearer was a position where he could sit with the king and discuss state affairs with the king.  In today's text, Nehemiah 1:2, he asked Hanani, his brother, and "some other men" from Judah about the people of Judah and the situation in Jerusalem.  Then he heard about his hometown Israel, the rest of the Jews, and Jerusalem: “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire” (v. 3).  Interestingly, the name of Nehemiah's brother, "Hanani," means ‘the Lord is gracious.’  However, from a human point of view, Hanani did not bring God's gracious news to Nehemiah at all.  Pastor Warren Wiersbe's book “Be Determined” summarizes what Nehemiah heard in three ways: (1) Remnant: The news that all the people of the nation of Israel, the protagonists of the Exodus, were all taken captive in the land of Canaan where they lived, and only those left were left, (2) Ruin: The news that the city of Jerusalem was destroyed and the gates were burned, (3) Reproach: The news that the remnant suffered tribulation and were humiliated (Wiersbe).  When Nehemiah heard this, he sat down and wept and mourned for several days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven (v. 4).  He went to God with a broken spirit and prayed.  Hearing the sad news from his homeland, he wept and mourned and prayed to God.  We can learn two lessons from this Nehemiah's prayer.

First, the lesson from Nehemiah's prayer is love for his country.

Nehemiah was interested not only in his people, the Jewish people, but also in Jerusalem.  He had always been interested in Jerusalem, which was the religious center, and the people of Judah, so he asked Hanani and a couple of people from Judah to Medo-Persia about their situation.  If there is no interest, there is a high probability that prayers will be offered habitually rather than sincerely.  If we know how we are doing with interest, what kind of situation we are in, etc., we will be able to pray more actively and concretely with our heart.  Pastor Dong Won Lee said: ‘… Nehemiah was the person who could have lived and eaten well by closing his eyes and blocking his ears to all the circumstances of his own people that were happening around him’ (Lee).  This means that Nehemiah, as a cupbearer for the king of Media and Persia, a powerful nation at the time, lived by the king without any envy in the palace of Susa (the best palace among several palaces in Susa, the capital of the country) where the king was residing and was able to continue to live such an affluent life.  He could have rationalized it like this: 'What would be different if I worried about the reality of my country here?  I can't do anything here etc.'  Therefore, Nehemiah could have ignored the news from his homeland, which was about 800 miles away (Lee).  He was able to turn a blind eye to the reality of his homeland while being satisfied with his position.  But why didn't Nehemiah turn a blind eye to the reality of his homeland?  The reason is because Nehemiah was a man of prayer who loved his country and prayed for intercession.  Those who love their country intercede for it.  But they do not pray habitually.  But they pray with the same interest in their country and with all their heart.  And those who intercede for their homeland hear sad news about their homeland and pray with pain in their hearts.  Why do they pray for their country even when it hurts like this?  The reason is because to love means to receive the other person's wounds (Lee).  Nehemiah was a man of prayer who prayed with the wounds of the people of Judah, his homeland.

Second, the lesson from Nehemiah's prayer is love for God.

Hearing the situation of the Jews and Jerusalem, Nehemiah did not go to King Artaxerxes, but to “the God of heaven” (v. 4) and sat down and wept and mourned and fasted for some days (v. 4).  At that time, the country that held the greatest power in the world was Media and Persia.  And King Artaxerxes, whom Nehemiah served, was the most powerful king in the entire world.  Therefore, Nehemiah could have heard the sad news from his home country and went to ask for help from King Artaxerxes, whom he was serving, rather than going to God.  However, he did not go to ask for help from King Artaxerxes, but rather to the God of heaven.  Why?  The reason was because Nehemiah, as a man of prayer, lived his life looking at God, the King of Kings, rather than King Artaxerxes.  In other words, Nehemiah, a man of prayer, always looked at the Almighty God who gave him that power rather than looking at the king of Medea and Persia, who boasted the greatest power at the time.  That was why he went to the God of heaven in prayer.  Pastor James Packer said this: ‘People who are close to God are more conscious of God than they are conscious of themselves’ (Packer).  Nehemiah, a man of prayer, was a man of God who lived more conscious of God than of man.  Therefore, he did not appeal first to the king, but to God first.  The reason was because he knew that moving God was more important than moving a person.  He knew that when moving a person, God must move that person's heart (Lee).

Nehemiah, a man of prayer, was a man who loved God and also loved his country with God's love.  Therefore, when he heard the news of the devastation of Jerusalem, his home country, and the reproach of the remaining Jews, he mourned for some days and fasted and prayed before God.  He embraced the wounds of his own people, looked only to God, and prayed to God.  He moved God through prayer.  Like Nehemiah, who moved God through prayer, we must become people of prayer.  Also, just as Nehemiah loved Jerusalem, we must love the church, the body of the Lord, with love for God.  And with that love, we must pray for the Lord's church.  Hearing the painful news of the church, we too must seek God like Nehemiah.  Therefore, I earnestly hope and pray that the work of being established as a person of prayer, like Nehemiah, will begin.