"Begin Again" Devotional - Pt. 5 (Nehemiah 1:5-11)

5 Then I said, "O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, 6 listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! 7 We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, laws, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses. 8 "Please remember what you told your servant Moses: 'If you sin, I will scatter you among the nations. 9 But if you return to me and obey my commands, even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.' 10 "We are your servants, the people you rescued by your great power and might. 11 O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success now as I go to ask the king for a great favor. Put it into his heart to be kind to me."In those days I was the king's cup-bearer. - Nehemiah 1:5-11 (NLT)

After his initial distress at hearing about the wall in Jerusalem, Nehemiah began to pray about the situation. There is a lot that we can learn about prayer by dissecting Nehemiah's prayer to the Lord. In his prayer, Nehemiah:

1. Acknowledges who God is
2. Entreats the Lord to listen to him
3. Asks the Lord to see him praying for the people of God
4. Confessed the sins of his people, his family and himself
5. Explained how they had all sinned against the Lord
6. Remembered what Moses had said the Lord would do if the people disobeyed Him
7. Reminded the Lord that they were still His people
8. Asked the Lord to rescue them
9. Asks the Lord to hear his request and grant him favor with the king

Nehemiah was the king's cup-bearer. To approach the king outside of his "official" duties, could have been disastrous. It could have cost him his life (recall the king's cup-bearer in Genesis 40).

What do you say to the Lord when your life, or the lives of people within your spiritual and/or natural family, have fallen apart?

For an inductive Bible study on the above-scripture, please go to Bible Study for Busy People.