The greeting.
Grace, peace, and mercy to you in the Name of Jesus Christ.
The Word of God.
Please turn in your Bible to Nehemiah chapter two. I will read from verse one to verse eight. Let me also add Nehemiah 1:11.B into our reading. Hear the word of the Lord – read.
Nehemiah 1:11.B. Now I was the cupbearer to the king.
Nehemiah 2:1. And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 I said to the king, “If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” 6 Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time. 7 And I said to the king, “If it please the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.” And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.
The prayer.
Let’s go to God in prayer – pray.
The prayer of Nehemiah.
In our previous two sermons we looked at Nehemiah fasting and praying before the Lord over the sad news of the suffering of the Jews that had returned to Judah. (Neh.1:4-11)
The divine answer of the prayer of Nehemiah.
Today we are going to see that God answers Nehemiah’s prayer.
The outline.
Two basic points tonight, the larger idea that God answers prayers, Then, how and why (potentially) God specifically answers Nehemiah’s prayer in Nehemiah 2:1-8.
The scriptural promises that God answers prayer.
First let’s start off with some promises of God to His people that He does in fact answer prayers made to Him (rightly).
Jeremiah 29:11. For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’
Psalm 145:15. The eyes of all look to You, And You give them their food in due time. 16 You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. 17 The LORD is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds. 18 The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. 19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them. 20 The LORD keeps all who love Him. (Psalm 18:6, Mt.6:6)
Hebrews 4:13. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. 14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Some general lessons we learn about God answering the prayers of His people:
- God is.
- God takes man into union and communion with Himself.
- And thus, God enables man to converse with God and to receive and respond to God’s voice to man.
God is. The atheist is wrong. God is active in His creation. And He is intimately active in His creation. The deist is wrong. And He is over His creation – He governs. The pantheist is also wrong.
The kind of prayers that God answers.
But I think it will be helpful for us to remind ourselves of the kind of prayer that Nehemiah makes to God that God in turn answers.
As I say “the kind of prayer” I am implying that there are prayers that God does not answer. Perhaps I can touch on this as we go through the sermon. (WCF 21.1-3)
But it is God’s prerogative to say yes and also to say no. And also, to say nothing. (Dan.4:34-37)
All answered prayer is of grace, a gift from God. No man can put God in obligation to man. Except of course the God-Man Christ Jesus, but even His coming is of grace.
Heart-felt believing prayer.
He wept and mourned for days. He sat down and fasted and prayed for days. Please do not miss that. When we see that God answers Nehemiah’s prayers, we see that God answered his sincere heart-felt intense or fervent prayers.
Nehemiah was not offering to God some lukewarm semi-interested or semi-sincere request. God answered a prayer offered to Him with passion, with a broken heart.
Our heart towards God is the chief thing in our holy religion. The outward postures are significant only if they are tied to a heart that believes in God rightly and is honestly trusting in God – in prayer. (Phil.4:6-7, Rom.12:2, Jer.33:3)
The other thing is that God answered prayers that were made to Him with intensity and with duration, over many days. And the idea from chapter one is that Nehemiah was busy in prayer from morning to evening – for days.
Let me point out how long Nehemiah has been praying like this.
Nehemiah 1:1. The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol,
Nehemiah 2:1. And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.
Chislev is November-December. And Nisan is March-April.
Nehemiah has been praying like this for four months!
Beloved, I want you to think of that. Have you ever in your whole life prayed to God like that?
What this reveals is that Nehemiah prayed to God in faith. Nehemiah believed in God, believed-believed. And he prayed to God believing that God hears his prayers, and that God is able to answer his prayers
Listen to Jesus tells His disciples to believe what they pray to God.
Matthew 21:21. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Mk.11:24, I Jn.5:14, James 1:6, John 15:16, John 14:13)
This is how God through James tells Believers to pray believing.
James 5:13. Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.
Intercessory prayer for others.
Another thing we see about the nature of Nehemiah’s prayer that is answered by God is that it is an intercessory prayer, Nehemiah first and foremost prays for the welfare of others.
This is in imitation of Christ, Father forgive them they know not what they do. Christ came to serve and not to be served. Christ tells us that His greatest ministers are those that are the greatest servants to Christ’s lambs. (Mt.20:28, Mt.23:11, Phil.2:1-11)
You remember how and why God answered Solomon’s prayer? Solomon prayed for wisdom to best lead God’s people. And so God gave him even more than he asked for. (2 Chron.7:11-22)
Seeking God to bless others pleases God.
The particular divine answer to Nehemiah’s prayer.
Now let’s come to the how God particularly answered Nehemiah’s particular prayer.
You remember in Nehemiah 1:5-10 Nehemiah prayed for God to relieve the suffering Jewish people in Judah. And then in Nehemiah 1:11 he prays for himself last. But the prayer for himself is going to be tied to the request to help God’s children.
A thinking request.
Nehemiah plans to ask the Persian king Artaxerxes to help the Jews. And he has a plan in mind.
Stop right there for a moment. Sometimes when we pray and make a petition to God, we ask for something very specific. But on other times we just ask for something general.
For example, O God restored my health. The how and the when we leave to God because sometimes we don’t even know how it could be done.
But on other times we do have a thought or a plan on something, and then we ask God to bless what we are thinking and planning. Of course, God is utterly free to disregard our request, or to use other means.
In this instance with Nehemiah, he is not directing God. It is not wrong or improper to pray this way to God.
In other words, praying for God to bless a plan is not contrary to praying to God, Thy will be done. Remember even when Jesus prayed this way, previously He prayed something very specific, if it is possible Father, take this cup from Me, but if not – Thy will be done. (Lk.22:42)
We plan. We pray over our plan. And then we pray – Thy will be done. (Mt.6:10)
Think of it this way.
What we are seeing with Nehemiah is that he is actively thinking in his prayer to God.
Beloved, God answers prayer that costs His people mind-energy, mind-time, mind-effort, real thinking prayer. Christ says we are to love God with all our mind. (Mt.22:37)
How many “prayers” have we ever made to God where our mind was not really active in the words we used? How many times have you prayed the “Lord’s Prayer” on auto-pilot! I have been guilty of this probably thousands of times, certainly in my youth. Mindless prayers are prayerless prayers, not prayer at all.
Nehemiah knows that God is the Primary Mover. He knows that God has ordained all things. (Eph.1:11, WCF 5.1)
But he also knows that God ordinarily uses ordinary means to accomplish His ends, particularly in the government of His creation.
Here is how our secondary standards summarize our Primary Standard on this.
WCF 5.2 Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably, and infallibly;(1) yet, by the same providence, He ordereth them to fall out according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.(2) (1) Acts 2:23. (2) Gen. 8:22; Jer. 31:35; Exod. 21:13; Deut. 19:5; 1 Kings 22:28,34; Isa. 10:6,7.
See that Nehemiah does not pray for a miracle per se. He does not pray for God to make a new wall out of nothing, or food stuffs out of nothing, which God could and can do.
But God ordinarily blesses the ordinary means to accomplish his will.
So, he engages his heart and mind and comes up with a plan concerning those secondary means and he asks God to bless those secondary means, to make them effectual.
You see, we do till the ground, we do plant the seed, we do water the seed, but the entire time we do these activities we are praying to God to cause the growth.
Nehemiah uses his station to help God’s people.
Now we see here how Nehemiah is using his station in life as a means to potentially help God’s people.
Nehemiah 1:11.B. Now I was the cupbearer to the king.
The access to the king.
This means he has acceptable and regular access to the king Artaxerxes.
Nehemiah 2:1. And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king.
Think of Joseph of Arimathea, he used his position of station, with wealth, influence to gain access to Pilate – for the purpose of burying the body of our Lord. (Lk.23:50-56)
Nehemiah 2:1.B. Now I had not been sad in his presence.
The initiation of the request of the king – by providence.
Apparently, Nehemiah is not trying to “look sad” so as to solicit an inquiry by the king. But evidently, he was not able to hide what was truly in his heart.
Now to this, religious play-actors do change their religious face-mask in order to manipulate people to do what they want or to think what they want. The Pharisees were master religious play-actors, putting on a sad face to show the world they were fasting, so men would think them religious. (Mt.6:1-15, Mt.5:20)
This is the opposite of Nehemiah.
Often times what we are thinking about does reflect itself on our face in particular.
What is that proverb? The eyes are the window to the soul. Our outward face reflects our inward soul. (Mt.6:22-24)
But here I would say that God is now providentially answering Nehemiah’s prayer. Now the conversation with the king about the Jews is about to begin.
Nehemiah 2:2. So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.”
Nehemiah 2:2.B. Then I was very much afraid.
Question. Why is Nehemiah afraid? And is he right to be afraid of this king? After all Nehemiah is a Believer in God. And the Bible tells us to fear God and not to fear Man. (Prov.29:25)
He is rightly afraid because these ancient kings were total monarchs, they held the power of life or death.
Fearing death is normal. And where lawful and prudent we ought to take steps to preserve our life and not to endanger our life improperly. See the WLC 134-136 on the Sixth Commandment.
Improper fear of man is when we fear man higher than God. This Nehemiah does not do, because he is about to put his life on the line.
The request of the king – culturally framed.
Nehemiah 2:3. I said to the king, “Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?”
Now what I want us to see here is that by this expression Nehemiah has indicated to the king that he has a request of the king, but he does so in a culturally acceptable way, in an indirect way.
This means that he used graced wisdom in making his request to this pagan king.
We know this because we see the king’s reaction.
In addition, what Nehemiah is conveying to this pagan king is that he is a Jew, and the suffering Jews are his people.
Would king Artaxerxes have known that Nehemiah was a Jew? Of course. But still this is quite brave on his behalf. This is similar to queen Esther making herself known as a Jewess to the pagan king. (Esther 2:10, Esther 4:12-17)
Nehemiah is putting his life on the line before the king making this request of the king – for the welfare of the Jewish people, his people. Willing to die for the brothers.
This is like being put into a situation where you have to openly profess your allegiance to Christ before those that reject Christ. This takes faith and courageous faith at that. (Mt.10:32-33)
All of this adds to the intensity and solemnity of his faith. Again, this is the kind of prayer that pleases God. He is walking by faith. Moving and praying. Praying and moving.
Nehemiah 2:4. Then the king said to me, “What would you request?”
The request of The King.
Nehemiah 2:4.B. So I prayed to the God of heaven.
Here is where we see what is known as “spontaneous prayer”, this is prayer that we make in an instant to God. This is an expression of our constant dependence upon God, as well as our constant communion with God. This is the Coram Deo principle.
And of course, this prayer no doubt was made quickly and silently. Silent to this earthly king but audible to the true heavenly King.
The request of the king specifically given.
This is Nehemiah’s request of the king:
Nehemiah 2:5. I said to the king, “If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” 6 Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time. 7 And I said to the king, “If it please the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.”
- He wants the king to send him to Jerusalem on a commission from the king, so on official kingly business.
- He wants the king to commission him to help with the rebuilding of the Jerusalem wall.
- He wants the king to finance the rebuilding project, and he is even more specific as he asks for the timber and a official letter to the kings servant over the king’s forest.
Now, he is not being impertinent. He is being precise. And what this does for the king is it relieves the king from trying to figure out how to carry out a general request. This again is graced wisdom.
The approval of the king – as moved by God.
You see lack of faith or belief in the true God does not annul the power of God over anyone or anything. God is. God is omnipotent. And God is for His people.
And God will move those that are not His people to help His people.
Nehemiah 2:8.B. And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.
Proverbs 21:1. The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.
The Primary Mover is moving the secondary agent.
The conclusion.
May we be a people that believe that God answers prayer.
May we be a people that pray constantly to God for all our needs.
May we be a people that look expectantly for God to answer our prayers.
And may we live praising and thanking Him for His answers.
Amen
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