The Greatest Force on Earth | Nehemiah 1:5–11 | Message 2
Then I said:
“Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
“Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’
“They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”
I was cupbearer to the king.
“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. That is the supreme result of leadership. When you step into leadership, you can ignite inspiration in yourself, your spouse, your children, your friends, your coworkers, and countless others to become the person God created them to be.
The name Nehemiah means “the Lord has comforted,” while his father’s name, Hacaliah, means “wait for the Lord.” Together, those names capture the essence of the man: a leader strengthened by divine comfort and seasoned by patient waiting. Nehemiah embodied leadership strengths that we desperately need to study and emulate.
First and foremost—and woven throughout his entire career—Nehemiah prayed as only a true leader prays. His prayers were of a different depth, a different intensity. Twelve times Scripture records that with every decision and every crisis, Nehemiah prayed to the God of heaven—sometimes with anguish, often with tears (1:4, 6; 4:4, 9; 5:19, 14; 9:5; 13:14, 22, 29, 31). In this teaching, we will learn the way a leader prays. A genuine leader prays differently.
Someone once said God answers prayer in three ways: yes, no, and wait. Yet in our instant-gratification age, we want answers as quick as the snap of our fingers. Nehemiah shows us that God has a sacred timetable, a divine rhythm for answering prayer. Perhaps his father Hacaliah instilled in him the priceless value of waiting on the Lord.
Now recall the setting:
“In the late autumn, in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was in the fortress of Susa. They said to me, ‘Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire’” (1:1, 3).
Kislev, the ninth month of the Hebrew calendar, in 445 B.C. began around November 24 and ended December 22. Nehemiah is heartbroken. He weeps, fasts, and prays with fervor. But notice this: he does not approach Artaxerxes until the month of Nisan—March or April, 444 B.C. (2:1). That means Nehemiah prayed relentlessly for four months before taking action to address Jerusalem’s devastation.
Do you wait on God when you pray? Or do you rush into action before heaven opens the door?
From Nehemiah, we glean invaluable insights: poise under pressure, precision in action, and the rare wisdom to wait for the right moment. Nothing invites disaster more quickly than speaking too soon or manipulating circumstances instead of depending on God in prayer. Learn from this remarkable leader and embrace his seven strategies of prayer.
Final thought: Problems that cause pain always produce spiritual gain. And no question about it: “Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.”
