A Four Month Affair - Meditations on Nehemiah 2

Allow me to draw your attention once more to Nehemiah’s prayer life. We read in chapter one that Nehemiah fasted and prayed for many days (Neh. 1:4). Now, in chapter 2, we find out just how long he prayed. He had received the report of Jerusalem in the month of Chislev, the ninth month of the Jewish calendar year. The events of this chapter take place in Nisan, the first month. So, if we are to understand the implications of the text clearly, this means that Nehemiah prayed day and night (Neh. 1:6) for four months. We should learn something from his example.

We live in what has been called a “microwave culture.” I suppose that the metaphor can be changed to a “wi-fi” or “4G” culture – anything that connotes hurriedness. We are not accustomed to having to wait for anything. Nor are we accustomed to beg for the things that we want. We ask and expect to receive immediately. Anything worth having is worth having now.

Prayer is no exception. We are not a people characterized by the kind of habitual, long-term prayer displayed by Nehemiah. We are strangers to the kind of labor that prayer often demands. Our prayers are typically short-lived – not to mention their short durations. If God does not answer us quickly, then the answer, according to our reasoning, must be “no.” So we stop praying.

When we look to the Bible, we find that Nehemiah’s commitment to prayer is not an anomaly. Instead, his is an example of the kind of prayer found repeatedly in the Bible. Jesus is very clear about this. He stressed the importance of persistent prayer: keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking (Luke 11:5-9). He encouraged his followers with examples of earnest, committed prayer in order to demonstrate that they “ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1-8). Paul urged the same thing upon his readers (Rom. 12:12; Eph. 6:18; Col. 4:2; 1 Thess. 5:17).

George Mueller is a modern example of the kind of protracted prayer that Nehemiah practiced. Mueller lived in Bristol, England during the 19^th century. During his lifetime, he opened 5 large orphanages and cared for more than ten thousand orphans. Although he was known this and other works, he was best known as a man of prayer.

Mueller never asked any person for anything. Instead, he prayed about everything, and expected God to answer. There were times when he would continue for weeks, months, or even years, in prayer for a single request. But he did not give up or lose heart if there was a promise from God concerning the thing for which he was praying. Here is his own testimony, which I quote at length:

“All the children of God, when once satisfied that anything which they bring before God in prayer, is according to His will, ought to continue in believing, expecting, persevering prayer until the blessing is granted. Thus am I myself now waiting upon God for certain blessings, for which I have daily besought Him for ten years and six months without one day’s intermission. Still the full answer is not yet given concerning the conversion of certain individuals, though in the meantime I have received many thousands of answers to prayer. I have also prayed daily without intermission for the conversion of other individuals about ten years, for others six or seven years, for others from three or two years; and still the answer is not yet granted concerning those persons, while in the meantime many thousands of my prayers have been answered…One can only expect to obtain answers to prayers which are according to the mind of God; and even then, patience and faith may be exercised for many years, even as mine are exercised, in the matter to which I have referred; and yet am I daily continuing in prayer, and expecting the answer, and so surely expecting the answer, that I have often thanked God that He will surely give it, though now for nineteen years faith and patience have thus been exercised.”

          Both Nehemiah and George Mueller are our examples in the life of prayer. Prayer is a great and serious matter that deals with issues of eternal significance. Surely, if God has been kind enough to allow us a part in it, we should be willing to invest ourselves, our time and our energy, in this great work. Sometimes the answer does not come quickly, but if there is a promise of God that we may lay hold of in our prayers, we can be sure that the answer will come eventually. Let us not lose heart; what God has spoken with his mouth, he will perform with his hand (1 Kings 8:24).