Dream Big, Pray Big, Plan Big – Meditations on Nehemiah 2

"And I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, 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 of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy." And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me." (Nehemiah 2:7-8, ESV)

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      Nehemiah did not stop at requesting a leave of absence. He pressed for more concessions: letters granting him what he needed to complete the job. First, he would need safe passage from Susa to Jerusalem, a trek of nearly 1000 miles through the desert. An edict from the emperor would keep him from being apprehended by provincial governors who wondered what a Jew was doing travelling in small caravan. In fact, they might even have served as a sort of police escort to Nehemiah, protecting him from bandits who raided such caravans. Second, he would need the physical material to complete the construction of the gates, the wall, and even a house for himself.

      Were these requests a spur of the moment decision on Nehemiah's part? I don't think so. Notice the detail of the requests. Nehemiah knew that it would require official sanction for him to pass freely through the provinces that lay between Susa and Jerusalem. He was aware of the dangers that existed along the route and knew what would be required to avoid them. He knew the name of the man who was the keeper of the king's forest. He knew that he would need material to construct gates and wall. He foresaw the need for a dwelling for himself. Verse 6 tells us that he set a specific time frame to complete the expedition. If Nehemiah had not been prepared for this encounter with Artaxerxes, chances are he would not have been prepared to make these kinds of requests. Which of us would not have rushed into the opportunity only to think later about what we should have asked?

      It seems to me that Nehemiah had given a lot of thought to what he would need if he should have the opportunity to do something about Jerusalem. When, then, did he take the time to investigate and plan what was needed? It must have been during those four months of fasting and prayer. Here, then, is another lesson that we can learn from Nehemiah.

      Nehemiah dared to dream. There were plenty of reasons for him to doubt his ability to do anything about Jerusalem. After all, he was a cupbearer, not an architect or engineer. But Nehemiah had a promise from God and he allowed himself to think about the possibilities. He prayed, he investigated, he planned, and he dared to believe that God could use him to accomplish something great.

      This needs to be our attitude, too. God has given us some "precious and very great promises" (2 Peter 1:4), promises that appear to be outlandish and impossible. Too often, we limit the possibilities because we think that God will not use someone as insignificant as we are to accomplish such great things. We are afraid to take God at his word, so we qualify our prayers with the phrase "if it be your will." Of course, our requests should be according to God's will, but we ought not use that as a copout because we are scared that God will not give us what we ask.

      Consider some of the promises that God has given us about prayer. Jesus said, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" (John 15:7) and "In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you" (John 16:23). Think about what Paul said in Ephesians 3:20-21: "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

      If you have a promise from God, you are given liberty to be creative about what you ask from God, as long as the requests are in agreement with the promise. You can dare to dream. There is nothing that you can ask, nothing that you can imagine, that is beyond God's ability to accomplish. No, God's ability to do is for more abundant than your ability to dream. Learn from Nehemiah. Refuse to allow your experience to be the measure of your expectation. Dream big, pray big, and plan big. Or as William Carey once wrote, "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God."

"Oh, God, Help Me!" - Meditations on Nehemiah 2

Then the king said to me, "What are you requesting?" So I prayed to the God of heaven. (Nehemiah 2:4, ESV)

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      Nehemiah was devoted to prayer. The task consumed him. He prayed for four months. He prayed day and night. There must have been times when he spent hours in prayer pleading his case before God. There must have been other times that he returned to prayer over and over again throughout the day. The intensity is unmistakable.

      Extended, persistent prayer often is the only kind that is answered. But not all prayer needs to be prolonged. Sometimes prayer needs to be short, punctuated, spur of the moment. Again, Nehemiah is our model.

      Nehemiah finally had the opportunity to speak to Artaxerxes about Jerusalem, but the circumstances scared him. Artaxerxes read something in Nehemiah's face that led him to believe that he was sad – and to display sadness in the presence of the emperor was a mortal offense (Neh. 2:2). When Artaxerxes asked him about it, Nehemiah pursued his prayer and spoke plainly (Neh. 2:3). Artaxerxes pressed him further, "What are you requesting?" he said. Hesitating only long enough to pray to the God of heaven, Nehemiah answered (Neh. 2:4-5). Now not only did Nehemiah appear sad in Artaxerxes's presence, but he was also requesting to leave the ruler's service. He was in a dangerous position, indeed; if God did not come through, he was lost.

      What was it that Nehemiah prayed in that moment? We can't be certain, but we do know that it wasn't like the prayers of the past four months. Artaxerxes had asked a question; Nehemiah needed to answer immediately. In that moment, Nehemiah must have recalled the specific request he had spoken to God: "Give me success! Give me mercy!" (Neh. 1:11). It was a quick shot, a rapid glance in God's direction: "God help me to do this!" He wasn't asking God to get him out of the situation. He was asking God to get him through it. He determined to make his request plainly and trust God with the outcome.

      Perhaps the most significant thing about Nehemiah's short prayer has to do, not with the prayer itself, but with the man. He was facing a life or death situation and his first response was to speak with God. There was no effort at manipulation. He did not attempt to excuse or extricate himself. He abandoned himself to God's sovereign mercy. Now what kind of person automatically defaults to God, not for deliverance but for success, in a situation like that? The person who is regularly in communion with God. Nehemiah's spontaneous prayer grew out of his deliberate prayer. And both forms of prayer were the natural dynamics of a man whose life was about relationship with God.

      You may have had people encourage you to pray by noting that you can pray anywhere – you can pray in the shower, you can pray while washing the dishes, you can pray while driving (just don't close your eyes!). This is absolutely true. You have freedom through Christ to approach God boldly – anytime, anywhere. But you will never have spontaneity in prayer until you have developed a discipline of prayer. Our minds just aren't wired to default to God when we aren't busy about "religious" activities. On the other hand, if all the praying you do is during a scheduled quiet time and it never spills over into the activities of your afternoons, then maybe your prayers lack the intimacy that should attend them.

      The point is this: prayer should be both planned and spontaneous. You should be intentional about when and how you pray; you need to make room for it and do it. And you should catch yourself looking and speaking to God throughout the day, unplanned and unorchestrated. These are two elements of any vital relationship: planned and unplanned, scheduled and unscheduled interaction. A life of prayer is, after all, a life of relationship and a life devoted to prayer is a life devoted to knowing and communing with God.

Pursue Your Prayers - Meditations on Nehemiah 2

"'O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.' Now I was cupbearer to the king." (Nehemiah 1:11, ESV)

 "I said to the king, 'Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?'" (Nehemiah 2:3, ESV)

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      This lesson is an important one for us to learn. We generally lean in one of two directions. We might pray earnestly and persistently and then expect God to answer our prayers in miraculous ways without us at all being involved. Or we may pray little (or not at all) and then expend ourselves as if the answer depended entirely on our own effort. Nehemiah shows us a better way, a way that I like to call "pursuing your prayers."

      We saw last week that Nehemiah claimed God's promise concerning Jerusalem. We saw that he looked to God's character and so was convinced that God would certainly do what he had promised. Being thus convinced, he lived in such a way to obtain the answer that he knew would come, even if he did not know when or how.

      When we read in chapter 2 that Artaxerxes asked Nehemiah about his "sadness of heart," we may be inclined to think that it was a chance encounter or that Nehemiah was unprepared for the question. But notice how Nehemiah ended his prayer in chapter 1. He asked God to give him success and mercy in the sight of Artaxerxes. He anticipated that there would come a time when he would be able to address his concern to the king.

      The text tells us that four months elapsed between the report from Hanani and Nehemiah's conversation with Artaxerxes, but we don't know how much time elapsed between the recorded prayer and the conversation. I am inclined to believe that it was a relatively short time. Nehemiah had been fasting and praying for many days before he spoke the prayer. It is possible that the "many days" took up most of those four months. In any case, Nehemiah was preparing himself to be used by God to fulfill what he was asking God to do. When the opportunity came, Nehemiah recognized it and acted. He moved forward expecting God to grant the success that he had so earnestly prayed for.

      The Bible is filled with stories of men and women who prayed and lived like this. Sometimes God gives clear direction about what people are to do in order to receive the answer to prayer. For example, when the kings of Israel and Judah were conducting a military campaign against Moab, their armies were nearly lost for a lack of water. When they consulted Elisha about the problem, the Lord told them to "make this valley full of trenches" (2 Kings 3:16, NASB). After they had done so, God sent water, without wind or rain, to fill the trenches.

      There are other times when God does not give specific directions. He simply encourages the one praying to rely on his character and promise and expects that person to live as if the prayer is already answered. This was the case with the disciples in Jerusalem after the ascension of Jesus. Acts 4:23-30 tells us of the believers' prayer after Peter and John had been threatened by the Jewish high council. Like Nehemiah, they remembered God's character and promise and then asked God to grant them boldness even in the face of persecution. Verse 31 says that after they prayed, they were "filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness." They asked God and then acted on the request that they had made.

      How does your life measure up with these examples? Are you praying for God to do something in your life? Does that request carry with it the authority of God's promise and character? If so, are you living like your prayer has been answered, even if you can't see it yet? Perhaps God is waiting for you to dig a trench. Or perhaps he is waiting for you to take a step in the direction of your prayers. That step may be what God uses to part the river between your prayer and its answer (cf., Joshua 3:15-16).

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).

Encouragement from the Past - Meditations on Nehemiah 1

"They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand." (Nehemiah 1:10, ESV)

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When Nehemiah looked toward the future, he found great comfort in the character and promise of God. God had given a specific promise that applied to this very situation, and his character guaranteed his promise. Here in verse 10 we find a third component that bolstered Nehemiah's faith and hope. He had the record of God's actions in the past. God had delivered his people from slavery in Egypt, he had led them to victory over all the nations of Canaan. He had preserved them from their enemies for centuries. By weighing God's promises against what God had already done, Nehemiah was able to see that his present situation was not beyond God's "great power" and "strong hand".

The past is filled with stories of God's power and faithfulness, both in the Bible and throughout history. All of these stories are to serve a purpose for us: to lead us to hope. Paul says in Romans 15:4, "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."  By reading the Bible and Christian history and biography, we see how God has worked in the lives of other people. We see how these people claimed God's promises and experienced God's delivery. We see them struggle and suffer and fail. We notice that they are not so different from us. If God worked like that for them, if his promises were realized in their lives, then certainly God can be trusted in our lives - this is the point of Hebrews 11.

Some people may object. Does God still enable 90-year-old women to get pregnant (Genesis 17:17), make young men fireproof (Daniel 3:25), and cause big fish to swallow men whole (Jonah 1:17)? Not usually, but make no mistake, God has not changed (Psalm 102:27; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8). His specific actions may be different, but his power to accomplish his promise, and his character which governs his action, is the same today as it was in the days of Abraham, Daniel, and Jonah.

       God has given us the threefold cord of his promise, his character, and the record of history.  If a person you did not know came up to you and promised you great riches, you would not be inclined to believe. If, however, that person identified himself as Ed McMahon, your reaction would be quite different. Why? Because you know that when Ed McMahon has shown up at other people's houses and made a similar promise, the person received what was promised. God's track record is better than Ed McMahon's. Look to the past, find out for yourself how he has proven himself faithful for others. And then ask yourself, "Isn't God worthy of my confidence?"

Claim God's Promises - Meditations on Nehemiah 1

"Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’" (Nehemiah 1:8-9, ESV)

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           Oswald Chambers once wrote: “Prayer to Him is not a means of getting things from God. Prayer, that is, is not to be used as the petted privilege of a spoiled child seeking for ideal conditions in which to indulge his spiritual propensities” (If Ye Shall Ask…, 11). And, yet, how often do we come to prayer with this very attitude? We generally pray with an agenda; we tell God everything that we want to see happen. We treat God like a cosmic vending machine – if we pay the price (express the right emotions and urgency) and push the right buttons (use the right words), then God may hear us. But this kind of praying is not genuine prayer.

            We have noted that Nehemiah remembered God’s character and he confessed his and Judah’s sins. Now we see that he claimed God’s promise. This is not an incidental detail. Knowing and claiming God’s promises is one of the fundamental aspects of prayer. Moses, David, Jeremiah, and Paul each modeled this practice in their prayers. Notice three things about Nehemiah’s prayer:

            First, Nehemiah claimed God’s promise concerning exile and restoration (Deuteronomy 4:25-31; 30:1-5; cf. Leviticus 26:14-46). Because God had made a specific promise that pertained to Nehemiah’s exact position, Nehemiah did not have to wonder what God’s will was. He knew. The good news for us is that God has made many such promises. The Bible is filled with them. They apply to every circumstance in life, sometimes specifically, sometimes in general principle. If we come to prayer armed with these promises, we won’t have to wonder how we ought to pray. This should motivate us to read our Bibles – soak it up, hide it in our hearts, meditate on it day and night. Then, no matter what may happen, we can say with confidence, “There’s a promise for that!”

            Second, Nehemiah prayed with boldness. There is a tendency to be timid in prayer. We think that maybe God won’t hear us or that our concerns are not important enough for him to be concerned. On the other hand, there are those who say that God will grant whatever we ask for if we just have enough faith. This kind of prayer is presumption. Claiming the promises of God keeps us from both extremes. We may be bold because we are simply asking God to do what he has said he would do, and we avoid presumption because we aren’t asking God to do anything that he has not already committed himself to do.

            Finally, notice that claiming God’s promises is closely related to remembering God’s character. Nehemiah was able to claim God’s promises with boldness because he understood God’s sovereignty, faithfulness, and steadfast love. God’s sovereignty is such that he cannot be prevented from doing what he has promised. No obstacle is too great for him to overcome (Genesis 18:14; Job 42:2; Jeremiah 32:17, 27; Luke 1:37; Romans 4:20-21). God’s faithfulness is unwavering. It is impossible for him to lie, or even to be mistaken. Nor will he change his mind (Hebrews 6:18; Titus 1:2; Numbers 23:19). God’s love is unbounded. He has made these promises to us because he loves us, not because he had to. It is his delight to bless us, so we will not be met with refusal when we ask him to do what he has promised (Jeremiah 32:41; Ephesians 3:18-21; Hebrews 11:6).

How to Confess Your Sin - Meditations on Nehemiah 1

"Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses." (Nehemiah 1:6-7, ESV)

If we are to pray well, we must be real about the circumstances of our lives. This means that sin needs to be confronted, owned, and confessed. Nehemiah did not simply plead with God based on a belief that God hears prayer. He did not lay trust in his own earnestness to gain results. He looked at the situation and was honest about what had caused it. This is hard for us to do. We don’t like airing our dirty laundry. But this we must do if our prayers are to be heard and our past healed.

There are four things in Nehemiah’s prayer that we should keep in mind when confessing sin:

1. Nehemiah took his time. He fasted and prayed before the Lord for many days (Nehemiah 1:4). He prayed day and night (1:6). Nehemiah did not allow himself to fall into the trap of easy confession. He allowed himself to feel the guilt and grief that sin had caused. We must be careful of being too quick with our confessions. A simple utterance of words does not bring forgiveness where the weight of sin is not felt and grieved. This does not mean that we should be depressed all the time. The morning of joy and freedom must follow the night of grief, but the ones who most appreciate the morning are those who have endured the long hours of night. The next three items help us to do what Nehemiah did here.

2. Nehemiah confessed the sins of the people of Israel. Although these sins are not enumerated here, the implication is that Nehemiah named specific sins. Again, the human temptation is to generalize and minimize. Nobody likes to give exact details of what they did when they sinned. It’s easier and safer (or so we assume) to confess anger than it is to confess the specific words spoken in a fit of rage and why that outburst was wrong.

3. Nehemiah admitted his own personal guilt: “Even I and my father’s house have sinned.” Since Adam, the tendency has been to shift the blame. It would have been easy for Nehemiah to excuse himself, to leave the guilt at the feet of his ancestors. They were the ones who had rebelled against the Lord and forsaken the covenant. It was their sin that brought exile and led to the destruction of Jerusalem. But Nehemiah put himself in the camp of those responsible. He recognized that he had failed to live perfectly, just has they had failed. He was willing to let the responsibility lay on his shoulders. We, too, must be willing to take personal responsibility for sin. Even if we have reason to point the finger at others, in prayer this practice is unwarranted. We cannot do anything about another person’s conscience. We can only be real about ourselves.

4. Nehemiah acknowledged that it was God against whom the sin had been committed: “we have sinned against you.” These words remind us of David’s confession. David had seduced another man’s wife, got her pregnant, and then had her husband murdered to cover up his sin. In his confession, he cried to the Lord: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4). David was not denying the evil that he had committed against Uriah and Bathsheba. He was acknowledging that, ultimately, every sin is a sin against God. This is what Nehemiah confesses as well. The sins of Israel, and his own sins, though perpetrated against many individuals and even against themselves, were ultimately perpetrated against God. When we confess sin, we too must see our sin in an ultimate sense. We have offended God, we have violated his commandments, we are guilty before him.

 
God has given us great encouragement to be this real about our sin. Although we are all guilty, God has provided a guaranteed way of forgiveness in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:23-24). Jesus, although himself innocent, died on a cross in order to take on himself the penalty that our sin deserves (Galatians 3:13). Those who trust in him are made righteous, declared innocent of all guilt (Romans 4:24-25). To them, the unconquerable promise is made: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

God's Character, the Foundation of Prayer – Meditations on Nehemiah 1

And I said, "O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments" (Nehemiah 1:5).

 
Nehemiah knew what to do about his depression and about the situation in Jerusalem. He says that for many days he continued to fast and pray before the God of heaven (Nehemiah 1:4). Nehemiah's prayer is a model for us as we look to overcome the shame of our past. But more than that, it is a model for how we should pray in general.

The first thing that Nehemiah did was to remember God's character. By character, I mean the qualities of God's person that define who he is. For example, we have heard it said that God is love. We also know that God is just. This means that everything that God does is both loving and right. To do otherwise would compromise God and prove him to be something other than he is. It is impossible for him ever to act in a way that is contrary to his character.

The qualities of God's character that Nehemiah points out are his sovereignty, faithfulness, and love. Nehemiah addressed God as "Lord God of heaven" (v. 5). This expression does not mean that God lives in heaven. This is not "the man upstairs" theology. It is a phrase that emphasizes that God's rule is not limited to any place on earth. In Nehemiah's time, each nation believed in their own god or gods - Babylon had her own gods, Egypt had her own gods, Assyria had her own gods. Nehemiah's address to God meant that he recognized God as the sovereign ruler of everything. Even those who did not recognize him were under his dominion. Nehemiah was praying, "God, I know that you are in control and rule over every part of this earth. You are in control of what is happening in Jerusalem and you are in control over Artaxerxes. I am bringing my case before you because you are sovereign. You are the only one who can remove this shame and restore Jerusalem.

Nehemiah then mentions God's faithfulness and love in an expression that is reminiscent of the words God spoke to Moses (Exodus 34:6-7; Deuteronomy 7:9). He says first that God keeps covenant. A covenant was a sacred agreement between two parties, in this case between God and Israel. In this covenant, God promised to bless Israel if she was faithful to him. The idea that God keeps covenant means that God is faithful to do what he promised to do. Nehemiah is here saying, "God, I know that everything you have promised will come to pass. You are faithful to your word, and able to accomplish your word, so when you speak I know that it will be done."

Finally, Nehemiah says that God keeps steadfast love. The word for steadfast love is one word in Hebrew - chesed- and is sometimes translated lovingkindess. This word was used to signify God's unfailing, loyal affection for those with whom he is in covenant. It is his settled disposition. In other words, God's chesed means that he is committed to Israel's wellbeing, blessing, and happiness. And since he is both sovereign (able to accomplish his promise) and faithful, Israel should be a very happy people, indeed. Nehemiah, then, is praying, "Lord, I know that you are committed to this people's happiness. You are not simply bound to bless us because you promised, but you love us and long to bless us."

When it comes to our own prayer life, we need to be immersed in an understanding of who God is. Our prayers should be saturated with an awareness of the one with whom we speak. God has not changed. He is still sovereign over every circumstance of your life. He is still faithful to do what he has spoken; he would cease to be God before his promises fail. He is still abounds in chesed, steadfast love for you; he is committed to your good.

There is one place that we may look to see all of these attributes at work and on display - the cross of Jesus Christ. In the cross, God demonstrated his sovereignty. Jesus was betrayed, tried, condemned, and executed according to the plan of God (Acts 2:23; 4:28). The most horrific act in history, the murder of the Son of God, was sovereignly directed by God to accomplish the greatest good for man and the greatest glory for God. In the cross, God demonstrated his faithfulness. God had promised to send a Savior. He had said that this Savior would suffer and bear the sins of his people (Isaiah 53). This promise, as well as many others, was fulfilled in Christ. And in the cross of Christ, God demonstrated his unfailing love. Paul writes, "For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:7-8). May God's sovereignty, faithfulness, and love drive you, and me, to prayer this week.