Closing with Prayer (Nehemiah 13:31)

This prayer was offered to God by Nehemiah, a patriot burdened about the ongoing recovery of his people, who led the government of Judah on two occasions. The first period lasted for twelve years, and it was followed by some time in Babylon. Then he came back to Jerusalem and governed for a second time. No one knows how long this second period lasted. All we have about it, after he corrected the problems listed in Chapter 13 of Nehemiah, is this verse.

Several features of Nehemiah’s character are found in both periods, and it is useful for us to remind ourselves of them, because it is inevitable that a person’s character affects his prayer life. An obvious feature was his desire that God’s people should have security in a difficult world, surrounded by enemies, and he revealed his desire in his determination to build the wall during his first term, although he discovered in his second term that the wall had to be used properly by ensuring that its gates were closed on the Sabbath.

Another feature was his desire that God’s people should serve God in the ways that he appointed in his Word, revealed earlier during the first period in his involvement in the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles that closely followed divine instructions in the Pentateuch, and revealed later during his second term when he called the people back to a wholehearted commitment to the Lord.

A third feature was his aim that God’s people should live differently from the peoples around them, which he arranged by causing them not to engage in inappropriate marriages to pagans or to use the God-given Sabbath as if it were like any other day. Those practices when fully adopted by them would distinguish the Jews from all others, and so it was important for Nehemiah that they adhere faithfully to them.

And a fourth feature was his practice of prayer. The Book of Nehemiah has several references to his prayers, and it is not surprising that it closes with one of his petitions. In Chapter 1 we have his prayer of response when he was given information about the dismal state of affairs in Jerusalem, and at the commencement of Chapter 2 there is the reference to his well-known arrow prayer that he made to God between hearing the emperor’s request to him and him answering the emperor clearly and truthfully. Thereafter several references are made to his prayers during his first term as governor. His commitment to prayer was revealed also in his second term as we can see in his responses to the wrong actions described in Chapter 13.

As has been mentioned, the man who made this request was a politician, a man who knew the times in which he lived, and who had strong contact with the powerful of this world. It would have been possible for him to ask his human master in the Persian palace to get involved in the problems in Jerusalem. Yet he had a better preference to whom he could commend his efforts. The One to help him, he realised, was the God of heaven, the Almighty. He could not rely on the emperor, because he would not be around forever. Nor could he rely on the people of God. The previous verses of  Chapter 13 reveal how easy it was for them to backslide away from their own commitment to the Lord. Nehemiah could look on them in love, but he could not look on them with the certainty that they would remain faithful. The One that he could look to at all times was the God of heaven.

Features of his prayer

There are some obvious features of this petition. I don’t think we should assume that all he said to the Lord were the few words of this petition. Rather we should regard the petition as the thrust of his cries to God. Allow me to suggest three features for us to note from this prayer.

First, his prayer was simple. Sometimes it is suggested that prayers should be simple so that others around a petitioner can follow his words. But what if a person is praying by himself? I would suggest that often there is also a need for the petitioner to keep his comments simple so that he can remember what he is requesting from the Lord. Rambling in prayer is not appropriate. After we have prayed, we should be able, like Nehemiah, to say what we have prayed for.

Second, his prayer was scriptural. By this I mean that Nehemiah recognised that true prayer rises out of a relationship with God. He addresses the Lord as ‘my God’. In using the personal pronoun he joins hands with psalmists, prophets and apostles as they approach the living God. David addressed God as ‘my shepherd’ (Ps. 23:1). Isaiah said to God: ‘O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure’ (Isa. 25:1). Paul reminded the Philippians that ‘my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus’ (Phil. 4:19). That is how Christians should approach the Lord, even as Jesus taught in the Lord’s Prayer when he instructed his disciples to begin it with a reference to their relationship with him as their Father.

Third, we have in his prayer life the secret of his success in life. Imagine what would have happened if he had not prayed. Go back to the beginning of the book and consider his response to the news he received from Hanani about the dire state of the city of Jerusalem. He could have responded by saying that the terrible state was caused by divine judgement or that it was brought about by the wrong priorities of the people. Those kind of responses would be true, but they would not have been the response that honoured God. Later on, he could have reacted to the opposition by saying that they were too many of them for him to deal with, but he took the hindrances to God and persevered in doing what he knew was right. The fact is that it is impossible to have success in the spiritual life without prayer. Nehemiah is not the only Bible character in which we see that reality. Without prayer to the living God no one can make real progress.

The God to whom he prayed.

What did Nehemiah have in mind when he asked God to remember him? He was not suggesting that God has a bad memory or that there are times when he forgets to look into his diary. In Psalm 105:8ff., we are told that he remembers his covenant forever. In the context, the covenant is the one that he made with Abraham to bless his descendants. So asking the Lord to remember his covenant is to ask him to be mindful of his plans and promises. His covenant is not only with his people as a whole but with them as individuals, to work in their lives according to his wisdom and his grace. That is what Nehemiah was doing when he made this prayer to the God who cannot forget his commitment to his people. Obviously, it is good for us to know that we can speak in this manner to the eternal God, the One who is also our heavenly Father.

Nehemiah’s petition says more than the fact that God thinks about him. It also says that God possesses the power to act on Nehemiah’s behalf. If a country needs military aid from another country it will ask one that is powerful enough to help. Prayer is not made to a God who is only interested in his people. Prayer is made to the God who always has the power to give what is requested by them. Nehemiah knew that he was drawing near to the almighty God. And we need to have that conviction in our hearts whenever we speak to him. If God can be hindered in his power, then he is not the Almighty. People may oppose his power, but they never do so in the sense of preventing him from working. He may allow them in his displeasure to do certain activities in the small space that their lives occupy, but they never delay his intentions. God is always omnipotent. He is so today even as he was in the days of Nehemiah.

The God to whom Nehemiah prayed is not only interested in his people and powerful enough to give what he wishes, but he is also the God who brings about good. This petition of Nehemiah is almost like the well-known words of Paul about how the Lord is working all things for the good of his people. In fact, if we were thinking about that statement in Romans 8:28, we might say to ourselves, ‘How can I pray this verse for my benefit?’ The answer to such a question is given here in Nehemiah 13:31. In fact, the answer is given more than once in this book because earlier he had prayed in a similar manner when he said, ‘Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people’ (Neh. 5:19).

What do we have in mind when we ask God to do good for us? I suppose one way of explaining it is to use terms such as short-term, mid-term and long-term, realising that the short-term will contribute to the mid-term and then to the long-term. We could imagine a devout refugee family who decide to educate a child in the ways of God. That child becomes an official able to influence the political leadership and also arrange processes where God’s law is reintroduced into society. The introduction of such changes leads to divine blessing on many people and through their witness other people become enthusiastic for God. (Maybe Nehemiah helped bring about the groups described in Malachi 3:16.) The good consequences continue down the generations and eventually become so widespread that people forget how it all commenced. In Nehemiah’s case, he was a link in the chain that led to there being devout people in Judah when the Saviour was born. Indeed there is a link between Nehemiah and us and in a sense we are part of the answer to his prayers. Of course, we are still in the mid-term. The long-term is yet to come in the eternal ages.

The man who prayed

Nehemiah prayed about himself, but he did not do so because he thought he deserved to be heard. He prayed in this way because he knew that he could not trust in his own contributions, even although they were expressions of his devotion to the God of his salvation. Nehemiah 13 tells us that the decisions of the best of men can be removed by wicked or careless people if the Lord does not maintain the good situation. As Nehemiah looked at what had happened while he was away in Babylon he recognised that unless the Lord builds the house the workmen labour in vain. His contribution was not only to make external arrangements such as building the wall and organising the temple activities; it was also a commitment to pray and keep on praying for the Lord to make the actions of his servant into good and lasting things. Therefore, that is what Nehemiah determined to do. Prayer was for him a spiritual discipline by which he revealed his devotion to God.

Someone once made this striking comparison. He pointed out that Julius Caesar, after he had defeated the armies of a king in the Middle East who was causing trouble for the Roman Empire, said, ‘I came, I saw and I conquered.’ He gave all the credit to himself. Nehemiah, after he had completed the task given to him, said, ‘Remember me, O my God, for good.’ Which of them was the wiser leader, and which of them will at the end of the day have used the wiser words? Which of them actually understood better the future? Surely, it was Nehemiah, the man devoted to serving God and his kingdom even while he worked for a while in a prominent earthly empire. Today, in a better world, he still experiences as a servant the good that his God provides. And he still speaks to us about what can be achieved by a person devoted to the will of God.