Pray According to the Promises

Nehemiah shows us that he is a deeply spiritual and godly man by his reactions. His weeping moved him to pray. Do we sometimes feel moved by things we hear and read but then fail to pray? A number of non-Christians offer very shrewd analysis of our moral and social woes but do not counsel us then to pray. We should not make that mistake of discounting the place of prayer. Next we can ask what moved Nehemiah to pray. It was that he knew the Lord. He knew it was not a worthless occupation to pray to the Creator of the world. He was fully persuaded that the Lord governs the world and has total power.

In particular he also knew that the Lord is the covenant-keeping God. This comes through in his prayer as he prays back to God the promises that the Lord had made to His people. His history of His dealings with Israel had shown His readiness to rescue this small and puny nation from oppression. If we are ready to return to Him admitting our sin and rebellion, He is ready to receive us like the prodigal son was received by his father. No matter how far we have strayed we can be gathered to Him. This is seen in the love shown to sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ's death on the cross.