Nehemiah's prayer

With permission from my friend Marcelina from US, I would like to share it with all of you.

So, I have read and re-read the book of Nehemiah in the Bible, and it truly is one of my favorites. But often times I have over-looked the heart-felt prayer Nehemiah displays to the Lord at the beginning of chapter 1. And, like many prayers in the Bible, he starts off his petition with praise to God...mentioning His attributes and His might and His promises. I think to myself, "How many times while I am in distress and worry do I start out my prayer to God in praise of who He is? How many times do I cry out to Him with my needs mentioning the works "thy hands have made"? And mentioning His blessings. He gives that surpasses all understanding?

I often am so busy wanting, wanting, wanting that I don't stop to realize the Giver of all things good, to remind myself the truths of who God is and that He holds it all together. He listens to our needs, and He is a God who wants us to go to Him for our desires and needs. But, how humbling it is to put Him in His proper place as Majesty, Lord, Savior and the "Great I Am" while we are seeking Him for guidance and provision.

Read it and re-read it: (Nehemiah 1:4-11)

⁴As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. ⁵And 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, ⁶ 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. ⁷ We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. ⁸Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, ⁹ 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.' ¹⁰ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. ¹¹O 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."

Amen