The God whom we pray to (Nehemiah 1)

A pastor was concern that every time he preaches on Sunday, a particular member of the congregation would fall asleep. After several weeks, he decided he must confront this brother who is quite prominent in that he is also a member of the church committee or board. So one Sunday, sure enough when he begin to preach, the brothers immediately doze off. After the service, the pastor pulled the brother aside and confronted him. “Why do you fall asleep every time when I preach?” To this the brother answered, “My dear pastor, will I fall asleep if I don’t trust you?”

Well this morning, I thank you for trusting me but I don’t want you to go to sleep. I will do my best to keep you awake.

The topic for today message is the God to whom we pray to. The passage of reference is Nehemiah chapter 1. Let us start by reading this chapter.

Nehemiah's Prayer
1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
3 They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire."
4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. 5 Then I said: "O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
8 "Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.'
10 "They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. 11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man." I was cupbearer to the king.
After realize the extend of the ruin of Jerusalem, Nehemiah was very upset and disappointed. He began to fast and pray. I think this prayer is especially relevant to all of us whenever we have a project to complete and we need to look to the Lord for guidance.

As Christian, we have the privilege to speak to God. G.K. Chesterton says, "The worst moment for an atheist is when he feels a profound sense of gratitude and has no one to thank.” On the other hand, imagine the despair and disappointment when you want to seek help and there is no one who has the power to change things to talk to. Fortunately, prayer is our partnership with God, our chance to join forces with God's power. In his book, Prayer, Philip Yancey writes that prayer is a window into knowing the mind of God, whose kingdom is entrusted to all of us frail, selfish people on earth.

When we come to God in prayer, first of all we must know to whom we are praying. We will pray in unhealthy fear if we believe that our God is quick to punish, authoritative and unforgiving. On the other hand, we can pray without acknowledging our sinful status and believe in an indulgent father who overlooks sins. We need to have a correct view of God.

This morning, by looking at Nehemiah’s prayer, we hope that we can learn two things together. By looking at how Nehemiah pray, we learn his attitude in prayer and from his prayer, we can take a glimpse at this God to whom he prayed to.

1) It was a prayer of contrition. This is an awesome yet loving God who is sovereign and above all.

4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. 5 Then I said: "O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands.

Nehemiah’s heart was so disturbed that he sat down and wept, and mourned for days over the condition of Jerusalem. He begin by acknowledging the great and awesome God who is also full of love to those who obeys Him.

Nehemiah realized the seriousness of our depraved condition and acknowledged that this God that we pray to is awesome yet loving. It was a prayer with contrition. A contrite person has a unique access to God. Because God listens to and delights in the prayers of the humble, those who come without ulterior motives or in violation of his explicit commands, are as children to a loving parent. It is better to have a God who is greater than humanity, a God who has the ability to take us beyond where we can go on our own?

The God described in the Bible is that God. He claims to be the Creator of the universe -- a transcendent, all-knowing, all-powerful being who has always existed and is the sustainer of all things. God deserves to be honored, revered and feared by all because of who he is.

In Ezra 10, we read that when the people realized their state of sin of their inter marriages. 1While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites—men, women and children—gathered around him. They too wept bitterly.

Likewise in the new testament, we read in Matthew 26 after Peter denied the Lord 3 times: Immediately a rooster crowed. 75Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.

The problem is that we don’t see many bitter tears nowadays. Remember Job sitting naked in a pile of ashes. That’s a humble heart that submits to his creator. Today it is more of questioning God. From the first page of the bible until the last page in Revelation, God’s awesome characters are displayed. At times we may struggle with things that we cannot understand. At one extreme we read about God’s loving compassionate and mercy character and in another we read about His intolerant of sin. Take the 10th plague as an example. The 10th plague in Exodus recorded the death of the Egyptian children. We can’t help but think about the innocent children suffer under this plague. Pharaoh the evil man who is responsible for this plague lost his first born yet his own life was preserved. How are we to reconcile what we know about God’s goodness and justice with this plague. Adam and Eve dies for failing to obey God’s command. The whole generation of Noah was wiped out in the flood. Sodom and Gomorrah was obliterated completely. Why are the pages of scripture stained with blood? But dead is the reality of fallen humanity. We pay for the sin, even with stories of injustice that happen everyday. Who are we to question God’s sovereign plan and timing? We can and we must come to him with a contrite heart.


2) It was a prayer of confession. This is a God to whom we are accountable because He is Holy.

6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.

Nehemiah’s conviction on God’s greatness and his believe that God will respond to his prayer resulted in humility. He knew he did not deserve it so he confessed the sin of Israelites and himself and his father’s house. By confessing our sins to God, we are acknowledging to God that we are accountable to him. We are approaching a righteous and holy God.

Confession is acknowledging the gulf between a righteous God and a sinful people and that we are at His mercy. We confessed because we are grieved by sin. We hate sin because it is offensive to the God we love. Sin blasphemes God. Sin curses God. Sin seeks to destroy God’s work and His kingdom. In fact sin killed His Son.

Chuck Swindoll illustrated that confession is like a clinic at the bottom of a stiff highway. Although there are signs that tell the motorist to slow down because of the treacherous and dangerous road, many people do not pay attention and so they have accident at the bottom of the hill. But because there is a clinic there to help them, it relief them of their pain and they can get up and go again. Of course the better way is to pay attention to the sign and avoid any mishaps. So confession is like that, we humbly come to God, admit our guilt and mistake. Sorry, Father, I messed up. I was impatient today. Sorry Father, I lusted today. I sin today. And the good news is that, God is faithful and He will forgive us.

John is clear in his epistle (1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.) that if we confess, God will listen and ready to forgive and bring us closer and narrow the gap that is in between. As the saying goes, “It is better to keep short account with God.

But problem with us today is that we think we must do more in order to come to God. God’s forgiveness is purely his sovereignty and does not depend on us. We make the mistake that we must do something in order to gain God’s favour. The jailer asked Paul ?What must I do to be saved?” Paul answered him “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved”. There is no doing just believe in your heart.

Many years ago, a product was introduced in the market. Anyone can bake a cake easily and quickly. You just need to add water into the pre-mix cake ingredient and pop it into the oven. No need to hassle on measuring the right amount of the different ingredients, no need to spend time mixing and beating and still unsure if you have done it right. You would think this product will sell. Any amateur can bake a cake but surprise, surprise, sales didn’t go up. The manufacture was at a lost and could not understand why the products would not sell. It was not shortage of varieties or poor end products. After several months, the manufacturer decided to add a simple additional instruction. Instead of just add water, this time, it is just add water and an egg. Suddenly sales soars, people started to buy. The reason sales soar was attributed to the fact that people believe they play a role, an important role in baking the cake and that the cake is much enhanced with the addition of an egg . Such is the case of confession. We don’t buy in when God says that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the death, you will be saved (Rom 10:9). We want to add in extra effort in order to believe that God will hear us.


3) It was a prayer of confidence. This is a God to whom we can trust and count on His promises.

8 "Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.' 10 "They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.

In this part of the prayer, Nehemiah recalls words of Moses and old Testament warnings and promises. First, if Israel disobeyed, they will be scatter and secondly when the captivity is over, God will send them back to Jerusalem, the promised land.

Nehemiah is aware of God’s provision and so he can pray boldly. He knows he can count on the words of God. He is very familiar with God's word and his promises. He quotes almost verbatim the word of God to Moses. God reveals his person and his will through his word. He was reminding God His promise to the Israelites. Real prayer is standing on the promise of God and claim it.

The God of the Bible claims that nothing on Earth happens without his say-so. He is completely sovereign over all things.
- Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? (Lam 3:37)
- I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. (Isa 46:10)
- The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. (Psalm 33:11)
- It is the Lord's purpose that prevails. (pro 19:21).
- This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. (1 John 5:14,15)


4) It was a prayer of commitment. This is a God to whom we can have hope and who wants a relationship with us

11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man."

This is the whole purpose of Nehemiah’s prayer. He was asking God to grant him success as he embarked on this project. Nehemiah will be involved in the rebuilding of the wall. When we ask God in faith, we have to live out the faith with work.

When we pray the prayer of faith, we must believe that we have the answer before we see or feel it. Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24).

When we really believe that God has answered our prayer, we must show our faith by acting like we have the answer before we actually see it! James says that faith without corresponding actions is dead faith (see James 2:17). I show my faith by how I act! And to stand in faith I must act as though God has already sent the answer to my prayer.

To pray with commitment, is also to pray with hope and this has a lot to do with how much we know our God. It is because of the close relationship we have with God that give us the knowledge to pray with hope. We must know this God. Otherwise, it is no different from praying to an idol of whom we have no relation to.

God wants to have a partnership/relationship with us. When Moses was instructed to build the tabernacle for God to dwell in, we read about the people came forward with materials and skill. God raised up skillful craftmen that were filled with the Spirit. Bazalel and Ohalieb. They gave so much that Moses had to ask them to stop. EX 36.

A few generations later, when David was preparing the temple for Solomon to build, he asked the people to offer money, materials and everyone gladly did it. Although it was not God initiative, we read that at the completion of the temple, the holy presence of God was in the temple.

Fast forward again, just about 2000 years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ gave the great commission and he said: “I will build my church”. Yes, the church is growing, today we are an imperfect church, but the Lord added daily to the numbers those who were saved as we read in Acts. God could have change the hearts of sinners in an instant. Why are there thousand of missionary going through hardship after hardship just to advance the gospel. Read the biography of Hudson Taylor, John Huss. Have you read the story of Jim Elliot and 4 of his friends who went to South America. They were butchered while trying to reach the Ecuador Auca Indian. Read the book “through gates of splendor” and feel their commitment. More recently and closer to home, Abu Sayat captured and killed missionary, Martin Burnham and left his wife, Gracia wounded in the leg with a bullet. Read the book, “In the presence of my enemies” and feel the commitment. Why? Why? You asked. That’s because we must exercise our faith, be committed and do what we say and say what we do.

Before I conclude, let me share with you a story about a person who really understand who is this God that he prays to. He has a clear understanding of this God.
Horatio G. Spafford was an attorney in Chicago. He and his wife Anna were pretty well known in Chicago as a legal counsel and businessman. They were also prominent supporters and close friends of DL Moody. He and his family were members of the Fullerton Avenue Presbyterian Church. But during the great Chicago fire in 1871, he lost every one of his real estate holdings that he has invested heavily. Spafford and his wife had learned what it meant to completely trust God in every situation. But their greatest testing came in 1874. Aware of the toll that these disasters had taken on the family, Horatio decided to take his wife and daughters on a vacation to England. Yet just before they set sail, a last-minute business development forced Horatio to delay. Not wanting to ruin the family holiday, Spafford persuaded his family to go as planned. He would follow on later. Mrs. Spafford and their four daughters boarded the French ship "Villa de Havre" on their way to England. But just off the coast of Ireland the ship collided with another ship and sank. All four of the Spafford daughters – Tanetta, Maggie, Annie and Bessie were among the 226 who drowned. But Anna Spafford was among the 47 who were miraculously saved. 9 days later, Horatio finally received a cable sent by his wife which contained the now famous phrase that read "saved alone." As he traveled to England to comfort his wife, he was able again to gain his strength from God with the verse, "All things work together for good to them that love the Lord" (Rom 8:28) He then penned the words to our hymn "It Is Well with My Soul." (The tune was written by Phillip Bliss.) The words which Spafford wrote that day come from 2 Kings 4:26. They echo the response of the Shunammite woman to the sudden death of her only child. Though we are told "her soul is vexed within her", she still maintains that 'It is well." And Spafford's song reveals a man whose trust in the Lord is as unwavering as hers was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,When sorrows like sea-billows roll;Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,"It is well, it is well with my soul."
Though Satan should buffet, tho' trials should come,Let this blest assurance control,That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
My sin - oh, the bliss of this glorious thought,My sin - not in part, but the whole,Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.
And, Lord haste the day when the faith shall be sight,The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend,"Even so" - it is well with my soul.
It is well with my soul,It is well, it is well with my soul.
This is from a man who knows his God so well that he has the confidence and hope in Him.


Conclusions:

Nehemiah's prayer shows that the God to whom we pray to is sovereign, loving, awesome and also holy. He is faithful to his promises and generous in his provision who wants to have a close relationship with us. We must pray to him with the right attitude.