Nehemiah 13:14,22b,31c
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WE come to the book of Nehemiah for one last time, and in the verses of chapter 13 which we have not looked at yet, and which is our study in this sermon, we consider Nehemiah in prayer, and as we hear his prayer we are privileged to look into the heart of the man, and enter in some way into his spiritual struggles as a servant of God.

My first observation I feel needs to be said, and I hope heeded. I wonder what your first reaction and understanding is to Nehemiah�s prayer in verse 14. What I feel needs to be said is that it is very easy to make a hurried and immediate assessment of a verse or passage in Scripture, and in doing so get totally the wrong idea. At first sight this prayer may seem to be Nehemiah preening himself for his actions for God, and asking God for some recognition of this, and even some reward. If we come to this conclusion, and so look down on Nehemiah in some way, I believe we have been superficial and come to a wrong understanding of his mind and heart as he prays. We must take the other prayers in verses 22b and 31c into account before we make and assessment, and seek to enter into the situation Nehemiah had to struggle with, before we can understand his prayers. When we do so, surely this will place a whole knew perception of what is in the mind of this man of God as he prays.

Far from the prayer of verse 14 being the expression of a man rather pleased with himself and with his service for God, we see something different.

Place yourself in Nehemiah�s situation and imagine that you are the leader and responsible for Jerusalem. Nehemiah came back to Jerusalem after some time away and finds terrible things have happened. The people had lost their first love when they were rebuilding the walls of the city. They had turned to other God�s and to the world. The worship of Jehovah had become neglected, and the worship that took place was far from what it ought to be. The Sabbath was desecrated, and the commandments of God were not observed. Here was a massive problem. Nehemiah had to face a people who were spiritual cold and involved in the world around. Like all human beings they would resent criticism, and resist any change to the way they were living. Nehemiah comes amongst them and realises the difficulty of the task he had to face. How could he bring the people back to God. How could he prevent God from judging them again. The problem was not just a physical one, but a spiritual one. Having made changes and compelled obedience, Nehemiah knew the problem was not solved. How could he bring the people to approve these changes and accept them, and turn from the heart to God. If they did not turn from the heart, then nothing really would have changed.

In his prayer I can see Nehemiah feeling how weak he was and lacking in wisdom. He had acted, but had he acted in the right or the best way? Had he been wise in the way he had spoken to the people, dealt with them, and approached them? He could see and feel the atmosphere of the community all around as he worked for God, and no doubt he sensed that the people were not too happy with what he was doing, and resentment and resistance was in their hearts, even if they complied outwardly. Nehemiah would have been feeling how weak his actions were, and how full of imperfections. He would be questioning his actions and the way he had spoken, and feeling how far short he fell from the perfection of God, and the love of God. All this would be behind his praying. Any minister and worker for God knows such thoughts. Things have not gone as well as we had hoped and we are so conscious of the weakness of our efforts and the failings of our actions.

When Nehemiah prays �Remember me�, I see it is the cry for God not to forsake him, and not to reject his weak and failing efforts on God�s behalf. These words come from a heart that knows that the things he has done are so full of imperfections and even sins, even though the motive and the aim is good. Nehemiah sees that his actions to bring back the people to God fall so far short of the glory of God, that God had every right to reject them, and to be critical of them. Nehemiah is conscious that he has not done all that he ought, and he has failed to be as thorough as he should, and in the doing of what he has done, his own sinful anger and frustration have been shown, so that he has not always shown, in his actions and words, the love and holiness of God. So he prays for God to remember his works and not cast them off utterly, even though they are deserving of such.

There is in the prayer Nehemiah�s consciousness that all his efforts will be in vain unless the Lord own and bless the labours, and that it is only the Lord who can make his foolish and weak efforts effective to God�s glory. Nehemiah knows that he can�t win the hearts of the people to the reform unless God touches their hearts by his spirit and turns their hearts to himself. So this prayer that God would remember him is Nehemiah�s cry for God to give his blessing and success to the labours for the glory of God so that all will not be in vain. Nehemiah shows in this prayer that without God�s blessing and acting nothing will be accomplished.

Nehemiah realises that his labours fall so far short of the glory of God that they deserving nothing really but God�s judgement, and so deserve that they should be blotted out, so he prays for God to be merciful and use even these failing and imperfect things, and bring glory to his name.

Nehemiah knows he can plead for nothing but mercy from God, so he asks God to remember him and not to forget him, but he does plead with God that he acted in faith. Even if my works are unworthy my motive was to be faithful to my God, and act for God�s glory, and so in this faith and devotion to God He acted. He was faithful to God, to the house of God, and to its services, because he had faith in God, and this was his life and salvation, and he knew that apart from God we human beings are lost and hopeless in a world that is to be judged and cast away eventually.

Nehemiah knows his sinfulness, and knows the imperfections of his love for God and service for God, and this is reflected in his prayer in verse 22b. Nehemiah cries for mercy from God, and pleads the revelation of God he had been given that God showed his infinite saving love to sinners like himself.

There is no arrogance and self congratulation for what he had done in the way Nehemiah prays. His prayer is more like that of the dying thief on the cross when he turned to the Lord and said, �Remember me when you come into your kingdom�. This prayer of the thief came from a penitent heart. This prayer of the thief was a simple faith and dependence on the mercy of God. This prayer was a realisation that he deserve no mercy, but still cried for mercy. Nehemiah�s prayer was in the same vein.

Nehemiah�s prayer is on the same lines as the Publican in the temple who prayed with a bowed head, in acknowledgement of unworthiness and sin, �God be merciful to me a sinner.� We may well say that Nehemiah was in a different situation. He was a man of God who lived for God and lived to please God. This is true, but the true saint is always one who, the longer they live and the nearer they get to God, realises more and more how sinful they are in their heart, see more clearly what sin is, and know that they are debtors to mercy alone, and so are those who more and more with a humble heart rest their souls only on the merits of Jesus, and come to God only through the righteousness of Jesus imputed to them by faith. Such is Nehemiah in this praying we hear in this chapter. This is the expression in the last sentence of the book. Nehemiah prays, �Remember me with favour, o my God.� Here is a realisation of unworthiness, and dependence on the saving grace of God. The cry for favour is the cry for mercy and grace. Nehemiah knows that all he can cry for is grace, which is undeserved favour.

All this is true, but there is a further element here, and that is the fact that Nehemiah shows here that he prays to the God he knows, and the God he has proved to be a merciful and saving God to those who trust him. In the request for God to remember him is the faith believing that God will honour such faith as he shows, and will remember him for good, and not only accepts him, but will use him in his service.

Such faith and confidence in God has no conflict with what we have considered so far concerning Nehemiah�s humility before God, his consciousness of unworthiness, and knowledge that he deserves nothing from God. Nehemiah knew God because he believed God, and the promise of God to be gracious according to his promise of salvation. He had proved his confidence and faith in God was not in vain because of all that God had done before. But his confidence was not an arrogant one, but a holy trust in God who had shown that he was gracious to those who were penitent before him.

Because of this, his cry to be remembered by God has the element of committing his actions to God for his blessing and his power to make it effective. Nehemiah had no confidence in himself, but he had great confidence in God, and in the power of God, and the purpose of God to bless.

Because of this, this praying of Nehemiah is also a continued seeking for guidance from God. As each new problem presented itself, with all the difficulties of bringing about a right result, Nehemiah knew he needed God�s wisdom and direction as the way to go about returning Israel back to God from the world, and so he prayed remember me, for I need your wisdom, strength and blessing.

Because of this also, this prayer of Nehemiah is a prayer for God�s comfort. Every servant of God needs and seeks some assurance from God that his actions have the approval of God, and are according to the will of God. Comfort comes when we see God evidently blessing the work we do in his name. Nehemiah was seeking such comfort and assurance.

All this is bound up in this praying, and reveals a man of God facing the difficult task he has to tackle, and seeking from God that God will never forsake him, of forget him, but will be continually with him, and never stop upholding him in this work.

We can learn much about true spirituality, and real prayer, by meditating on this praying of Nehemiah. If we are to learn we must not be afraid to give time and energy to reading and pondering what we are given here of his praying. This sermon is just a small attempt to draw out of Nehemiah�s cry to God something of what it reveals concerning prayer, and the Christian in the business of praying.