Praying with Nehemiah

Praying With Nehemiah

  “And 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, 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. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, thought you 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.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O 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.”
Nehemiah 1:5-11
 

Nehemiah is in exile in Babylon with the rest of God’s people. He prays this prayer as he is about to approach the foreign king he is serving to ask for permission to return to Israel to begin to rebuild the city and re-establish God’s people there. Use the questions below to interact with the passage:
 

1. What are some attributes of God in this passage you can praise him for or express thanks to him for? 
2. How does Nehemiah offer confession in this passage? In other words, what sins does he acknowledge and how does he talk about them to the Lord? What promise of the Lord does Nehemiah reference that gives him confidence before the Lord in his confession? 
3. What are some requests that Nehemiah makes of the Lord? 
4. Using Nehemiah’s prayer as a model, take a few minutes to try writing out your own personalized prayer to the Lord that includes praise, thanksgiving, confession, and supplication (making requests).