Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 1-043 (Sermon)

THE KIND OF GOD WHO ANSWERS PRAYER (expository)

by Rod Benson

Nehemiah 1:1-11

We all know who God is. God is the person we sing to in church, the one the pastor talks about in sermons, and the one to whom we urgently pray when things go wrong with our lives and relationships. God is the ultimate author of Scripture, and the Father of Jesus Christ our Lord. Christians respect, obey and worship God – but how well do we know God?

If you want your prayers answered you had better believe in God, and know what he is like, and – above all – maintain a personal relationship with him.

In the eighth century AD a Greek theologian named John of Damascus wrote that ‘God is a sea of infinite substance.’ There is a profound truth to that metaphor, but fortunately God helps us to navigate that divine sea, and find safe channels and dry land on which to rest.

Another theologian, Emil Brunner, said last century, ‘The first and most important thing we know about God is that we know nothing about him except what he himself has made known.’

WHAT IS YOUR GOD LIKE?

The notion of an ultimate being means very different things to different people. I learn about God through the natural world, by reading Scripture, through what I know of Jesus, and by personal experience of God in my life. If you could record and analyse all your prayers from last year, they would reveal a great deal about your perception of God, and how God relates to your life. What is your God like?

Today I want to read a single prayer by Nehemiah and discover the kind of God in whom Nehemiah believed, and to whom Nehemiah prayed.

Who was Nehemiah? He was a key leader of Israel in the mid-fifth century BC. In 587 BC the Babylonian empire annexed Judah (the region around Jerusalem) and most of the people were exiled to Babylon (modern Iran).

In 538 BC Cyrus, a new emperor, sent some of the Israelites back to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Zerubbabel rebuilt the temple, and Ezra later restored the Law of Moses in Israel’s national life. Around 430 BC Nehemiah rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem, rendering it secure from invasion.

Nehemiah is remembered as one of the Bible’s most resilient and inventive characters. He was a man of prayer, with a deep concern for God’s will above all else. He was a gifted administrator and motivator, able to plan and organise both difficult people and complex projects. Yet Nehemiah desired nothing more than to be a loyal servant of God (note 1:6, 7, 8, 10, 11).

Chapter 1:1 situates Nehemiah in Susa (south-western Iran) in the last few weeks of 445 BC. His brother returns from Jerusalem with the news that ‘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’ (v 3).

On hearing this tragic news Nehemiah does three things: for several days he mourns, he fasts and he prays. Then he prays the prayer recorded in vv 5-11.

In his prayer, Nehemiah begs forgiveness for his people (vv 6-7), reminds God of his promise to gather Israel together from the farthest horizon ‘and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name’ (v 9; cf Jer 29:14), and specifically asks for God to give him success as he attends the court of King Artaxerxes to ask the king to let him return to Jerusalem to fix the mess.

But it is Nehemiah’s understanding of God that I want you to notice today, and perhaps consider as you pray intelligently and biblically to God. Nehemiah begins his prayer with worship and proceeds to requests. I want to point out eight things about God in Nehemiah’s prayer.

THE GOD OF NEHEMIAH’S FAITH

First, he prays to the God who is everywhere. Nehemiah is in Susa, and his project is far off in Jerusalem. But Nehemiah’s God is the ‘Lord God of heaven’ (v 5a). Both cities, each of world importance in their time, are like tiny specks in God’s cosmic view.

Yet since God is everywhere, he is wherever Nehemiah is! He knows the intimate details of Nehemiah’s life, and the politics of Susa, and the problems besetting Jerusalem. Nehemiah prays confidently to this one true, living, universal God: the God of heaven. God has not changed. He’s our God too.

Second, he prays to the God who is all-powerful. Nehemiah describes his God as ‘the great’ One (v 5b). God is great: his power was sufficient to create all the matter in the universe.

God’s power was evident throughout Israel’s long ‘roller-coaster’ history. His power was evident at the cross when, in the person of his Son, he paid the debt of the world’s sins; and at the tomb where Jesus was raised from the dead.

That same power is available today to forgive you, to transform you, to answer your most outrageous requests, and to realise your most impossible dreams.

Third, he prays to an awesome God (v 5c). Like Moses in the desert (Ex 3:1-5) and Isaiah in the temple (Isa 6:1-5), Nehemiah recognises the awesome holiness and majesty of God. We too serve this awesome God.

Fourth, he prays to a faithful God: one ‘who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands’ (v 5d). Nehemiah would no doubt be familiar with the words of Deuteronomy 7:9, 21, where Moses says,

‘Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands . the Lord your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.’

Though great and awesome, God is not cruel or capricious. Even when he is disappointed or offended, his actions are purposeful, corrective and remedial. He loves us, and he binds us to himself with a unilateral covenant written in the blood of his only Son. God is gracious.

Fifth, he prays to a God who speaks (vv 6a, 8). To obey divine commandments, God must communicate with his people. He does so through representative people such as Moses and Deborah, and in personal ways. In a pagan world filled with silent idols, I am sure the living God spoke to Nehemiah. Does God speak to you? Or do you expect him not to speak?

Sixth, he prays to a God who listens and sees (v 6b). We can say that God has attentive ears and observant eyes. Whatever the challenges and trials ahead, Nehemiah knows from experience that God is only a prayer away, and that prayer profoundly changes situations and people.

As Max Lucado says somewhere, ‘The power of prayer is not in the one who prays but in the one who hears it.’

Seventh, he prays to a moral God (vv 6c-8), and therefore to a God who forgives honest confessions of sin.

When Nehemiah reminds himself of the kind of God he serves, he is also reminded of his own sins and the sins of his people. Rather than shrugging off this burden, he lays it out before God and confesses all to him.

We also serve a moral God who hates sin but loves to forgive and restore his wayward children. Have you confessed your sins today? Have you considered how you might follow Nehemiahs example and become an intercessor for your community or nation? The need is very great, but God’s power and love are limitless.

Eighth, he prays to a God who rewards obedience (v 9). Nehemiah was not free to leave Susa and travel to Jerusalem at his own pleasure. He was the king’s cup-bearer (v 11).

Yet Nehemiah knew that ‘if God had spoken so clearly in Scripture about gathering his people from the farthest horizon, promising to bring them to the place he had chosen for a dwelling for his Name, then he was capable of fulfilling that promise in the personal experience of Nehemiah, whatever the human obstacles, political problems and natural difficulties.’

PRAY WITH UNDERSTANDING AND EXPECTATION

Harry Emerson Fosdick, a North American Baptist minister, said, ‘God is not a cosmic bell-boy for whom we can press a button to get things.’ But if we ask him intelligently, seeking his will with our whole heart, miracles will happen.

For Nehemiah, miracles did happen. He went to Jerusalem and built his wall.

We value prayer very highly at Blakehurst. Prayer is one of our church’s core values: ‘We value regular prayer to God expressing worship, confession, gratitude, and requests for resources. Prayer is essential to Christian spirituality, and prevailing prayer empowers us to achieve our God-given purpose.

And we pray to the same unchanging God who was the object of Nehemiah’s prayers.

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E017 Copyright (c) 2001 Rod Benson. <> All rights reserved. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: New International Version (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1980).

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