Nehemiah’s response to the situation in Jerusalem was at the first weeping and mourning and then fasting and prayer (Neh. 1:4). He did not afflict himself to produce a certain state within, but rather, as a result of the deep sorrow he felt, he was afflicted; and, instead of being consumed by that sorrow, he commits his burden to God. “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray” (James 5:13).
As with Ezra, two things characterized Nehemiah’s prayer: he vindicated God, and he made confession for sin. Too often we seek to find one upon whom we can cast blame — perhaps the feebleness of those at Jerusalem, or perhaps the king, or perhaps even God — anyone but ourselves. “I pray ... and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against Thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned” (Neh. 1:6). Nehemiah, as Ezra before him, eats the sin offering. He so identifies with the sins of God’s people that he views them as his own. We find the Lord Jesus likewise confesses Israel’s sin as His own in the Psalms (Psa. 40:12; 69:5-6). However, whereas Ezra and Nehemiah suffered under the government of God because of Israel’s sin, Christ alone could suffer for them, and He alone could restore that which He took not away (Psa. 69:44They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away. (Psalm 69:4)).
Nehemiah addresses God according to the revelation that he has: “O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His commandments” (Neh. 1:5). This expression is similar to that which accompanies the giving of the Law — Nehemiah knew the Holy Scriptures, and it formed his very thoughts (Ex. 20:6; Deut. 5:10; 7:9). He was, however, in no position to cry Abba Father. Nehemiah knew that God was merciful and gracious and appealed to Him on that basis. However, he could not know that relationship into which we have been brought through the work of the Son of God (Gal. 4:5-6). Everything was seen through the covenant relationship that existed between God and Israel, a covenant that was conditional upon the keeping of the law — a covenant, we might add, which the people willingly and voluntarily entered (Ex. 19:58).
Nehemiah casts himself upon the mercy and promises of God: “But if ye turn unto Me, and keep My commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set My name there” (Neh. 1:9; Deut. 30:15). For Nehemiah, the place where God had chosen to set His name never lost its significance. It was not good enough that there was a community of Jews in Babylon; it was to Jerusalem that Nehemiah looked. Likewise today, a community of Christians — a fellowship of believers — is a wonderful thing, but how much more wonderful to be gathered by the Spirit of God to His name. “For where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20).
Nehemiah also recognizes his dependence upon the King of Persia, a condition of things that had come about as a result of God’s government upon Israel (Neh. 1:11). God had vested authority into the hand of the king; it was the times of the Gentiles, and it will remain so until the Gentile powers receive their ultimate judgment at the close of the Great Tribulation (Luke 21:24). To all this Nehemiah submits; however, before God, Artaxerxes is merely this man, “I pray Thee, Thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man” (Neh. 1:11).
Nehemiah’s prayer was heard; nevertheless, it was not answered until three, perhaps four months later. God’s timetable is often very different from our own.