The Bible does not just give us exhortations to pray, as it also provides examples of what prayer looks like. I must confess that I have paid more attention to the examples of prayers that we find in the New Testament (especially the prayers we see Jesus himself offer, as discussed in this post, and the prayers the Apostle Paul includes in his letters, which one of my seminary professors studies in this excellent book) than those found in the Old Testament. Thankfully, though, a desire to grow in prayer this year has led me to consider other examples of prayers we find, including those in the Old Testament. A man in the Old Testament whose prayer life is recorded for us to learn from is Nehemiah, as the book bearing his name records a number of his prayers. While I would encourage you to look at his prayers (Nehemiah 1:5-11; 4:4-5; 5:19; 6:9, 14; 9:5-38; 13:14, 22, 29), I’ll pass along some takeaways I made about prayer from my own study of these prayers.
Prayers Can Be Long and Short
The prayers that Nehemiah offers are both long and short. Nehemiah 9:5-38 is one of the longest prayers found in the whole Bible, as Nehemiah recounts the history of God’s people as he turns to God. Another prayer that is on the longer side is found in 1:5-11, a prayer that also reflects a longer season in which Nehemiah is devoting himself to prayer (and fasting). However, most of the prayers are quite short, only a sentence or two (see 4:4-5; 5:19; 6:9, 14; 13:14, 22, 29). These short prayers are also reminders that God wants us to pour out our hearts and bring Him our requests, but we don’t need to use flowery language or feel bad with a quick prayer that is only a sentence or two. At the same time, we should also recognize that at different times, we might have more extended prayers. Different occasions call for different lengths of prayer.
Prayers Can Focus Upon God’s Word and Upon Our World
Nehemiah’s prayers reveal that he was very attuned both to what was happening in his world and also to what the Bible says. The extended prayer of Nehemiah 9 looks back at the history of God’s people to see God’s faithfulness and His forgiveness of a stubborn people; Nehemiah clearly knows his Bible and used it to shape his prayers. Nehemiah brings this knowledge to his present circumstances – calling upon God’s promises to be fulfilled and for His Word to be kept by His people (and acknowledging when they have not kept it). When his heart is broken or he faces obstacles, he turns to God in prayer. In fact, many of the short prayers we find in Nehemiah seem to be something of pauses or interjections in the narrative of the text, as if Nehemiah is pausing to offer these prayers and then returns to his work. Nehemiah thus seems to be an embodiment of what it means to pray without ceasing, not just praying at appointed times, but also in between (or even in the midst of!) his daily “appointments.” His example shows us that in our prayers, we should pay attention both to God’s Word and to what is going on in our world – and both should lead us to pray!
Prayers Can Be Requests For Success and/or For Defense
The content of Nehemiah’s prayers are interesting and illuminating, as the recording of these requests doesn’t just mean that we can pray these types of prayers, but rather, that we should pray these prayers. Some of them are prayers for success, asking for God to be at work before moving to action (1:5-11; likely the content of the prayer in 2:4) or asking for strength to fulfill his work (6:9). We should ask God for success as we seek to move forward in His work; doing so actually is a powerful reminder that apart from Him, we can truly do nothing. Similarly, some of Nehemiah’s prayers ask God to remember his activity and reward him for his faithfulness in challenging situations (5:19; 13:14, 22, 29). Rather than seeking honor, praise, and fame from people on this earth, we should seek the commendation of God for our actions so we can be like Nehemiah and ask God to remember us favorably for our faithfulness.
Other prayers, however, are not asking God to do something directly for Nehemiah, but rather to the ones who were opposing his work (4:4-5; 6:14). We might initially be surprised to read Nehemiah’s request to “make their insults return on their heads” (4:4-5) and to remember Nehemiah’s opponents “for what they have done,” namely intimidating Nehemiah (6:14) and those who defiled the “priesthood as well as the covenant of the priesthood” (13:29). However, we are wise to remember similar prayers recorded for us in the Book of Psalms. These prayers are ultimately cries for justice for God to “hallow His name” by displaying His justice in defending His people and punishing their enemies (who are really opposing God). Examination of these prayers also shows that the attention is on the unjust action and not on the person; he speaks specifically about what they have done rather than a general disdain for them. While we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us in hopes that they come to repentance, we should also pray for justice and for evil actions to be judged. In fact, rather than seeking to enact revenge or inflict harm on others, we should turn to God and trust Him to act in His time. We are called to always separate the person from their actions; that is, despise the evil that was done, but not the person who has done them.
Prayer Warriors Can Be Clergy or Laity
The Book of Nehemiah clearly shows that he was a man devoted to prayer. However, an important fact that we shouldn’t overlook is that he was a public servant, not a priest or teacher of God’s Word. We often think it is the pastor’s job to pray, and while that certainly is part of the job, it does not mean that it is only his job or that only pastors should pray like Nehemiah. Nehemiah continually and fervently turned to God in prayer, and he presents an example and model that we can all learn from.I suspect I have only scratched the surface of what we might learn from Nehemiah, so I would encourage you to look at his prayers and see what you discover about prayer though his prayers. In the spirit of Nehemiah, I’ll end with a quick prayer: May God use the prayers of Nehemiah found in the Bible to spark more frequent and more fervent prayers in your life and in His church.
Questions about the Bible or theology? Email them to Pastor Brian at Theology@WeAreFaith.org. You can also request to receive weekly emails with our blog posts by filling out the information on the right side.
