"Remember me for good, O my God"

3

Nehemiah 13:14, 22, 29, 31

Nehemiah’s book begins and ends in prayer.  The “action” begins with Nehemiah learning of the sad condition of the Jewish remnant in and around Jerusalem.  His first act?  To pray—see 1:4-11.

The very last act in the book?  A prayer, the tenth time Nehemiah records his prayers—see 13:31.

And the very heart of the book: a prayer (chapter 9).  We don’t know if Nehemiah authored the prayer, or Ezra, or someone else, but we do know that Nehemiah saw that it was recorded.  It is one of the most magnificent prayers in Scripture, psalmic, prophetic, poetic, passionate.  If you feel the need to pray for our nation during these difficult days, it would be an excellent template: grounded in worship; a searingly honest and penitential praying of national history; an appeal for divine mercy and intervention.  You may want to visit the somewhat parallel prayers of Ezra 9 and Daniel 9.

Rebuilding the walls, difficult as that task was, was always the easy part.  Physical rebuilding projects eventually reach some kind of completion, which is different than saying that they arrive at any kind of perfection.  The rebuilding of a shattered community—and that community learning how to sustain and maintain a life of shalom—never ends.  Just as any building needs ongoing maintenance and repair, just as thorough renovations are sometimes called for, so with the life of a people.  Shalom, a life of peace, provision, justice and flourishing for all, is never automatic, always vulnerable.

So “Let’s Rebuild!” could also be “Let’s Pray!”  Not “pray” as opposed to “do something”; not “pray” as a quick religious add-on to the “real work” (i.e., what we do), asking God to bless what we’ve already decided to do (and, at times, what we’re going to do whether God comes along or not!).  Prayer as the first, essential act, and the ongoing, necessary act.

Those of us who feel “bad at” prayer can draw great encouragement from Nehemiah!  Most of his prayers are short.  They’re all honest: honest about what Nehemiah is thinking and feeling, honest about who God is and what God has promised.  Honest about what Nehemiah sometimes wants God to do, which is destroy his enemies!  Honest about his weakness, about the dangers and his fears, about his hopes and longings.  All of it, all his life, brought into God’s presence, brought into conversation and communion, with the LORD.

At the end of this story of rebuilding, of confidence and challenge, of threats external and internal, of leadership and community, of difficulties faced, challenges overcome, and walls finally rebuilt, how, where, does it all end?  With good: in the Hebrew, this last sentence reads, “O my God, remember me for good” (or “with favor”).

All the Bible following Nehemiah 13:31 is God’s answering Nehemiah’s prayers—and the prayers of all his faithful daughters and sons.  Good comes, good is done, good finally happens, for God’s people and all the world, in the city whose walls Nehemiah prayed for and rebuilt.

How is God’s Spirit leading you in prayer … today?

3 Comments

Thanks, comment-ers! Amen to your prayers, Jan, and thank you, Lana.
Without realizing it, I needed these whole-sweep-of-history and God's faithfulness prayers this morning. The parts that most spoke to my heart were Nehemiah 9:17b and, especially, Daniel 9:18b: "We do not make requests of You because we are righteous, but because of Your great mercy."
God spoke to me through you here, Brian and Kathy. Thank you. And thank Him!
Today I feel a need to pray for rebuilding of broken relationships in families. There is an overwhelming need for reconciliation and healing in my family and I am aware of so many others. Holy Spirit, rebuild the family relationships broken by resentments, addictions, and lack of trust. Amen

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