Attitude fixes altitude (Nehimiah 1:4-7)

Bienhome Muivah *

When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said: O Lord, God of heaven the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel.

I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly towards you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.

As God’s children, we are discovering that there can be no spiritual progress until we have looked intently at things and perceived them as they really are. Walls cannot be rebuilt until we see-and see clearly-the ruins in which they lie. When we have a vision of spiritual ruins we are tempted to exclaim: “We are helpless to do anything about it”.

But what should we do after such moments of revelation? We should do what Nehemiah did-turn to fervent believing prayer.

Let’s look at Nehemiah’s prayer. Clearly, he was a man whose soul had been fed on the word of God. His words were cast in the mould of Gods revelation of Himself as given in the scriptures-a characteristic of all great prayer warriors. He reminds the Almighty of His greatness and His awesomeness and the fact that He is a covenant-keeping God.

He stands in both awe and adoration before Him, recognizing His Sovereignty. The greater God becomes to him. The smaller his problem appears in comparison. Nehemiah is then moved to confess the sins of his people and admits that their troubles stemmed from disobedience. Usually sin is the cause of our failure, and where there is sin it must always be confessed.

The attitude underlying Nehemiah’s prayer is important to note: it is an attitude of reverence and submission. One person has said: “The self-sufficient do not pray; they merely talk to themselves. The self-satisfied will not pray; they have no knowledge of their need. The self-righteous cannot pray: they have no basis on which to come to God”. When there is no reverence for God there will be few answers from God.

Now let’s reflect on Nehemiah’s powerful prayer. In claiming the provision God made for His people, the godly Nehemiah reveals another great principle, namely that prayer must be based on God’s promises. “Remember your instructions to Moses, he says, and then paraphrasing the words the Lord gave to Moses, he claims the fulfillment of the promise.

Nehemiah’s confidence in the Lord as a promise-keeper is so great that he knows God will work out the details. Finally the prayer closes with a request that God will give him favor with the king of Persia-King Artaxerxes. Nehemiah knows it will be harder for him to leave the court than it was to enter it. He is a trusted and important man. But he accepts, too, that with God all things are possible.

The prayer pattern Nehemiah followed parallels the “outline” of prayer which our Lord gave in Luke 11. But prayer depends on more than just keeping to a pattern. It has been said-“God does not hear our prayers so much a hears us”-in other words, what we put of ourselves into our prayers. Nehemiah continued entreating the Lord’s favor for four month. [Nov/Dec (1:1) to March/April (2:1)] “Persistence in prayer”, as the old saying goes, is what makes the difference.

Do we hear Nehemiah’s kind of praying now a day? Sadly, not as often as we ought. Most modern-day prayers are token asking God to bless this, that and the other. Powerful praying flows out of seeing the situation as it is. And in seeing God as He is.

Nehemiah 2:1-2 opens with Nehemiah still waiting for an answer to his prayer. It has been four months since he first heard the news concerning Jerusalem, during which time he has wept, mourned, fasted, and prayed. Nehemiah did not dashed impetuously to the task the moment the need to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls was made apparent to him. He knew that to be successful in the work he wanted to do for God, he must have not only God’s blessing and direction but also the favor of the King.

During a royal banquet Nehemiah gives wine to the King, and something in Nehemiah’s facial expression causes the king to express his concern. Artaxerxes invites Nehemiah to share with him the reason for his sadness, which of course he does. The burden of his heart, the deep conviction of his soul, need no longer be hidden. The initiative is no longer in Nehemiah’s hands; it is in God’s.

How important is timing in all that we seek to do for God. Many a life has been shipwrecked spiritually because of impulsiveness and haste. There may be a considerable number of people today, who could have been in a great ministry but they failed the waiting test. They sensed a need, and did not wait for God’s perfect timing in the matter.

There are those who say the need is the call. Though there is some truth in that, it must be balanced by the fact that God’s timing must be sought in everything we do. A right action can turn out to be wrong simply because it was mistimed. God’s timing is always perfect. Ours is not.

Your attitude will decide how far you can go. Remember “Attitude fixes altitude”.