Nehemiah 1:4

New International Version (NIV)

When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

For meditation

Matthew Henry has said that “The soul of prayer is the heart’s desire.” How true it is. What gives life to our prayers before God is the desire of our heart – the yearning and craving of it. When that desire is sincere and passionate, our prayer is noteworthy and effective before God. Henry continues that “Cold desires do, but beg denials.” Show me a person of prayer, and I will show you a person whose voice commands attention in heaven.

Also noteworthy is the fact that concern is the heart of prayer. Where there is no concern, desire may be muffled .We are led to ask questions when there is concern. We are motivated to pray when our concern can no longer be contained.In other words, concern reveals the desires of the heart and moves it to act on that desire.

Consider Nehemiah. He had a comfortable job as cupbearer before King Artaxerxes. However, his heart was never at ease because he yearned to know about the condition of Jerusalem and that of the returnees (Ne. 1:2). Nehemiah was broken when he heard that they were in “great trouble and disgrace” because of the broken wall of Jerusalem (3). He mourned, fasted and prayed for divine intervention (4-11).Nehemiah’s concern was his desire for his people – security, dignity, and spiritual renewal. He pleaded to God for opportunity to go and help rebuild the wall.

1. Are you broken over the sordid news coming from around the world today?
2. What do you see when you look into the eyes of the people you see on television from disaster and war-torn areas every day?
3. Does it break your heart that human life could be so debased? Where is human dignity?
4. Can you understand why in Lamentations, Jeremiah wept over the devastation of Jerusalem – the consequence of Israel’s sin and God’s judgment?
5. How then could Nehemiah be content with his comfortable economic situation, when, after seventy years, the debris remained in Jerusalem as a reminder of Israel’s disobedience? Do you see a similar situation around you today; or are you seeing it from the “citadel of Susa?”

I pray that you will be broken over the current situation of the world, and out of deep concern, cry on to the Lord for divine intervention.  And, like Nehemiah, let’s put some heart to it.

So: May the Lord burden you with the condition of your country; and may God give you favor before Presidents for the opportunity to become the agent of change He desires.

The heart of prayer is the concern that birth it.

Shalom