“Then the king said unto me, What do you request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah to the city of my father’s tombs, that I may rebuild it” (Nehemiah 2:4-5).
Nehemiah was a visionary and invested great time in prayer. In this book that bears his name, there are eleven recorded times that Nehemiah went to prayer and sought the Lord his God. In our text today, this prayer was brief! I mean, this was very brief. It came after he sought the Lord and invested much time in talking with the Lord about the condition of his homeland and his home city, Jerusalem. As the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, Nehemiah was an important official in the royal court. This would be no little matter to seek the permission of the king for him to be excused for a long-term absence, and Nehemiah would also ask the king to pay the expenses for the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls (Nehemiah 2:7-8). After much prayer, the moment came. His prayer was but a split second and then he spoke to the king. Here’s the reminder for today. When our consistent prayer life is invested with time seeking the Lord and His guidance, no doubt there will be times when the moment arrives and the split-second prayer for help takes place. Can you identify with this?
For today: The split-second prayer should not be the typical but rather the rarity for the critical moment. If you know Christ as Savior, pray my friend, pray! Watch what the Lord accomplishes.