A Prayer And A Promise

Review

Turn to Nehemiah 9

Two days after the Feast of Tabernacles had ended, the Jewish people gathered again in Jerusalem. This time, it wasn’t for a day of celebration. It was for a day of confession. They humbled themselves, they sanctified themselves, and they committed themselves to a renewed relationship with God.

Their change of heart was obvious because they had a change of conduct. It positively affected their emotions. It positively affected their behavior.

Their time of confession resulted in a pure people who was ready to walk with God again.

Introduction

Probably most people think of prayer as being when a person requests something of God.

That is certainly a major element of prayer.

Confederate general “Stonewall” Jackson understood this. In an August, 1862, letter to his wife, he said,

“The thought that there are so many of God’s people praying for His blessing upon the army greatly strengthens and encourages me.”

After a few more lines, he mentioned some of the things he was praying for also:

“That [God] will still be with us and give us victory until our independence shall be established, and that He will make our nation that people whose God is the Lord, is my earnest and oft-repeated prayer.”

“Stonewall” Jackson understood that prayer is very much about asking God for what we need, but he realized also that there’s more to prayer than making request. Jackson’s letters to his wife indicated his belief that prayer is equally about praise. Time after time, he would give thanks to God for deliverance, for protection, for wisdom in leading his troops, and for so many other answers to prayer. Despite being in the middle of a war and despite being separated from his wife, Jackson’s letters were saturated with praise to God!

That is exactly how the Levites began their prayer in Nehemiah 9:4.

Read Nehemiah 9:4-6

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A prayer of praise - Nehemiah 9:4-6

In the middle of verse five, the Levites said: “Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.”

How do I know that the Levites were praying? The text doesn’t mention prayer anywhere, but the reason I know they are praying is because in verse five, they began talking to God. That’s exactly what prayer is.

Without trivializing or oversimplifying prayer, you must understand that prayer is talking directly to the God of Heaven.

It’s not praying to a saint.

It’s not praying to someone else on this earth like a priest.

It is talking directly to God and it’s made possible only by Jesus Christ! You do not have direct access to God unless you have trusted in the sacrifice of His Son to save your soul from sin!

Might give the Gospel here in brief:

What are you trusting in to get you access to God both now and in the future in Heaven? Don’t trust your good works. You’re not good enough. No one is. Only Jesus’ death on the cross was sufficient to wash away your sin. You must trust Christ alone as your Savior from sin if you have not already made that decision.

In verse six, these men declared “Thou, even thou, art LORD alone.”

Listen: praise includes declaring who God is.

Now stay with me on this because it is important for the application in a few minutes. Notice who our God is. Notice what the Levites declared about God in verse six.

He is Jehovah alone - there is no one else like Him!

He made the heaven (atmosphere) and the heaven of heavens with all their host (referring to space and the stars)

He made the earth and everything on it and He preserves (keeps alive) all of it too

All the stars worship (bring glory) to God

Now why did the Levites declare these things about God? Was it because they were having an epiphany? Was it because they had never realized these things about God before?

No! They were declaring what they already knew about their God! They were reminding everybody of who God is!

Application: One of the greatest medicines for your soul is to meditate on who God is.

In a day wherein we read all of the time that our country is having a mental health crisis and is suffering from anxiety and emotional distress, maybe its time for preachers to start shouting from the rooftops: start meditating on who God is! Replace your fears and worries with meditations on God!

It just might shock you the difference that it will make to your soul. I’ll make you a promise: the pharmaceutical companies will never suggest that because they won’t make a dime off of it.

Do you meditate (think about) who God is? Do you spend time alone with Him daily? Or do you only think about your God when you show up for church?

Stop meditating on your fears.

Stop meditating on your failures.

Stop meditating on your problems.

Replace all of that with actively thanking God for who He is and actively praising Him for who He is. You will find sweet nourishment for your soul.

Today there is so much focus on being physically healthy - and rightly so - but there is little focus on being spiritually healthy. Many Christians are spiritually unhealthy because they don’t open their Bible at all and remind themselves of who God is. They are spiritually weak because they get something like a steroid shot for their soul whenever they come to church. It helps numb the pain but one service a week is not enough to make a spiritually healthy Christian.

Suggestion: slowly read through Nehemiah 9:5ff and highlight every time this prayer reveals a truth about who God is.

In your private time with God, start praising Him for who He is. Let that flow out into the rest of your life.

Not only a prayer of praise, but secondly…

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A prayer of remembrance - Nehemiah 9:7-31

My wife is really good about taking photos when our family spends time together. She puts a priority on it because even now, we’ll have pictures show up on our devices from ten years ago and those pictures bring back some good memories.

The other day my wife showed me a picture that came up on her phone. It was a photo of Bradley from when he was 3-4 years old. He was all proud of himself and he was smiling from ear to ear. Why? Because at the time, he was helping mommy lay the bricks and build a fire ring at our first house that we had just bought in NC. It brought back some good memories and reminded me how much my kids love to have an old fashioned camp fire.

In our busy American culture, it is good to slow down and remember the good memories of life. The Levites bring up some memories in these verses.

Read Nehemiah 9:7-9

From verse 7-31, the Levites recite the entire history of Israel from Abraham all the way until Nehemiah’s day! That’s approximately from 2000 BC to 444 BC so let’s say 1500 years. That’s a long time!

Now why did the Levites remember all of this? Was it just to give a history lesson? I don’t think so. They were praising God by declaring His works of power.

You see, praise includes remembering not only who God is but also what He has done on our behalf. These verses are a history lesson on God’s faithfulness.

Application: For those of you who have been saved a few years, you need to remember and retell the stories of God’s faithfulness. Tell your kids and your grandkids how you got saved. Tell them how God has changed your life and your family. When you talk with the kids here at church, tell them of God’s faithfulness! They need to hear these stories! They need to hear the good memories of God working on your behalf!

Remember your past, not to remember your fears or your failures! Remember your past to remember God’s faithfulness!

These Levites were brutally honest about the failures of their ancestors. Look at verse sixteen.

Read Nehemiah 9:16-17a

Here they were remembering how that during the Exodus from Egypt, the Israelites rebelled against the Lord and nearly turned around and went back to Egypt.

The Levites didn’t sugarcoat their ancestor’s sin, but they didn’t dwell on it either. Notice verse seventeen.

Read Nehemiah 9:17b

Why did they remember the sin of their forefathers? It was to remind them of God’s overwhelming mercy and grace!

Application: Listen to me! Satan wants to use your past to guilt-trip you! God wants to use your past to humble you!

Some of you believers live with a daily temptation to dig up the sin of your past and to wallow in the guilt thereof. Don’t do it! You’re falling right into the Devil’s trap! If that’s you, say “no” to that thinking and remind yourself that Jesus paid it all on the cross of calvary!

The Jewish people had a past that they could not forget. So much sin. So much failure. So much rejection of their God.

If that’s you this morning, your past does not exist to guilt-trip you. It exists to humble you and to help you remember the goodness of your God.

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A renewal of the covenant - Nehemiah 9:32-38

Our culture is not one that values covenants much like it used to. The number of marriages that end in divorce is ample evidence of that reality. We see covenants most typically in business contracts. Someone agrees to provide a product or service and someone else agrees to pay for it. If you go buy a house and get a mortgage to finance it, you’re signing a covenant or a promise and signing over your life to pay back that loan.

Apart from business and legal use, covenants are not much utilized in our culture today. It’s not common to hear of individuals entering into a covenant together regarding some matter.

In Nehemiah’s day, covenants were much more common. They were a standard element of the culture - whether for business, legal, or personal matters, covenants were employed much more frequently than they are today.

Read Nehemiah 9:32-38

Verses 38 is the key verse that sums up this renewal of their covenant to the Lord. They basically say, “Lord, we are servants under the rule of gentile kings. We deserve all of the punishment that You heaped upon us, but we are returning back to you. We are serious. We are going to renew our covenant with you again.”

We’ll learn the details of that covenant in chapter ten, but notice how this renewal comes right after their remembrance of God’s faithfulness.

First, the Levites rehearsed everything that God did for Israel.

Then, the Levites declared their desire on behalf of the people to renew their covenant with the Lord.

Application: Hear me, when you remember all that God has done for you, you should be moved to do all that you can for Him!

Christian, when you look back and remember that God saved your soul and that He has been so good and kind to you, you should run to His arms saying, “Lord, what can I do for you? Lord, how can I serve you? Lord, you’ve done so much for me! What can I do to serve you till I stand before you in Glory!

The last week or so, I’ve had a few moments where I’ve been able to cuddle with my kids before they go to bed. I can’t fully explain it, but there is something special about those times. To sit in my recliner with my arms wrapped up with my kids all piled around me is a great blessing. Sometimes those kids just have a way of warming my heart.

It might be a smile they give.

It might be a sweet kiss planted on my cheek.

It might be a tight squeeze of a hug.

I can’t fully explain it, but even after a day of dealing with sin and battling stubborn little wills, those children can warm our hearts in a special way if they want to.

Child of God, I think that’s a small expression of the warmth that God feels when you remember all that He has done for you and you go running towards Him with joy in your heart saying, “Lord, I want to walk with you! Lord, I want to serve you! Lord, I want to renew my relationship with you!

Conclusion

If you’ve walked away from the Lord and you know that right now you are far from God, today is the day to admit your error, turn around, and seek the Lord again. We’ve seen how to do that so clearly in Nehemiah chapter nine.

Today is the day for confession of sin. Today is the day to praise Him and to remember who He is and all that He has done for you. Today is the day to renew your promise.

Let it be a day for A Prayer and A Promise.

Invitation