When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.
Read Nehemiah 1:1-11. What are you like when you’re waiting for something? Think back to when you were last standing in a long queue. Did you wait patiently and quietly? Or did you start to get restless, moving from one foot to the next?
We can sometimes get restless and wriggly when we’re waiting for God to answer a prayer! We try to be patient. We try to stay relaxed. But we want to jump and do something! To solve the matter ourselves. To be the answer to our own prayer!
That can be disastrous! Imagine what might have happened if Nehemiah had taken things into his own hands. He might have marched straight off to Jerusalem without asking the king’s permission and soon found himself in jail. Or he might have gone to ask the king’s permission to go and repair Jerusalem’s walls before God had prepared his heart and mind, and simply gotten a flat “no”. Jerusalem would have continued to lay in ruins.
Instead, Nehemiah waited patiently and prayed to the God he knew was in control of it all. At just the right time, God told him to act. As a result, Jerusalem’s walls were repaired and God’s people returned home.
Don’t be tempted to be the answer to your own prayer. Instead, like Nehemiah, wait patiently for God and pray!
THINK IT OVER
Think about the following:
What can you do to help you focus on God whilst you are patiently praying for him to act?