The Weight Of A Prayer

Nehemiah 1

When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. (Nehemiah 1:4)

NEHEMIAH HEARD NEWS in Persia of the condition of Jerusalem, and it broke his heart. Jerusalem’s disrepair, still painfully evident long after its destruction at the hands of Babylon, weighed heavily on him. So Nehemiah sat down to mourn, fast, and pray to God. Not long afterward, he became the answer to his own prayer, as God gave him an opportunity to go to Jerusalem and oversee the rebuilding process. The burden of disappointment moved Nehemiah to plead with God, which moved God to intervene, just as he had planned.

That’s often how prayer works. God hears our intercession, and sometimes he prompts an emotional burden in his people to ask for things he wants to do. Nehemiah’s grief fit with God’s purposes; his confession on behalf of his people and petitions for God’s intervention were all according to design and were vital in the restoration and fulfillment of God’s promises. Nehemiah became a vital player in Israel’s history because his spirit had been provoked by devastating news.

We often hear devastating news and grieve without much hope of anything being done about it. But if we learn to read the movements of God in the news—whether the headlines of the day or the personal developments in our lives—we begin to understand that the burdens we feel are more than just grief. They are promptings, provocation, and catalysts for the asking-and-answering process God instituted at the dawn of Creation. He intervenes in this world through human agency, even when that agency is nothing more than a request. He repeatedly and consistently urges us to bring our petitions to him so that he might do what he had already purposed to do.

Make that one of your missions in life—to be a human agent who prompts God’s intervention, a requisitioner who brings the needs of the world and the requests of God’s people into his throne room. Ask with anticipation of a response, even one that might involve you. Know that your emotional burdens can be the catalyst for a significant move of God.

{Lord, remind me often to turn my concerns into prayers—to see them not as pessimistic complaints but as the beginnings of change. May my burdens invite your solutions into this world. Amen.