Connect360: Prayer and Fasting

• Lesson 10 in the Connect360 unit “Prayer That Moves Heaven: Power With Purpose” focuses on Nehemiah 1:1-11.

Nehemiah struggled with what to do in response to what he knew. He fasted, and while he did, he prayed with a broken heart. He would have been no stranger to fasting. Fasting had been part of Jewish religious practices a long time. Moses fasted 40 days and nights while meeting with God and receiving the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:28). Other times of fasting are recorded in the Old Testament historical books of Kings, Samuel and Chronicles. Centuries earlier than Nehemiah, even the wicked King Ahab fasted (1 Kings 21:27) after hearing Elijah’s rebuke and the judgment that would come to him, Jezebel and his followers.

Nehemiah’s prayer begins similarly to a prayer I remember from of my childhood: “God is great and God is good” was the beginning of a prayer around the table. Those two great truths are in Nehemiah’s prayer (Nehemiah 1:5, 10). Nehemiah also recognized and praised God for his nature: a loving covenant maker and keeper; one who hears the prayers for and of his people; and one who can restore repentant people to their homeland.

His prayer included confession of sin. Nehemiah did that on behalf of his people. He acknowledged sin is ultimately a sin against God. He confessed they had acted wickedly and disobediently. His prayer reminds us of the teaching of Old Testament prophets who preached that unless people changed, God was going to judge and punish them. His prayer also confirmed a prophetic strain that the exile is Israel’s punishment for their sin.

Does it seem like Nehemiah is reminding God about who God is and what he has promised? Perhaps, but in asking God to remember what he has said, Nehemiah is confessing the faith upon which his prayer is made. God promised judgment, and God did indeed judge, but God also promised restoration, and now Nehemiah is asking God to do that. Nehemiah then offered himself as a vehicle to make restoration possible. His final petition is to ask God to bless him with success with a plan to rebuild Jerusalem.

Nehemiah had a privileged position. He was doing well. To follow through on his plan would require great sacrifice and effort, perhaps even costing him his life. However, he was ready to ask Artaxerxes to send him, along with resources and people, back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls and help renew Israel. In short, Nehemiah’s plan worked. Artaxerxes blessed and enabled Nehemiah’s mission. Just think about it: it began with a burden that led to fasting and prayer.

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