May it please Almighty God to bless the reading of His holy words to the Prophet of our souls. Let's read the first chapter in the book of Nehemiah. The book of Nehemiah and reading the first chapter. Nehemiah chapter 1.

the words of Nehemiah, the son of Hakeliah. And it came to pass in the month Chislew, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan, the palace, that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

And they said unto me, the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven and said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments. Let thine ear now be attentive and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel, thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee, both I and my Father's house have sinned.

we have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandest thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, if ye transgress, I will scatter you. abroad among the nations. But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them, though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

Now these are thy servants, and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name. And prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day and grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the king's cut-bearer.

' We should be very thankful that God in his wonderful love and providence has left on record a number of gracious prayers which his servants put up when they were on the earth. And there's a record of quite a lot of them which we should be grateful for because it gives us a template really for our prayers today. Because as they walked, so we walk today. They weren't perfect and neither are we. They needed mercy and so do we. So we see how wonderful it is that we have such a record for us to be encouraged by and directed by.

So here we have this book of Nehemiah. And we're told, the words of Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah, and it came to pass in the month Chislew in the 20th year as I was in Shushan the palace. You can see he was an important person. Nehemiah, he was a governor, and he gained and had a lot of respect.

that Hananiah, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. Obviously he wanted to have some up-to-date news as to what the situation was there. The Jews have been in captivity now for quite a few years and obviously Nehemiah wanted to hear about them and what the state of Jerusalem was. And so they responded and said, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. They'd been left there, but they didn't enjoy an easy time. It was a tough existence. And then also, the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down. And the gates thereof are burned with fire. We also know of course that the temple was destroyed. So really it was a desolation.

And yet to realize how God gloriously blessed Jerusalem. And yet Israel had been so obstinate and so hard-hearted and so rebellious. against the words of Almighty God that the Lord had brought upon them this time of captivity, which they'd been told would happen, and yet they ignored the words of the prophets. And so here they are now, most of them taken captive now in Babylon, not a happy scene there for them, and a few that are left here in Jerusalem, not a happy scene for them.

And so we're told then, having received this news, it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days. He didn't stop there. We understand him doing just that, weeping and mourning. But then we're told he fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Wonderful to think that almighty God was there in those days to hear the prayers of his people. And it's the same today. We still have God today who hears and answers our prayers. And so here we're told, he prayed before the God of heaven. And we have then the words of his prayer. And he said, I beseech thee. Clearly that meant he was really concerned and really prayed earnestly. I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven.

And again, it's good to notice how he addresses the Almighty God, not as someone of equal, but somebody far above. And therefore he says, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments. How important it is for us as we come to almighty God to exalt him and to come with that understanding that we are approaching the majesty on high, the almighty ruler, the creator of heaven and earth. And he looks down upon unworthy sinners. And so he comes and says, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments.

Again, it's good to notice comes to God and reminds God, as it were, that he is that covenant-keeping God. And my friends, he is still today. He's a covenant-keeping God.

And he asks then, he says, let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant. which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel, thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee, both I and my Father's house have sinned.

He doesn't exclude himself. He comes in a condition of honesty and a condition desiring that the Almighty God would have mercy upon them. He comes therefore with confession, confession of sin, and how necessary that is in our prayer life to approach unto the Majesty on high and say in the same words as this good man did, I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel, thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee, both I and my father's house have sinned.

And he goes on and expands that statement and says, we have dealt very corruptly against thee and have not kept thy commandments, nor thy statutes, nor thy judgments, which thou commandest thy servant Moses. Well, that was a very honest statement. And surely such a statement today is not inappropriate. We really, when we walk on the earth many years after this was written, yet how we have dealt corruptly against Almighty God. We've not kept his commandments nor his statutes. nor the judgments which thou commandest thy servant Moses.

We are guilty. We need God's mercy. We need God's favour.

And so he comes in and says, Remember, I beseech thee, takes up that same phrase as earlier we've come across, beseeching God, beseeching God. And so he comes and says now, remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest, thy servant Moses saying, if ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations. and how true that is. We are not to disobey God.

But then there's a wonderful word of encouragement, where we're thankful for the many buts that are in God's word. But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them, though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heavens, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there."

So what is Nehemiah doing? He's coming to Almighty God. He's reminding Almighty God of what he's promised, of what he's said. And that's a comfort and an amazing blessing for you and me today. We can come to our God. We can quote scripture. We can quote his promises. We can remind him what he said and what he said he would do and be encouraged by that.

And so, but if you turn unto me, what a mercy that is if God gives us grace to turn to him and keep my commandments, and do them. Though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost parts of heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will keep them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. Well, the promises of God are yea and amen, and they do come to pass, and it's good to be in this position of faith to believe these great favours.

And so he comes and says, Now these are thy servants and thy people whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand. Well what a blessing today if we come in the same way and if we have the same evidence that God in his Amazing love has indeed redeemed us by His great power. And it is great power. Never underestimate the power required to redeem our souls. It's outside ourselves. We are unable to redeem ourselves. But what a blessing we have a great and glorious Saviour who's finished His redemptive work and we can come and plead for His promises to be fulfilled on our behalf.

O Lord, I beseech Thee. You see, His prayers are urgent. His prayers are positive. O Lord, I beseech Thee. Let now Thine ear be attentive to the prayer of Thy servant and to the prayer of Thy servants who desire to fear Thy name. Perhaps that's where we are. We desire to fear the name of the Lord and we need him to be attentive to our prayers. Who desire to fear thy name and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Well, there's a plea, isn't it? It's good, isn't it, to come to our God with clarity and a positive position and faith to believe that this great almighty God does hear and does answer prayer as he did very clearly in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. He heard their prayers, he brought Israel back to Jerusalem. He restored the walls of Jerusalem. He had the temple rebuilt in an amazing way. And we can recognize how great is our God.

Well, these are simple words. It's lovely to have a prayer like this recorded for our direction. and for our encouragement. So may indeed God graciously instruct us from these things. Amen.