Nehemiah#4 - Petition
We continue our journey through Nehemiah's heartfelt prayer for his country and people. After praise he offers petition...The word petition is derived from the language used in the presence of a ruler or a king. He hasn't really come to the content of what he is asking for yet - at this point he is simply asking that God would hear him out.
There are two aspects here:
Firstly, the language of petition reminds us that God doesn't owe us anything. God does not have to listen to us. He does not have to answer our prayers. Petition draws clear lines of identity. We are the ones in need and God is the One who can meet them. We need to come in great humility, understanding that although God wants to answer our prayers and although He longs to be gracious to us, this our privilege and not our right.
There is a trend among people today to have a "name it and claim it" model of prayer. They claim the promises of Scripture and boldly demand that God honours His promises. While it is true that we can rest on the promises of God (We'll see Nehemiah do it later in the prayer) our attitude should always be one of humble, worshipful, wonder: "Who am I that Thou would listen to me?"
Somebody once told me that they always felt guilty for always asking God for things. My response was to say that sometimes our prayer requests are actually the highest form of praise we can give, because we are admitting our need for God. We have problems that only He can solve and when we give them to Him in prayer, we are admitting our inability and His all sufficiency!
The second aspect of petition is that Nehemiah uses what Bible-Scholars call "anthropomorphisms" (attributing human characteristics to God.) Does God have ears and eyes like ours? No - He can see further than my eyes can, He can hear better than my ears can. When Nehemiah uses these very human images for God, he is expressing a longing for intimacy with God. We all know how much it means to us when a friend takes time to listen to our story or when a friend's eyes glisten with tears of compassion for us.
With New Testament eyes, we see this prayer completely fulfilled in Christ. Because Jesus experienced all our pain, sorrow, and brokenness as a human being, we know that He fully identifies with us.
So, after preparation and praise, Nehemiah comes to petition: A statement of dependance on God and an expression of a longing for intimacy with Him.
| ... let Your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. (Nehemiah1:6) |
