Nehemiah’s Prayer Answered
2 And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 I said to the king, “If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” 6 Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time. 7 And I said to the king, “If it please the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the [a]temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.” And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.
9 Then I came to the governors of the provinces beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. 10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite [b]official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel.
Nehemiah definitely had his heart in the right place here. When the king asks Nehemiah what he would request, he prays to God before he even answers the king. It was shocking enough that the king should care about his cupbearer, but for him to ask what Nehemiah would like was a pretty big deal. Nehemiah was a captive in a foreign land, and effectively a slave to the king. But God had already granted him favor, and we might say of him what was said of Esther, “perhaps it is for such a time as this.” Like Esther, Nehemiah had found favor with the king, and perhaps the only one who could make such a bold request.
Our “such a time as this” may not be so bold or obvious as Nehemiah or Esther, but God has put us where we are today for a reason. Nothing happens to His children by accident, and so when we feel overwhelmed, we can go to him for wisdom and guidance. We can be sure He has the words that will “win the day”, whatever situation we are facing.