Nehemiah (Part 1 of 9) - He Delights to Answer Prayer

Ezra heard about a situation, and God set it upon his heart to resolve it. There are things that you know, before God, you want him to sort out. Ezra knew that the information he was given was something that he had to respond to. There might be something in your life, where it’s as if you’ve been propelled into the arms of God through praying.

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This the background to the information that Ezra received:

Ezra 4:11

Artaxerxes was king of Persia. Some people had gone back to Jerusalem to start rebuilding the walls, because Israel had been taken over by Babylon and were in captivity. Jerusalem, therefore, was in ruins.

Ezra 4:17

The work was ended. Nehemiah had heard about the Jews going back and he thought things were happening, but then Nehemiah heard the work had ceased, and it got to him.

Nehemiah 1:1

It was a shock, because what he expected to hear was that it was great, that they had got on with it and work was progressing. But, no. The work had ceased. Sometimes we come across a situation where it is a shock, and we can’t figure out how we didn’t see it coming, or how it had ended up like this.

Nehemiah 1:4

This affected him for days. He couldn’t get it out of his mind. It might be that something you’re facing is something where you need a resolution in God. You will see God provide the answer.

Nehemiah 1:5

Nehemiah was at one with the people who had gone to build the walls. He immediately linked up with them, and it was as if he took them with him to God. As time progressed, it dawned on him that he was in a position that God had put him in for that time. You are in a position for such a time as this. Whatever the situation you’re facing, whatever the mountain it seems you have to go over, whatever the valley you have to go through, you are alive tonight for such a time as this. You will prove for yourself the faithfulness of God and the way he will invigorate, change the situation, and be the answer.

Nehemiah 1:8

He remembered what God had previously said.

Deuteronomy 4:25

Nehemiah 1:10

God will provide the solution. You don’t have the solution. It’s not a vague hope – not at all. It’s God who is prompting you to pray. By his Holy Spirit he is getting hold of you. He delights to answer and to prove himself to be the solution. He is a merciful God who loves you, and he involves us.

Luke 18:1

Here is a judge who will sort it out just to get rid of the woman, and that was an unjust judge who said that.

Luke 18:7

The prompting of God in your life at the moment to pray is because God is going to answer what you are praying. The answer is coming, and it is on it’s way. But the timing will be perfect. It will be at a time when you conclusively know that the solution is from Him, and you accept it as such. It’s not what I’m going to do – it’s what he is going to do. He has prompted you to pray in the way that you are praying.

With Nehemiah, when this news came, it immediately caused him to go to God. There was a resolve in him to make a stand before his God. God delights to answer that prayer. Prayer is where God delights for you and for me to become co-workers with him. He doesn’t need to bother with us really but he loves us, and somehow, when he prompts that prayer inside, it’s his delight for us to realise that we know who made the provision. It is as if we are co-workers with him.

Nehemiah 1:11

He kept praying, and the solution came four months later. Do you have to pray for a certain amount of time to twist God’s arm to be the answer? Absolutely not. It is simply that he somehow causes things that we pray for, and it is his delight to answer at the perfect time and provide a complete solution.

Who am I trusting? Where is my faith? Who is the God I believe in? With Nehemiah, when this news came to him, it forced him onto his knees.

The prayer you’ve already prayed, God has heard. It is not wrong to pray about something more than once. And God delights to answer.

You can take everything to God and he delights for us to do that. Your need for an answer causes you to get hold of God more than ever before.

God will provide the solution. He delights to become co-workers with us, in the solution that he always is.