Nehemiah 2:1-4 (NASBStr)
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. 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. 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?” Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.
Have you ever been caught in the conversation about prayer and how we should pray? Or, how long we should pray? Or, where we should be when we are praying? The variety of answers to these questions might be as wide spread as the people you ask. In the above verses from the life of Nehemiah we have some insight worth noting. Nehemiah was a "cupbearer" for the king. That meant his role was to be the bartender for the most powerful man in the land. But, beyond serving the drinks the cupbearer was responsible to drink from the cup prior to the king to assure the drink was not poisoned. If, as in the above, you came before the king to serve his drinks and you face was anything but bright, the king would be leery of the cocktail you just made him. Such is the case in the above. Nehemiah's face was discontent because he heard about how bad it was back in Jerusalem. When the king asks him the reason for his sadness the last line in the above verse says, "So I prayed to the God of heaven." Just before he answered the king Nehemiah said a silent prayer, asking God for wisdom and sovereign rule. It doesn't say what he prayed, only that he prayed. In a tough moment Nehemiah prayed, instantly and quickly. Yet, we should note this "brief" prayer was on the heals of months of prayer. Note that this took place in the Jewish month of "Nisan". That was March-April on our calendar. The news about Jerusalem had come to Nehemiah in the Jewish month of Cheslev (November-December). That is when Nehemiah started to pray about this situation. He might have said a brief prayer at the moment of the discussion with the king, but he actually brought the king and this discussion up before the Throne of Grace for the entire winter months. Note the last verse of the first chapter:
Nehemiah 1:11 (NASBStr)
O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.”
Now I was the cupbearer to the king.
Nehemiah had prayed for months for this very moment in time. He was not praying because he was afraid or nervous. He could afford to spend a "brief" prayer time here because he had spent a "deep" time of God for months prior. Prayer is not about when or where or how much, but that you take everything to God so that when the time comes to talk to God it is not a new conversation but simply a continuous conversation from moments before. We should be talking to God continually. That makes our prayers, no matter when, simply a continuing conversation with God. The question is not when should I pray or where, but why am I not right here ... no matter where here is located.
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