O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your dispersed be under the farthest skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.' They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. (Nehemiah 1:5-11)
Nehemiah's prayer contains just about all the elements that we should include in our prayers. He starts of with adoration in verse 5 – Nehemiah praises "the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love." It is good for us to focus on God's character and attributes when we start to pray – to use Richard Pratt's phrase, we should pray with our eyes open. Secondly, Nehemiah's prayer includes confession of sin – he acknowledges the things that both he and his people have done wrong (verse 6). Thirdly, we see reflection on what God has done. In verse 10, Nehemiah gratefully acknowledges God's saving acts. Likewise, it is very profitable for us to verbalise what God has done for us. Obviously, for the Christian, that will centre on God's grace manifest to us in Jesus Christ's death on our behalf.
Fourthly, this prayer includes quotation of Scripture. Nehemiah refers to what the Lord said to Moses (verse 8), and although it's hard to pin that down to a specific verse, it closely resembles the language of Deuteronomy. God loves to hear his words quoted back at him! Nehemiah asks God to remember his promise. He lays claim to a word spoken long ago to Moses. And finally, Nehemiah ends with a request. He asks for God to work in the heart of the pagan king, and for the situation to be successfully resolved.
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