9th.: In the Spur of the Moment
Many prayers are long.
By necessity other prayers must be kept short.
Nehemiah gives us an example of a short, straight to the point prayer.
After several days of prayer and fasting, Nehemiah remained a little depressed about Jerusalem (see the previous two days).
While at work (Nehemiah chap 2), Nehemiah’s boss, the king of Medo-Persia, saw Nehemiah’s sorrowful face.
He asked Nehemiah about it. Nehemiah’s immediate reaction was,
“… Then I was very sore afraid, and said unto the King, ‘Let the king live forever; why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my father’s sepulchers, lies waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?’ Then the king said unto me, ‘For what do you make request.’
So I prayed to the God of heaven. …” (Neh. 2:2d-4).
Nehemiah had little time to pray. He had only enough time to quickly mutter under his breath something like,
“Help, Lord, what do I say.”
If we ask, God will help. If we do not, He might not help.
Another missed opportunity - perhaps forever.
However, Nehemiah’s earlier, longer, prayers prepared him for the moment.
As things turned out, the King sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall that went around Jerusalem (Neh. 2:5-11).
“… walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time.” (Eph. 5:15-16)