9th.: In the Spur of the Moment
Many prayers can be long.
By necessity, other prayers must be kept short.
Nehemiah gives an example of a short, straight to the point prayer.
To give the context, Nehemiah had been praying for several days,
because he was feeling depressed about the state that his believe city, Jerusalem was in (see the previous two days).
Then, while at work (Nehemiah chap 2), Nehemiah’s boss, the king of Medo-Persia, saw Nehemiah with a sad 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 something under his breath 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)