Nehemiah 2

Nehemiah (a Jewish man) was a cupbearer for King Artaxerxes (pagan king), which meant he brought him his food and drink and tasted it first to be sure it wasn’t poison. One day, news traveled to Nehemiah that Jerusalem was in ruin. This is after many Jewish people were released to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild and worship their God (this is after the time of Ezra). Nehemiah thought that the Jewish people were doing just that- enjoying their freedom and worshiping the Lord in Jerusalem. When he found out that Jerusalem was in ruin and the people were transgressing the Lord, he was torn apart and he fasted and prayed to the Lord.

Here is what he prayed:

“I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of my father’s house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statues, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name. Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”

THIS prayer is so incredibly applicable to our current situation with COVID-19 and the quarantine/lockdown. I lift up Nehemiah’s prayer and pray it again, O God, please hear us and save us once more. Amen.