#5 - Kyle Thompson // So I Prayed

So not only would he do what he could to make sure that the king did not have his food or drink tampered with , because poisoning was a common assassination tactic in those days he would actually do that duty for the entire royal court .

Okay , so , needless to say , he was a really , really important person that had a really important job that required a lot of trust from the king . So let's go back to the text here . We're going to go . Nehemiah 2 , starting in verse 1 .

In the month of Nisan in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes , when wine was before him , I took up the wine and gave it to the king . Now I had not been sad in his presence and the king said to me why is your face sad , seeing you are not sick ? This is nothing but sadness of the heart . Then I was very much afraid .

I said to the king Let the king live forever . Why should not my face be sad when the city , the place of my father's graves lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire . Then the king said to me what are you requesting ?

So I prayed to the God of heaven and I said to the king If it pleases the king , and if your servant has found favor in your sight , that you send me to Judah , to the city of my father's graves , that I may rebuild it . And the king said to me the queen sitting beside him , how long will you be gone and when will you return ?

So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time .

And I said to the king If it pleases the king , let letters be given to me , to the governors of the province beyond the river , that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah , and a letter to Asaph , the keeper of the king's forest , that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress , of the temple and for the wall of the

city and for the house that I shall occupy . And the king granted me what I asked for . The good hand of my God was upon me . Okay , guys . So let's talk about this . King Artaxerxes fancied himself a god . Okay , a living , breathing deity . That's what he thought he was .

So if you were to be granted access to the presence of , you know , a living little g god , then you would have no reason to be sad , right ? So just by looking sad , nehemiah was literally risking his life . So we can see that in the text , because Nehemiah said that he was very much afraid after Artaxerxes directly asked him why he looked so sad .

So Nehemiah does some cleanup work , but then eventually tells the king that there is no way he can avoid the sadness because of the state of Jerusalem and her people . Then , perhaps shockingly , king Artaxerxes asks Nehemiah so what do you want to do about it ? And what does the text say ? Go back to verse four . So I prayed to the God of heaven .

Now , because of how we see Nehemiah operate throughout the rest of the narrative of the book of Nehemiah , I think it is safe to assume that Nehemiah already had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to do . This guy seemed to have a plan for just about everything . But what does he do ? First he prayed .

He stops himself from just coming out with his request , with his plan , in order to pause and consult with the creator . So here's my question for you to ponder today . Do you default to prayer or is prayer just a last resort ?

Honestly , I'll say , for me I tend to lean on my own wisdom because I believe and others do as well that I've been given the gift of discernment right , so I kind of have an out right .

But even if that is the case right , even if I'm right and a lot of those other people are right , all of us certainly me included would do well to pause and pray to the God of heaven before we act , wouldn't you agree ? I challenge you to do that today . See you tomorrow .