Nehemiah 2:4 –
The king asked, “Well, how can I help you?” With a prayer to the God of heaven,
Most of the time we tend to think of prayer as being one of those quite moments alone between God and ourselves. Here Nehemiah is doing it “one the fly” in his dealings with the king. If you think about it he did not have time for one of those “Oh Father thou art …” type prayers. It most likely was a “God give me the words” and go type. As we saw a few verses earlier he was “terrified” at even bringing this up with the king.
Many times we get caught up in the formality of prayer. Think it has to have a formula to work. Many times we get lost in the x, y and z’s of prayer that we forget to just lift them up in the moment. Sure our “quite” prayer time needs some structure, but that doesn’t mean our lines of communications are closed unless we are in the quiet moments. No we need to become more aware of Him in our daily walk.
I think it’s because we look at God as the king Nehemiah is conversing with. Notice in this story the king was concerned about his mood. When Nehemiah talked with him about it, the king did not fight with him and granted his request. God is the same way with us; we do not need to fear Him when we approach Him humbly.
There is a big difference between the king and God in that God is with us all the time. We tend to limit our understanding of God when we place Him on a “throne” overseeing the universe. God is involved in each and every one of our lives. There is no hiding from Him, so might as well embrace the relationship and talk with Him whenever. Don’t get “flippant” in your walk, but at the same time don’t avoid this relationship. God wants it and He will pursue you to get it, so embrace it!