Day 358

Nehemiah 1:1-2:20, Revelation 16:1-21, Psalm 147:1-11

As a minister I often have to pray, and I often have to pray at the front of church. People sometimes want prayers that sound good and sum up what they are feeling. But the thing is, sometimes it is hard to pray, for all of us. Sometimes we just can’t find the words to say. We think that the words we want to say will sound rubbish, and we sometimes think that the words that are coming out of our mouths are not even worth God listening to.

Note what happened when Nehemiah prayed though. For three days he wailed and prayed, “then” he said the prayer we have here. Only after three days did he get to the prayer that was worthy of being written down. For three days he spoke prayers that probably rambled and waffled. He said prayers that didn’t seem to go anywhere and yet God heard. He probably even just sat there in silence for some of it, crying and perhaps sometimes wailing.

Sometimes it is hard to pray, it took Nehemiah three days to get something worth writing. Whatever we are saying God wants to here it, so get in with Nehemiah and pray three days worth of waffle, and silence and quiet – God will listen.