The reports of the broken walls and burned gates in Jerusalem had so affected Nehemiah that he sat down, wept, and mourned for days. His prayer ended with a specific request: “Let your servant succeed today and show him mercy before this man” (Neh 1:11).
Remarkably, Nehemiah does not specifically suggest to God in what form this mercy should be granted to him by the king. Obviously, he wanted to leave the manner of doing so up to God.
Equally remarkable is the fact that he prays for success “today.” From Nehemiah 1:1 and Nehemiah 2:1, we can conclude that Nehemiah presented this request to God over a period of four months. And again and again he prayed, “Today.” Was it not prayed in faith or in accordance with God’s will? After all, nothing happened for four months. Yet the prayer was as pleasing as it was faithful. Nevertheless, the answer did not come immediately. There was neither a yes nor a no in God’s response. Nehemiah interpreted God’s silence as “Wait!” and did not allow himself to be discouraged from continuing to pray for “today.” Eventually, the day came when “today” was truly today. The king granted Nehemiah leave to undertake the great task of rebuilding.
Perhaps you have been praying for something for a long time. Again and again, you bring up this desire that your unbelieving relative will be converted today, that you will receive clarity about something today, that the difficulty will change today, that the dispute between siblings will end today, or that a child will turn away from the wrong path today. The fact that nothing has happened yet does not mean that you have not prayed faithfully or that your request is not pleasing to the Lord. Keep praying: “Today.” Trust and wait.
Someday, the day will come when God will make your ‘today’ His “today.”
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