Nehemiah 6

Toll Booth – Have you been through a toll booth lately? I ran one in Wisconsin last month.

You zip in and zip out – Quick.

Today we are going to talk about another type of quick encounter – the one line prayer.

Nehemiah 2:4-5 Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. ⁵ I said to the king, “If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”

Sanballat was giving Nehemiah all manner of grief.

Nehemiah 6:5-9  Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same manner a fifth time with an open letter in his hand. ⁶ In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel; therefore you are rebuilding the wall. And you are to be their king, according to these reports. ⁷ You have also appointed prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem concerning you, ‘A king is in Judah!’ And now it will be reported to the king according to these reports. So come now, let us take counsel together.” ⁸ Then I sent a message to him saying, “Such things as you are saying have not been done, but you are inventing them in your own mind.” ⁹ For all of them were trying to frighten us, thinking, “They will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands.

New Testament Reference if Needed

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ¹⁶ Rejoice always; ¹⁷ pray without ceasing; ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Under what kind of circumstances do you invoke the one-line prayer?

I usually pray for strength when I don’t know what to pray for. What are some other common short prayers? Be with me or someone else, Help me or someone else, ?

Nehemiah’s prayer in 6:9 asking for strength is in response to an attack from Sanballat et al. I think it is interesting that Nehemiah’s prayer in this passage is about his own strength, not about others.

What are some of the normal responses you see from people who are facing lies and false accusations? They lash out – they may fight back – they may challenge the liar – they may pray!

The short, one sentence prayer is used in a few other places in this book. 5:19, 13:14, and 13:30 are also short prayers. What are some examples of times when we should think, “Now is the time for a quick prayer”? When we realize that we should be thankful, When we see something that we clearly cannot fix, when we see God’s Glory (in nature or in circumstances).