The Improbable Prayers Regarding Impossible People

Can I get you please to open your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah? And we're reading Nehemiah chapter two, verse one through to ten. Nehemiah two, verse one. In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of king Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I, and this is Nehemiah, 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 favour in your sight, that you will 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 for the governors of the province beyond the river that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah.

I sent also 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. So far our reading. You may have heard of a man by the name of Saint Augustine, whose writings are more widely read, scholars believe, in the last two millennia than anyone else. That might be hard to believe.

There has hardly been a man that has influenced philosophy, both Christian and secular, more than Augustine. But what you may not realise is that Augustine wasn't always a Christian. In fact, he only became a Christian at the age of 33. Now Augustine attributed his coming to faith to one thing alone, and that was the relentless praying of his mother, a woman called Monica. Monica had been the wife of a non-Christian man, and she had prayed continuously for her entire family to be saved.

She had attempted to bring her children up to follow the Lord, but in painful circumstances saw her son, Augustine, stray from that truth. However, it was obvious from an early age that Augustine was an exceptionally gifted young man, academically brilliant. So Augustine went and received an excellent education. He flourished in all the academic disciplines. Monica hoped that this might mean that he would discover God somehow in these philosophical pursuits, but in fact, it did the opposite.

If you go and read the life of Augustine, his biography, and I recommend everyone to do that, you will see that Augustine tried out every form of spirituality he could find apart from Christianity. Augustine stubbornly ignored, resisted his mother's warnings about pursuing a pure life, a Christian life. And instead, he went and he pursued every possible road of self gratification and immorality, especially as a young university student. For all the oldies here this morning who sigh and shake their heads at the young people of today, go and read Augustine's life and you'll see that nothing changes under the sun.

Whether you are a uni student at Griffith University or the ancient University of Carthage in Tunisia, Augustine's life could be any uni student's life today. He went on to live with a woman, not his wife. He had a child with her. And all the while, his mum, Monica, never stopped praying for her son to know Jesus.

Augustine was eventually befriended by another brilliant mind, the Bishop Ambrose of Milan, another famous church father who went about discipling him in a way that was obviously more palatable and more interesting to Augustine than what his mum could offer. During this time, Augustine wrote in his memoir called Augustine's Confessions of the moment where his eyes were opened to his own brokenness and his need of forgiveness. This is what he writes. I was weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart when I heard the voice of children from a neighbouring house chanting the words, take up and read, take up and read.

I could not remember ever having experienced something like that. And so by being intrigued by the torrent of my tears, I arose interpreting it to be no other than a command from God to open the Bible and to read the first chapter that I should find. Eagerly then, I returned to the place where I had put down the volume of the apostle Paul. I seized it, I opened it, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first fell. And incidentally, that just happens to be Romans 13:13-14, which says, let us behave decently, Paul writes, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.

Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. This is what Augustine reads. And then he writes, no further would I read nor did I need to. For instantly at the end of this sentence, it seemed as if a light of serenity infused into my heart and all the darkness of my doubt vanished away. Augustine, at this moment, was brought into a saving knowledge of God.

And amazingly, only nine days later, his mum Monica died of a fever. But she had heard the good news of her son. And in his grief hearing about the loss of his mum, Augustine wrote down this prayer for his mum saying, now you are gone from my sight who for years had wept over me that I may live in your sight, oh God. I share Augustine's story this morning to introduce to us the hard concept of praying for people that we feel are impossible to change. Praying for the impossible people in our lives who know that they need the work of God, who we know need God Himself in their lives.

And so the very first thing I want us to reflect on as we read Nehemiah's story, as we see the story of him interacting with Artaxerxes, the most powerful man of the time, and how God is able to change the heart of a king, I want us to see how God answers prayers regarding the heart. And that is that prayer changes hearts. Sometimes we're happy to pray about circumstances. We're happy to pray that God will give me a good holiday in South Africa, that God will keep me safe.

Sometimes we think that those things are sort of manageable for God, that he's in the job of doing that, that he's able to change circumstances. But it's harder for us to believe that prayer, our prayer, can change the deepest parts of a person. But we see in Nehemiah how his prayer calls on the power of God to intervene and to change something that we ourselves cannot change, and that is hearts and minds of people. Sometimes it's easy to pray for safety in South Africa when I'm on holiday because I know that I can drive safely, I know that I won't stop at a dodgy part of the town.

We sort of infuse our own ability in our circumstances and then pray that God can somehow work that all together for good. But we feel absolutely, utterly hopeless when we come to really difficult people. People that we think are far too lost, far too difficult to change. We think people are too stubborn. We think that they are too lost, too consumed with their own convictions to ever change.

But the story of Nehemiah this morning says that prayer can change the heart of any person, of any persuasion, and in any position. God changes the hearts of a king as well. And I wanna ask you this morning, are there people that you have stopped praying for? Are there people perhaps that you haven't even started praying for because you think it is a lost cause? Hear this. God can change the heart of anyone.

And if you're wondering whether Nehemiah's prayer was an easier prayer than yours, that king Artaxerxes was an easier man to pray for, that you may have more stubborn people in your life than this king was, let's just have a quick skim of Nehemiah one or let me just summarise it for you. Nehemiah hears of the terrible thing that's happened in Jerusalem, in the capital of his people, the Jews. He knows that it has been destroyed, that its walls have been broken down. It is vulnerable. It is open to attack at any time, and his heart sinks according to chapter one.

And he prays to God for an opportunity to go back and fix it, to go and rebuild that wall. But according to another part of the Bible in the book of Ezra, Ezra was a man of God and he helped to rebuild the temple specifically. He and Nehemiah were contemporaries. According to Ezra's book, chapter four, this very king said this of the people of Jerusalem. The people of Jerusalem are a wicked and rebellious people.

If they rebuild the wall, they will surely rebel against me. So King Artaxerxes sets himself up against the people of Jerusalem. He knows, and they were, the city of Jerusalem was famously hard to attack. It was a well defended fortress.

Somehow he had conquered it and he knew that if they have this wall, it's gonna be impossible to get in. In Proverbs 21:1, however, Solomon writes this of how God works. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. He directs it like a water course wherever he pleases. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord and the Lord, God, directs it like a water course wherever he pleases.

The metaphor here is of a farmer who lives nearby a river or an estuary or something like that, who digs irrigation channels to water the crops of the land. And Solomon writes that in the same way a farmer will make the water bend and flow to suit his needs, so God channels the hearts of kings to do whatever he wants them to do. What this means and what Nehemiah bravely does is that he believes that the heart of any person, the heart of your son, the heart of your daughter, the heart of those friends who are very far from God, they should be, they can be placed in the hand of the Lord again and again and again. It means that there is no situation, that there is no person, no person in any position whether king or pauper that cannot be changed by appealing to the sovereign Almighty God of heaven and earth. So go ahead.

Ask Him. Ask Him to change those hearts. Jesus Himself said to us, you don't have because you don't ask. Go ahead and pray for those impossible people. And I know that when we do or when we are at that point of praying for them, there can be all sorts of questions that we ask ourselves.

We say, how does God's sovereignty work with free will? Isn't it their decision to lay down that life and to take up the life of the cross, to follow Jesus Christ? How does God's sovereignty and human free will work together? Or we ask, what if I'm praying and what I'm praying for isn't what God's will is? It doesn't matter.

Pray. Pray for those hearts to change. Tim Keller in his book on prayer writes this, God will either give us what we ask or give us what we would have asked if we knew everything God knows. And we can rest in that. We can ask with our finite understanding of our circumstances and our timing and we know that God knows better and we know that God will give what is good, what is just, what is merciful based on His character.

So the first point this morning is that prayer can and does change hearts. But then the second part that we see this morning is that prayer and waiting go hand in hand. Prayer and waiting go hand in hand. From the passage we read this morning in chapter two, it starts with, in the month of Nissan. It's not that car brand.

It is a month in the Jewish calendar. Now chapter one also starts in verse one. Now it happened in the month of Kislev. Again, a month in the Jewish calendar. This is when, in Kislev, in the month of Kislev, that is when Nehemiah hears the terrible news about Jerusalem.

And then in chapter two, it's the month of Nisan, which is about four to five months later. Nehemiah starts praying chapter one. He's praying to God, give me an opportunity. Change the heart of this king. Let me have this chance to go and rebuild the walls.

Four months later, the king says, you look terrible. What's up? And Nehemiah has the opportunity to share. And again, just before he shares, he shoots one of those quick prayers to God. God, please help, as he begins that conversation with the king. But the point is, Nehemiah was ready to go to Jerusalem in chapter one.

He would have quit his job on the spot. He was so zealous. He was so passionate about this job of going to restore Jerusalem, but he waits four months. He prays for four months. He stays as cup bearer to the king and the opportunity doesn't come.

And the opportunity doesn't come. There are no lightning bolts. Even when the opportunity does come, the king just asks a question. There are no heavenly choirs saying, now is your time, Nehemiah. It just happens one day when the king sees Nehemiah looks really tired this morning.

But by God's grace, everything has lined up perfectly because on this particular day, the king is in a really good mood. I mean, he's not busy enough with war or whatever to ignore what his cup bearer looks like. He's actually able to look up and see what's going on. Verse six of our passage says that king Artaxerxes is in the presence of his queen. So maybe he's a little bit more compassionate today.

After four months, Nehemiah has also had the time to work out the logistics of how long he would need to be away for, how long a rebuild of Jerusalem would take, what sort of materials he would use. So when the king says, how long and what do you need, he's just able to go, bleh. And then interestingly, some commentators point out that the month of Nissan, which is roughly March or April, is in the Northern Hemisphere springtime.

It's much safer to travel at this time. If you went in winter, there would have been more chance of getting delayed by bad weather. The construction wouldn't have happened at that time. And so can you see all of these things lining up in God's amazing perfect timing?

But Nehemiah had to wait. He had to wait four months. And it's a pattern we see again and again in the Bible, isn't it? God seems to take His time when answering prayer. Even very urgent prayers.

And you read Nehemiah's prayer in chapter one, and he was broken. He wanted it done now. But God's word tells us that God has good reasons for making us wait longer than we expect to. For us, it feels like God gets it wrong. For us, it seems like God is maybe very distant or very disengaged with what our needs are.

However, our perspective on timing compared with God's perspective on timing is like comparing a two year old's understanding of what a week is and our understanding of what a week is. If you've ever had a son or a daughter and you say, well, next week we are getting a toy or whatever, they go to bed, they wake up and they say, has that been a week? Or a two year old or a three year old when you tell them that next year you get to be three, next year you are four years old.

They go to bed, they wake up. Has it been a year yet? Am I four already? A day seems like an eternity for them. And because of our finite perspectives, our time frames are not in touch with the ultimate reality of what God can let happen.

And God may be delaying things for a thousand, a hundred thousand different reasons. And we will probably not understand the majority of those reasons. If you were to go back and look at your prayer journals or the things that you have prayed for in the past, and you were to look at how things actually work together, identify some of those things, you will know why God has those things happen in just that complex array or that complex pattern. There's a wonderful expression we find in Isaiah 30:18 of understanding why and how God is patient with answering prayer. Isaiah 30:18 says, therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you and therefore He exalts Himself to show mercy to you.

For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are those who wait for Him. God is waiting, but He's waiting to be gracious. God is waiting that He may exalt Himself in due time because of His mercy. Why?

Because God is a God of justice and all those who wait on God are blessed. So prayer and waiting will go hand in hand. It just does. Keep praying for those hearts to change. Be patient in your waiting because from Nehemiah's situation, we see the power and the mercy of God is busy aligning for God's purposes.

God is in this situation of Nehemiah adjusting a man's mood. He is working and refining their character. He's allowing for Nehemiah's personal preparation and refinement, getting ready to give a good answer. And then he's busy for the seasons to change. He's waiting for the seasons to change.

And all of this, he's doing in order to bless His child. And thirdly, our final point this morning, is that God's gracious character drives His response to our prayer. The last part of that verse, verse six that we read, it says, it pleased the king to send me. It pleased the king to send me. The king's heart has been changed.

Israel said he hardens his heart against this rebellious people in Jerusalem, and now he's pleased to send Nehemiah. But then Nehemiah has the audacity to push a little bit further. He says in verse seven, I also asked the king, if it pleases my king, may I have a letter to the governors to provide me safe passage all the way to Judah, which is a journey of about or more than a thousand kilometres. That's from here to Sydney. Give me a letter to pass through all of the boundaries getting there.

And then I would also like a letter to go and chop down wood from your personal forest that I may go and rebuild the walls of this rebellious city Jerusalem. And what happens? Verse seven finishes. Because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests. That's staggering.

Those are audacious things to be asking for, to an impossible person who set their heart against God's people, who set their heart against God. And a friend, I want to remind you this morning that prayer is much more than getting what you want. Prayer is also communion with the God who loves you and who has been gracious to you. The God who is more gracious to you than you deserve, more than you can appreciate even or understand.

You see, Nehemiah just wanted to go to Jerusalem and he would have punched out there and then if he had the opportunity. But God grants him much more than that. This is the heart of our God. He gives much more than we even hope for. Nehemiah would have just gone to Jerusalem if he could and he wouldn't have had any of the letters.

He wouldn't have had any of the timber to go and do that. He asked because God has changed the heart of the king and he receives much more than he would have assumed he could have received. Our prayers, if nothing else, are a heart to heart with a God who cares and knows us. And we mustn't forget that. But we do.

In his sermon, the disciples prayer, preacher Haddon Robinson tells this story. He says, when our children were small, we played a game. He said, I would take some coins in my fist. They would sit on my lap and work to get my fingers open, you know, to pry it open.

And according to the international rules of finger opening, once the finger was open, it couldn't be closed again. And they would work at it long and hard until they could get the pennies in my hand. But then when they got their penny, they would jump down off my lap, run away filled with glee and delight. Just kids, just games. But Robinson says, I wonder sometimes when we come to God, whether we come for the pennies in His hand.

Lord, I need that passing grade. Help me study. Lord, I need a job. Lord, my mother is ill. And we reach for the pennies and when God grants the request, we push the hand away.

Will we remember that more important than the pennies in God's hand is the hand of God Himself? It's so true, isn't it? Regardless of whether you get the reward or not, regardless of whether that person's heart has been changed that you have prayed for, knowing that you can look to the hand of your God in the first place means that everything will be okay in the end anyway. While you pray for those hearts to be changed, while you patiently wait, remember the gracious character of your God as well. The fact that you can go to Him is in itself the greatest hope we can ever cling to.

I want you to hear this morning that God does respond to prayer. I want you to hear that we can go to Him far more than we expect we can. But let us never forget that when we pray, that the very fact that we can pray, that we have the confidence to approach the sovereign King of heaven and earth is the greatest gift we have ever received. Going to God in prayer is the greatest answer to prayer that you could have ever prayed for. In fact, the Bible says it's an answer to prayer before you even desired to pray for it.

This is astounding truth about the fact of, or the possibility of prayer. God is attentive to our prayers. God the Father will answer us when we call because one terrible day, He chose not to answer the prayer of His Son Jesus Christ. When He called out to Him and said, let this cup pass. It's because Jesus' prayers on the journey to the cross were met by rejection that sinners and rebels deserve.

The sin and the rebellion that we need to hear was ours that day. And yet, it is because of Christ's victory on the cross, His glorious efforts on our behalf that means that today our prayers are met with reception that only He deserves. Why then shouldn't we pray? Why then won't we pray? Why would we not go to the God who, when He looks at us, sees His Son?

God wants us to know this morning from His word that the prayer that we pray has power to change hearts. We may need to pray for a while to see those prayers answered, but be gracious to yourself. Be patient with God because of that reason. But then rest yourself in this. Our prayers are being made to a God far more gracious than we could ever hope for or imagine.

So let's pray to Him now for that. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this word of encouragement. We thank you for the example again of Nehemiah. We thank you for his faithfulness and his passion.

We thank you that you have given in your word the example of this man to encourage our hearts. Thank you for the message, Lord, and the reminder that our prayers are able to change the hearts of even the most impossible people. And we pray, Lord, for those right now that have been on our hearts, on our minds, that we have been praying for for a long time or perhaps, Lord, even more recently have stopped praying for. We ask, Lord, that you will be working in them to accomplish what we would ask you to accomplish. For those that need to come to a saving knowledge of you, Lord Jesus, just like Saint Augustine, just like how Monica prayed for him.

Lord, we pray that you will save them, that you will open their hearts and their minds to be convicted of their need of you, the need of forgiveness by you, and the desire, Lord, for them to bow the knee to the great King who sits on this throne. For those, Lord, we are praying for who are going through hard times, are perhaps oblivious to faults, mistakes, weaknesses in their lives. Lord, we also pray that you will give them eyes and hearts to see, that you will refine them, sanctify them, purify them, Lord, even as they know you, even if they profess to be Christians. Lord, we pray that you will continue to work your wisdom and your insight into their lives. Lord, we pray for ourselves and the impossibility, Lord, of our own hang ups, our own rationalisations, our own excuses. And perhaps the hardest of all to pray for is ourselves.

We just pray, Lord, that you will be working in us to accomplish what you desire, what you need to accomplish in us, to change the things that we find so hard to change in ourselves. Thank you that you're patient. Thank you that you are willing to wait. Thank you, Lord, that you align so many things in such a perfect way that we cannot but see your hand in it all. And so Lord, may you receive all the exaltation and praise because you are a patient God.

May we see your mercy and just be amazed by it, astounded by it. And Father, may we see ourselves as blessed because we are waiting on the Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.