A Prayer for Faithful Service (Nehemiah 5:19)

Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people. 

This is such a short, simple prayer—yet one we all hope we could pray at the end of our lives. Nehemiah stands as one of the better examples of a faithful believer, and this prayer can serve as a goal for us.

Background

As we continue reading through Nehemiah, we learn that he was governor in Jerusalem for twelve years. Nehemiah tells the reader that he and his people did not use the food allowances that the governor’s staff was due—unlike the previous governors, who demanded a lot of the people for their own good. He also acquired no lands for himself to increase his wealth or power. Instead, he focused on rebuilding the wall, as was his task.

He then describes one meal he would be expected to provide at an official dinner, which included the city officials and foreign dignitaries; again, he refused to tax the people for the food for such banquets because he would rather not place a burden on the people. 

The brief prayer above follows the listing of all the things he did. It simply asks God to remember him for all that he has done for the people.

Meaning

Just like in the last prayer passage, we see that this passage emphasizes that we should put the community of God’s above the desires or wants of the individual. There are so many stories have we heard of church and faith organizations who live wealthy lives, far above the average person they serve. Power and status changes people. Both religious leaders and political leaders seem to forget they are to be servants of the people and begin to think of themselves too highly. Nehemiah focused on the purpose of his role—protecting God’s people—and that helped him to remain grounded. Even in this short passage, he mentioned twice why he did things like he did: because of God.

The prayer itself is short and to the point. It is the first of six prayers that begin with “Remember…”, and all seem to come near the end of his reign.¹ This seems to show that the people are not appreciative of the work he has done, and so he relies on God to remember his heart and his toil. In Nehemiah’s previous prayers, he was in the middle of a narrative, engaged and passionate. These prayers are more reflective, looking back in time.

Note also that he is asking God to bless him for all his work. He knows that blessings only come from God; they do not come because we work hard, do good things, or are a “good person.” God is the benefactor of all blessings.

Application

As believers, we should all be willing to sacrifice for the community of God’s believers. Whether that be time, money, or something else (and perhaps it should be all of those), we should do so because (1) God has assigned it to us, and (2) we are to imitate Christ, as Christ imitates God, in caring for people. 

The prayer is instructive. Our prayers usually concern “the moment at hand”—we ask for help or direction, we thank and praise Him for something, we intercede for others, or we confess and repent. But there is a place for reflective prayer when we look back a long distance into the past. For Nehemiah, it was to ask God to remember how much he had sacrifices and worked, even if others did not. It could be the same for us, or it might look back at less honorable actions. In the latter case, we can ask for forgiveness.

Such a prayer could also urge us on to good works now, so that, someday, we can look back on them and prayer Nehemiah’s prayer!

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1. See also 6:14; 13:14, 22, 29, 31, which we will explore later. ↩