Praying: On the Fly
Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it. -Nehemiah 2:4-5
Here’s an interesting occurrence, with peculiar wording. Nehemiah is come before the king, and the king has noticed that Nehemiah is upset about something, and calls him out on it. At this, Nehemiah’s heavy heart becomes very afraid, and he must quickly make an answer to the king.
As it’s written, it appears as though Nehemiah is asked a direct question of the king, and Nehemiah says a prayer to God (perhaps brief and silent), and then answers the king. There doesn’t appear to be any indication that there is a break in the action from the time the king asks the question, to the time that Nehemiah prays and then answers the king.
Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight… -Nehemiah 2:4-5
Was Nehemiah praying on the fly? Did he send up a quick little prayer to the God of heaven right in the middle of business? We may never know until we get to heaven, but it appears that this was the case.
It’s my belief that God delights in these quick prayers. True, He desires for us to utter deeper, sometimes lengthier prayers, but I also believe that God honors the short little prayers of everyday life.
Sometimes, we’re in a jam, and we haven’t the time to get away and pray as we ought. Why not cry out to God in our hearts, with just a short simple prayer for strength and guidance?
Pray without ceasing. -1 Thessalonians 5:17
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