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"O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer."
(Nehemiah 1:11)
Let us look again at this passage from Nehemiah that we looked at yesterday. Nehemiah was faced with a difficult task. The wall around the city of Jerusalem had lain in shambles for many decades. It had been over a hundred years since the Babylonians had defeated and decimated Judah and the capital city of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Nehemiah would lead the reconstruction project around 450 BC, so there was much work to be done. First, he needed a leave of absence from his current prestigious job as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. The king could deny his request, but Nehemiah prayed that God would grant him prosperity and that God would give him mercy in the sight of the king.
In verse 11, Nehemiah prays a big prayer; it would take a miracle of God to pull off what he was asking. And you know what? That is a wonderful thing. We all should be praying prayers to God in such a way that unless God comes through for us, we will indeed fail.
Pastor Mark Batterson tells the story of how God answered a huge prayer for him and the church he serves, National Community Church, in Washington DC. He writes about it in his book, Chase the Lion. There was an old crack house in the DC area that they wanted to buy in order to build a coffee house on the property. It was a huge undertaking and took many hours of work. He writes, "There were so many miracles in the process of purchasing, rezoning, and building our coffee house." They decided to name it Ebenezers, from 1 Samuel 7:12, where Samuel built an altar and called it Ebenezer, which means, "Thus far, the LORD has helped us." While the coffee shop was being built, Pastor Mark was invited to speak at a community meeting on Capitol Hill. After he spoke about the vision of Ebenezers, he answered questions from the crowd. Someone asked him what the name Ebenezer meant, and he said it meant "so far, so good". He knew it really meant "so far, so God", but he said he chickened out. There was a lady in the audience who attended their Easter Extravaganza where the church hosted thousands of children. This lady complained that they had talked about Jesus too much. They explained to her that the church had underwritten the event, they obtained a permit from the National Park Service, and they had freedom of religion and freedom of speech as well. Moreover, it was Easter! When he saw her at this meeting, he decided not to offend her and said it meant "so far, so good" instead of saying what it really meant, "thus far, the LORD has helped us" or "so far, so God". He said that afterward, he felt convicted by the Holy Spirit and his wife. "Their voices sound very similar!" He said he would never chicken out again.
A few years ago, I was in DC and visited Ebenezers, and it has twice won the award for best coffee in DC. Later that same year, I went to Dallas Baptist University and heard Pastor Mark preach. I went up to him afterward and told him we had recently visited Ebenezers. He said I should have gone upstairs to see him, for that is where his office is. They have church a bit unconventionally, as they meet in eight movie theaters across the area on Sundays. Mark writes these strong words: "I don't believe our greatest shortcoming is not feeling bad enough about what we've done wrong. I think our greatest shortcoming is not feeling good enough about what God has done right. When we under-celebrate, we fall short of the glory of God!" (Chase the Lion, p. 71-73)
Go big for God, and when He comes through for you, make sure you give Him the praise and rejoice greatly over the miracle He has performed on your behalf.
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