Nehemiah 1:4-11 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted… Nehemiah's prayer reveals the great thoughts of which God was the subject, and by which he nourished his courage and determination in preparing himself for his great task. For we must ever remember that the result of our praying — the comfort, or support, or stimulus we receive from the act of prayer — depend not only upon the fact that we do pray, but also and especially upon the clearness and vividness of our conceptions of God. We must be sure that we are not praying to ourselves, or into the air, but into the ear of a God who will hear us, and whom we can move by our entreaty. Intelligent faith — not faith without intelligence, mere blind, superstitious faith — nor intelligence without faith, a hard, dead knowledge — but both together, intelligence and faith, constitute the very soul and life of true prayer. (A. J. Griffiths.) Parallel Verses KJV: And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven, |
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