Keep Praying Part 4

Psalm 105:3–4 Glory ye in his holy name: Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. 4 Seek the Lord, and his strength: Seek his face evermore.

  What a blessing to know that our Lord is not far from His own. He is always approachable and available. So, we can make our requests with confidence that our God will not be absent. He never sleeps nor slumbers (Psalm 121:3-4). We can go to the Lord anytime, day or night, in good times or in the bad. When we call upon Him, He will hear us and act accordingly on our behalf. This life is full of times where the needs we face are beyond our wisdom, strength, or resources, yet never beyond His.

  Nehemiah, for instance, was a very capable and trusted confidant to King Artaxerxes. Nehemiah had already spent months praying for God’s help in restoring Jerusalem and planning for his own return to lend a hand in making it possible. So, you would think that maybe Nehemiah was all “prayed up” and would think that now he had everything under control when the time came to present his request to the King. Instead, we find this very accomplished and seemingly confident man, offering up a very sincere, earnest, and yet quick silent prayer as the moment arrives to speak to the King. The Scripture records the exchange between the two in Nehemiah 2, and interestingly says the following:
Nehemiah 2:4–5 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 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.

  Another case of the Lord’s attentiveness to the prayers of His own, at the very moment of need, is seen in the life of the King of Judah when faced with certain death on the battlefield. The cry of King Jehoshaphat was a dire one and extremely time sensitive. Once again God was there, and provided protection, and that, in the nick of time.  
2 Chronicles 18:31 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they compassed about him to fight: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him; and God moved them to depart from him.

Never think it is too late to pray or that one more request would be an unnecessary ask of our loving Lord!