One of the primary complaints God had against the Israelites when he sent them into exile was their lack of concern over the wicked state of their nation (Amos 8). The prophet Amos “used the illustration of a ‘sieve’ to show that God would sift out every evil thing that had been committed and not one deed would pass through this judgment. The people were proud of their sin (Amos 9:10), but what they did not realize was that God would ultimately judge them for all their sin” (note on Amos 9:9, 10).

God wanted his people to see things the way he did, and he went to great lengths to change the people of Israel’s attitude toward the worship of idols. After Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, there was no doubt that God was judging his people and he would no longer tolerate the wicked behavior that was common among the Jews that were taken into captivity.

The book of Ezra tells us that the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia in 538 B.C. and he made a proclamation that the Jews could go back to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple, “that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled” (Ezra 1:1-2). Almost 100 years later, we find in the book of Nehemiah that things weren’t going well for those who had returned to Jerusalem. Nehemiah 1:1-3 says, “Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, ‘The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.’”

We do not think much about city walls these days, and so the news Nehemiah heard about the sad state of Jerusalem’s walls may not seem like a big deal to us. But actually, a city’s walls were arguably more important than its army. Without walls, a city would be at the mercy of whatever band of marauders came through. It could not control itself. Jerusalem was in such a state. Nehemiah heard about it, was moved, and immediately turned to prayer. His first act was to go to God, who is sovereign over all the empires that might descend upon Jerusalem. (A Godly Leader Prays, The Spiritual Growth Bible, p. 453)

Nehemiah’s godly leadership was the by-product of a troubled heart. It says in Nehemiah 1:4 when he heard Hanani’s report, Nehemiah sat down and wept and mourned for days. Nehemiah fasted and prayed until he felt equipped to communicate what was really troubling him and was able to effectively seek God’s help.

Nehemiah’s prayer (Nehemiah 1:5-11) shows us that what was really troubling him was that the Jews had ruined God’s reputation by being unfaithful to him. Nehemiah realized that his sin along with everyone else’s reflected poorly on God (Nehemiah 1:7, 10). Nehemiah’s “godly character is seen in how, on hearing of Jerusalem’s troubles, he gave himself to four months (1:1; 2:1) of mourning, fasting, and praying (1:4) for a city that he had never seen. When the king finally saw that there was something on Nehemiah’s heart, he not only inquired about the problem but took steps to enable Nehemiah to fix it—a reflection on how the king trusted Nehemiah and how Nehemiah’s life of service to that point was about to bear fruit (2:1-8)” (Nehemiah, The Spiritual Growth Bible, p. 454).

Nehemiah’s condition was described by King Artaxerxes as “sadness of the heart” and the king asked Nehemiah, “Why is your face sad, seeing that you are not sick?” (Nehemiah 2:2). The words that are translated sadness, rôaʻ (roˊ-ah) and sad, raʻ (rah) come from the same root word raʻaʻ (raw-ahˊ) which means “to spoil (literally, by breaking to pieces)” and in a figurative sense, “to make (or be) good for nothing” (H7489). Nehemiah’s face reflected the condition of Jerusalem. Jerusalem’s walls were broken down, and the city was good for nothing without them. This troubled Nehemiah so much that his heart was breaking for God’s people.

The condition of Nehemiah’s heart and his persistent prayer and fasting prompted God to respond and intervene on his behalf. King Artaxerxes not only gave Nehemiah permission to return to Jerusalem but also provided him with the resources he needed to solve the people’s problem (Nehemiah 2:1-8). After Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he faced much opposition from enemies (Nehemiah 2:19; 4:1-3, 7-8, 11; 6:1-2, 4-7), but Nehemiah continued to cry out to God for help (Nehemiah 4:4-5, 9; 6:14) and the wall was miraculously rebuilt in just fifty-two days (Nehemiah 6:15).