Hail To the Chief

# 297 – We are continuing a series on fasting. As we have seen, this spiritual discipline is not just for Old Testament believers, yet we can learn much about fasting from their example. We've been looking at Nehemiah's prayer and fast as found in Neh 1,2. We'll pick it up in Neh 2:3 and following: Nehemiah has found himself before the king. The time has come to make his request., and the first words out of Nehemiah's mouth were: “May the king live forever!” This is a term of respect for the office, and is the equivalent of “long live the king,” or here in America, “Hail to the chief” This respect for the office is why we address our letters to our president and our congressmen to “the honorable so and so.” Unfortunately many times we Christians leave out the honorable and just say, “you so and so.” We honor our leaders because of our understanding that all authorities come from God. He puts them in place and He removes them at His whim. Romans 13:1 says, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God. The person who grasps this truth knows that when when you talk to authorities, you are in a sense talking to God! After Nehemiah addresses the king with respect and explains to him how sad he is over the condition of Jerusalem, the king asks, “What do you request” Pay close attention to Nehemiah's answer in verses 4 and 5a. “ So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king,” There's no break in the action here! Petitioning God and petitioning the king is one and the same. Nehemiah didn't take a time out and say to the king, hold on while I say a prayer to God. No! He prayed to the God of heaven as he spoke to the king. You see when you petition the king you are in a sense petitioning God because as we have heard in Rom 13:1, the king is only there by the appointment of God.  We have such limited vision as it concerns the plans of God. We forget that the grand scheme of things is like a chess match and the king (good or bad) is nothing but God’s pawn. When we forget this, we get distracted from those things that really matter…..namely our spiritual growth. Spiritual growth that God desires for us in order to expand His kingdom.   The results of Nehemiah's right view of fasting, prayer, and governmental authority? Well he got a leave of absence to help rebuild Jerusalem. He got the kings protection to do the job, and he got all the supplies needed to complete the job! Pretty good deal for skipping lunch wouldn't you say? Fast and pray brothers and sisters, believing Eph 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen