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Today’s lesson scripture could be viewed as simply an introduction – a setup for this week’s lesson on Sunday.  I mean, it’s just four verses that start with Nehemiah telling us that for the first time he was sad in the king’s presence, that the king noticed and remarked on this and that after Nehemiah told him why he was sad the king asked him what he wanted.  We’re then told that Nehemiah prayed.

1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was served him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence before.
2 So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This can only be sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid.
3 I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my ancestors’ graves, lies waste, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
4 Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.  Neh 2:1-4 (NRSV)

There is really quite bit of information compressed in these four verses.  Consider the calculated risk that Nehemiah took.  For a servant to show any emotion in front of the Persian king was a risk – and Nehemiah tells us as much when he emphasizes that he had never shown sadness before.  I say the risk was calculated, because we understand from the context that Nehemiah – having served the king so long – had a feeling that the king might be sympathetic to Nehemiah’s situation.  Before he entered the King’s presence, Nehemiah had already looked into his own heart and determined what it was that troubled him and what he desired to happen to make that right (the reconstruction of Jerusalem).  Nehemiah didn’t just allow his sadness to show because he was overwhelmed and couldn’t control himself.  It was to serve as an opening for the request that he wanted to make.

Now think about this:  instead of directly confronting the king with his request, Nehemiah simply allowed his true feelings to mainfest themselves.  This prompted the king to ask what was wrong and then invite a request.  Turn that around.  We can rush out and grab people by the collar and tell them the good news of the Gospel.  But a lot of us don’t want to “push” ourselves on others.  However, if we are filled with joy and allow this to manifest itself in our lives, then it might just prompt people to ask us why – giving us the opportunity to tell them about worship, small group studies, prayer, faith, etc.

Finally, regardless of how we go about serving God, we need to understand what it is that concerns us and then we need to take it to the Lord in prayer.