For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy
Nehemiah 1:6
let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there. ’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man
1 Kings 8:29
Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive
2 Chronicles 7:15
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place
Daniel 9:18
O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy
I wonder if we seek God in the same reverence that godly men of the past. Note how they acknowledge their own sin, the sins of their fathers, and the sins of their nation. They come to God in awe of Him and recognize their only path to His holiness is through His great mercy and grace. How often do we come to God with a burden and think only about our burden. Shouldn’t we be acknowledging His holiness, mercy, and grace and as well our unworthiness out side of this before we set our burdens at His feet. Being humble in His presence is not an option. Do not lose site of who God is and who we are. We certainly are limited in our understanding of all is power because He is without limit of any kind. His word says He can do more than we ask but even more than we can imagine. Going before God in prayer – acknowledge Him first and your burden will seem so much less left in His presence.
