In our fall series on Ezra-Nehemiah, we saw the vital role of prayer in renovating God's people. Consider how Nehemiah responds to reports about the state of Jerusalem. Burdened by the ongoing devastation and desolation of the city, Nehemiah responds with grief and lament, with persistent prayer and fasting. Here we see Nehemiah praying the heart of God to God, not asking to be personally delivered from his circumstances in Persia, but praying for the renovation of God’s people and God’s glory thousands of miles away. In Nehemiah, we encounter someone whose perspective and prayers have been shaped by the steadfast love and strong hand of God. We ourselves are bombarded by an endless stream of reports. Confusion, compassion fatigue, cynicism, complacency, and comfort keep us from entering into the burden and contending in prayer for God to bring redemption and restoration. Our prayers remain pedestrian. Our petitions prioritize ourselves. But God invites us to lift our gaze to see his Spirit at work in this world, to see—as hymnist Isaac Watts writes—that “though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.”