People ask me to pray about things all the time. And I have written a lot about prayer. But I don’t very often listen to someone praying and then say “How did you do that?” It feels strange.

The last time Nehemiah and I were talking, I realized that he was the perfect person to ask. Prayer often shows up in the book of Nehemiah, from the middle of the first chapter to the very last sentence.

I looked at him. “So, your brother comes, you pray, ask God for favor, and the next day at work, the King asks you what’s wrong. That’s amazing!”

He coughed discretely. “You did say that you read my book, didn’t you? Do you have a copy here somewhere?” He looked around.

I turned the screen toward him, browser open to an online Bible. He ignored it. It was pretty clear that he wanted me to read.

“Oh, right. It says that you wept and mourned for days. I bet you were pretty hungry after that week. How do you pray that long?”

He coughed again. The polite habits of a wine steward last for millennia I guess. “Do you have a calendar?” he asked. I pointed to the one on the wall.

“That’s yours. Where’s mine?” I looked at him.

“I don’t want to point out the obvious,” he said, “but the book is pretty clear about my brother coming in Chislev and the King talking to me in Nisan. You probably should look at a calendar with months rather than days, and one with my months rather than yours.”

I looked it up. Four months. That’s how long from Chislev to Nisan. The period of prayer Nehemiah describes is like starting a period of fasting and mourning and praying in late October and staying with it until the end of February.

I was learning that I need to read the book of Nehemiah more closely. And I was learning that the person Nehemiah might have much to teach me.

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Reflecting on Nehemiah 1. Taken from A Great Work: A Conversation with Nehemiah for People (Who Want to Be) Doing Great Works.