1In the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, I picked up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before in his presence. 2The king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.”
Then I was very much afraid. 3I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why shouldn’t my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?”
4Then the king said to me, “What is your request?”
So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may build it.”
6The king said to me (the queen was also sitting by him), “How long will your journey be? When will you return?”
So it pleased the king to send me, and I set a time for him. 7Moreover I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah; 8and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house that I will occupy.”
The king granted my requests, because of the good hand of my God on me. 9Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. 10When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, because a man had come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
11So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
Nehemiah went before the King Artaxerxes and looked sad, this action of looking upset before the king was not allowed and could have been punished by death. To show dissatisfaction in the king’s presence was like showing dissatisfaction with the king himself. When King Artaxerxes noticed Nehemiah’s mood he questioned him on the reason and Nehemiah was terrified. As it turned out when Nehemiah explained his plight the king gave him all the help he could. Artaxerxes enabled him to go back to Jerusalem and even gave him supplies and an armed guard. Within three days Nehemiah had arrived in Jerusalem and was surveying the work that needed to be done.
It is important for us to understand that God is not like any earthly king. We do not need to hide our feelings from him, no matter what they are. God knows us inside and out, he knows when our hearts are broken or when we feel disappointed. He knows when we are hurt and even when we have caused hurt. There is no need to hide our emotions from him. God, is perfect, holy, mighty and he is love. Nothing that we think or feel, no sadness that we express, no frustration that we cry out, no hurt that we declare will ever take away from who he is. With this knowledge we can humbly come before the king knowing that in all circumstances we are fully loved.