I was cupbearer to the king. This last verse of the first chapter is almost a throw away comment. But Nehemiah obviously thought he should give some short explanation of what he was doing, the responsibility he had, and why his visitors thought he could help the situation back home.
All through the desert wanderings of the Jews, God was teaching them that obedience would lead to prosperity and blessings, and disobedience would lead to struggles, loss and suffering. The Israelites had been exiled because they were unfaithful to their Heavenly Father. Many of them had turned to other gods.
This prayer is a good model to follow. It begins with praise, declaring who God is; not for God's benefit, He knows who He is! But by praying in that way, we remind ourselves who He is. Consequently, we can take our rightful place as believers in His Almighty Power.
The return of the exiles to their homeland had created wonderful images in the minds of those who were not a part of it. They thought that everyone had gone back to their family home and taken up their work as before. That would be the work of their fathers.
At that time there would be a lot of pressure on people to give, and much willingness on their parts, wanting to thank and bless God for bringing them back to their homeland. But there was also much poverty, few leaders and going back home was not quite what they had hoped.
Little is known of Nehemiah except what we learn from this book bearing his name in the Old Testament. The book is believed to have been dictated by Nehemiah but actually written by Ezra whose book precedes that of Nehemiah. Ezra named Nehemiah as one of the exiles (Ezra 2:2).
After the destruction of the whole world as John saw it in his visions, we have the end of the story. And this story ends well. It takes two full chapters to describe, and we can imagine that John found doing that quite difficult. Read those chapters and be encouraged.
Many of us feel that we are in the last days. It seems that the world is becoming crazier by the day. Biblical principles are being totally disregarded by governments in most parts of the world. World authorities are not just disregarding God, but openly working in the opposite direction.
Many of those doing evil in our world today have no idea about God. They are totally in the wrong camp, either worshipping a false god, all of whom are forms of satan, or thinking they are the head of their own lives. They are blinded.
Mountains can be places for private meditation and closeness to Father God as we read here. The earlier verses of this chapter tell us the account of the feeding of the five thousand. Let us continue to watch and pray as Jesus told His followers to do.
EN 
FR