Give your servant success today, and have compassion on him in the presence of this man.

Nehemiah 1:11

Eleven verses  into the prayer.  Three rather magnified pages on my reader.  The very last line of a lengthy petition, before Nehemiah gets to what we would consider the point;  an impassioned cry for personal help.

He opens with worship, with a recitation of the glory of God, of the promises of the covenant with his people.  He acknowledges the sin of himself and his people and the fairness of their exile in exchange.  He reminds himself, he reminds his God of the promise to restore them if they just turn back to his way.  He glories in the power and strength of God, in his faith in his goodness to act. 

When he finally reaches his petition, he's so full of the glory of God, that the King of Persia becomes almost an afterthought, "this man" just a man, though he holds Nehemiah's life in his hands.