In Ezra 9 when the prophet became aware of Israel’s sin of marrying foreigners instead of immediately praying about it he “sat there appalled until the evening sacrifice.” Only then did he start praying about the situation and confessing the sin of the nation.
Likewise in Nehemiah 1 we see a similar situation. Nehemiah was told of the plight of Jerusalem and he spent some days mourning and praying before God. Then eventually in verse 5 he began praying about Jerusalem and confessing the sins of the nation.
Both Ezra and Nehemiah could have prayed their prayers of confession immediately. They chose not to but instead to mourn and ponder the sin that God’s people had committed. And after that they both prayed powerful prayers of confession.
Perhaps there is a lesson here to be learnt about the importance of preparing ourselves to do serious business with God. Maybe in preparing both men really were able to grasp and appreciate the graveness of the sin and this influenced their prayers of confession accordingly.