Get off the sidlines

In Nehemiah chapter 4 Nehemiah set out to build a wall just as God had called him to do and as we saw yesterday he was a man of prayer. While he was doing what God had called him to do others got word of it and they didn’t like it much and threatened to attack and what did Nehemiah do? Once again he prayed in verse 9. There is another important lesson to learn here that some people tend to forget about, not only did he pray but he acted. Some people pray and don’t do anything to help themselves. God is sovereign but sometimes I think he wants you at least to participate. There are those that may pray to have a broken relationship reconciled yet don’t make a move towards reconciliation. There are those who may pray for a job but won’t go fill out an application. Nehemiah turned his prayers into plans and if you read all of chapter 4 you will see that he was successful. God gets the credit but Nehemiah was able to participate in the success. Perhaps a good piece of advice for all of us would be to turn our prayers into plans and participate in God’s plan for us instead of just standing on the sidelines waiting for something to happen.

Nehemiah 4:

⁹ But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves.

 ¹⁶ But from then on, only half my men worked while the other half stood guard with spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. The leaders stationed themselves behind the people of Judah ¹⁷ who were building the wall.