But We Prayed and Did What?

Nehemiah 4:9
But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.

Nehemiah was supervising the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. Enemies of Israel did not want to see Jerusalem rebuild and restored. Enemies of Israel threatened them, discouraged them, and even planned to kill them. Then Nehemiah tells us, “But we prayed….”

Nehemiah and his team responded to insults by praying, Nehemiah 4:4. They responded to threats by praying. Even threats to their lives they brought it to God through prayer. When they were discouraged, they prayed. We too should respond to everything by prayer. Have you been insulted? Pray. Have you been discouraged? Pray. Has someone treated you unfairly? Pray. Make it a habit to make God’s throne the first port of call.

Nehemiah led the people in working and praying. When all that was coming was insults and discouragement, they prayed, ignored, and kept working, Nehemiah 4:6. We too need to know that there are circumstances where we should pray, then ignore the nuisance and keep working. Not every irritation deserves your response and attention. Pray about it, ignore it, and keep working.

However, things changed. It was no longer limited to insults and discouragement. When the enemy realized that Israelites had not been stopped from rebuilding the wall, the enemy changed its strategy, Nehemiah 4:7. All enemies, including our enemies, will always change strategy if their plans against us don’t succeed. The enemies of Israel got very angry. They were angry because they had failed to stop the Israelites from rebuilding Jerusalem. Does anyone make you so angry? You could be jealous ridden and you need liberation. You cannot stop a person who has God’s favor!

In their anger, the enemies came together and plotted to come and fight Jerusalem and stop its reconstruction, Nehemiah 4:8. They were serious and bent to kill. Nehemiah did what is in our text today. Nehemiah prayed as he always did for any and every crisis. However, in addition to the prayer, Nehemiah posted military guards. Nehemiah tells us that, we prayed and posted a guard day and night.

It is not that prayer had failed. It is that in this matter there was something they could do about the situation. If you can do something about it, do it for prayer will not do it. We pray only when we have nothing else to do. When there is something that we can do, prayer alone would be a terrible thing to do. As we pray we must add to it that which we can do.

There are times to just pray. This is because there is nothing else you can do. This is because if you do something else, it will distract you from the mission and make the situation worse. There are other times when you can’t just pray, you must do something. This is because there is something to do. May God grant us the wisdom to know the difference.

Pray and apologize. Pray and study for the exam. Pray and aggressively look for a job. Pray and posture yourself as a single person who isn’t settled. Pray and take medication. Pray and take investment risks. Pray and speak sweet words to the one you are courting. Pray and plant seeds. Pray and do what you must do! May God answer our prayers and bless our actions, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

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