Prayer AND Action - Nehemiah 1-4

Nehemiah 4:7-9 (ESV)

But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

We don’t know a lot about these individuals mentioned in the above verse.  They are the antagonist of the book of Nehemiah.  They opposed Nehemiah’s work of rebuilding the city walls from the first moment he arrived to do the work:

Nehemiah 2:9-10 (ESV)

Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.

Their envy about the work led them to try to undermine and attack the work.   When others see God doing a great work they are often envious.  They did not want the welfare for the Jews living among them.  We are not told why, only that they did everything they could do to frustrate the work.   They plotted ways to confuse the work.   That is when Nehemiah got on his knees and ask God for protection from them.   The first response to opposition should be prayer.   Nehemiah didn’t just do the work, he incorporated spiritual activity at the base of the work.   He would later do some very practical steps to make sure the work continued.  But he didn’t waste time on the practical without first laying a foundation of the spiritual.   But he also set a guard.   So prayer was not the only thing he did.  He also put some in charge as guards to protect the work.   God expects us to pray over the tasks He gives us. But He also expects us to use the wisdom, strength and tools He provides us.   Absent tools and strength and freedom, prayer is our only option (See the story in Acts 16 about Peter and Silas singing in jail whiled chained to the walls).  But when God gives us the ability, our prayer is for the guidance and strength.  When David took down Goliath he prayed but also picked up some stones.   Everything should be bathed in prayer. But prayer is not the only thing God requires from us.  We also, at times, need to use the tools, strength and wisdom He has given us to act.