Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Nehemiah 4 and Psalm 16

Due to the Emperor’s permission to Nehemiah, the sworn opponents of the wall-building project, Sanballat and Tobiah, had no authority to stop the work from going ahead. This meant they had to resort to the mental, emotional and spiritual attacks of insults, criticism, discouragement and the threat of violence.

In response to their “attacks”, Nehemiah first employed only prayer (v.4). Then when the plotting and attacks intensified, he combined prayer and the physical measure of guards (v.9).

In verses 10-12 the situation was dire. The residents of Jerusalem who had not become involved in the rebuilding pointed out the weakness of the wall (v.10), then Nehemiah’s opponents threatened murderous violence (v.11), and then the neighbouring Jews from outside Jerusalem repeatedly brought the same negative messages of doom and gloom over and over again(v.12). At this stage Nehemiah employed every resource at his disposal, namely, heavily armed volunteers at the weakest spots (v.13), strong words of faith-filled encouragement and inspiration, reminding the local leaders of their “great and awesome” God’s promises (v.14 and 20), a clear defensive strategy for the builders involving armed guards (v.16), armed builders (v.17), and a clear communication system to rally the troops when needed (v.17-20). With this in place, the people had the confidence and commitment to work “from the first light of dawn till the stars came out” (v.21).

As we’ve seen so often on our journey through the history books of God’s people, prayer seldom stands alone. It is almost always accompanied by inspired and appropriate human effort. When we pray, God almost always inspires us with an understanding of how to act in order to be part of God’s answer to our own prayer. In that sense we “partner with God” to establish His will and Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven”.

Heavenly Father, please show me how to partner with you to see Your Kingdom come in my life and my sphere of influence today. And please give me the courage and the strength to follow through with the hard work that will be needed. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.