Friday - Pray—Then Get Back to the Wall

"So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.”
- Nehemiah 4:6

"And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.”
- Colossians 3:23


After everything, the mockery, the assault on the workers and the work and the resources, the cruelty of Sanballat, the sneer of Tobiah, verse 6 arrives quietly: "So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work." They prayed. And then they worked. The critics did not leave. The opposition did not disappear. But the wall went up anyway.

There is a quote worth writing in your Bible: "Pray as though everything depends on God. Work as though everything depends on you." That is Nehemiah chapter 4 in one sentence. Nehemiah did not choose between prayer and effort. He did both, in the right order. Prayer was not a substitute for the work. It was the foundation that made the work possible. And then he put his hands back on the stones.

The wall that Sanballat said was impossible went up. The workers he called feeble kept building. The burned stones he mocked became a wall that stood. The people had a mind to pray, and they had a mind to work, and that combination is still the pattern today. Whatever the comment section has been saying about you or your marriage or your faith or your future, the critics are not going anywhere. But neither is the wall. Get your eyes off the sideline. Take it to the Lord. And get back to building.

Reflect:

What would "getting back on the wall" look like practically for you this week?

-              Who in your life needs to hear the same encouragement Nehemiah gave his people: that the work is worth continuing?