Nehemiah 4:14 –
Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!”
In this chapter the enemies of Israel heard they were rebuilding the wall and mocked their efforts. They made plans to attack and destroy the hope of the Jews. When the people learned of this, they became very concerned. Nehemiah wanted to address it immediately and to ensure that they continued work, but were also prepared to fight. Nehemiah reminds the people that the Lord will fight for them and will protect them.
Then he makes plans to alter the work environment, taking half the works as armed guards and ensuring the workers all have weapons. Now if God will protect them why did they have to take arms? There is a HUGE lesson to learn from this chapter. Notice Nehemiah did not assume God’s protection meant that fire would rain down on the enemy and destroy them. He knew God would help, but they needed to take action.
God does great things and could protect the people in a glorious way, but most of the time He does not want us to be passive fans of God. Think about the last time you got a raise for doing nothing! Most of the time God’s blessing requires our action, and no buying a lottery ticket is not the action! I have been on a long journey asking for financial favor.
When I look back I can think of prompts I ignored, sell prompts where 90% of the value was lost, job opportunities in strip malls that turn into giants, land deals that fell through because I wanted more and the list goes on. The one thing that was consistent through those twenty plus years was I got a bunch of losing lottery tickets! What we need to learn from Nehemiah is God will give us favor and will fight for us, but we need to take action in order for His glory to be shown. Don’t end up in your 50’s looking back at prompts you ignored and actions you did not take with regret. Tennyson said it best “’Tis better to have loved and lost. Than never to have loved at all.” Have faith that the “prompt” is positive and if it’s wrong, learn and move on. Don’t be a passive fan of God, but an active lover of God!!