Align Your Passion with God’s Will in Prayer (Neh 4:9)

When we are passionate about something, we would rather not wait around for it. We want to move ahead, make plans, take action. For a believer, there is a time to do that, rather than “waiting on the Lord.” But our “passion” should not be the driving force of our actions. Prayer should play a significant part of anything we do, and Nehemiah’s prayer here shows us the right way.

Background

The opposition from external and internal forces did not stop the work on the wall. The construction reached the halfway point, and this progress further enraged the opposition. Several foreign groups banded together and harass Jerusalem to cause confusion. These groups literally surrounded Jerusalem: Samballat in the north in Samaria; the “Arabs” and Edomites to the south, the Ammonites in the east, and the Ashdodites lived to the west.

Rather than panic at this encircling alliance, Nehemiah’s response is two-fold: he prays with his people, and then appoints a guard to a 24-hour patrol to protect the wall and the workers.

Meaning

The structure of the scene here is one we have seen, and continue to find, in Nehemiah. God’s people make progress (the halfway point of the wall), but meet with opposition (the foreigners plan an attack). Nehemiah addresses the issue with prayer and then with action.