Prepared Out of Their Nakedness

If you missed my last blog, I talked briefly about how Beth and I have been reading through Nehemiah together a chapter at a time. Last week we read chapter four and were once again blown away by Nehemiah and his leadership.

Real quick side note: Nehemiah is based on the personal memoirs of Nehemiah and was probably edited and put together by Ezra. Beth and I have both commented on how much we love the writing style of this book. It’s a very fluid and personal book. You really feel like you get a glimpse into the mind of Nehemiah.

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled programming. Chapter four begins with Nehemiah’s enemies coming against him. Specifically this guy named Sanballat, from Moab. He starts joking around with his buddies about how pathetic the Israelites are. His buddy even says,“Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was close by, said, ‘If even a fox were to climb upon what they are building, it would break down their wall of stones!’”

Obviously the Ammonite and Moabite cultures weren't the funniest in the world, but they did have armies (4:8 “All of them conspired together to move with armed forces”)!

Naturally Nehemiah takes this threat very seriously and does three actions.

1. Prays “So we prayed to our God...”

Whether you are leading a nation, a company, a classroom, or a family, prayer must be first. Like a typical guy, first response to a crisis is usually not to just stop. But, that’s the wrong view of prayer. Praying doesn’t mean that we’re not acting. Prayer is the action. Acting without praying is acting without involving the Guy who knows how the crisis/story ends.

2. Prepares “...stationed a guard to protect against them both day and night.”

After they prayed, they began to prepare for an attack. Nehemiah takes the threats seriously and uses his God-given knowledge to station guards at the most vulnerable spots in the wall. The enemies of Israel hear that Nehemiah has prepared the people for a fight and they back down from their threats (for now).

Why did they back down simply from a few guards at the wall? Remember that whole praying thing? It says God frustrated the intentions of their enemies. God sees Nehemiah’s devotion to him and his action to prepare for whatever may happen. Once again, God blesses Nehemiah while he is striving to accomplish something for God’s glory. Now, this doesn’t mean that God couldn’t have used an attack on the city to bring Him glory, but in this instance, God chooses to keep the enemies of Israel away.

3. Stays Committed

At this point comes one of my new favorite parts of the Bible. It says that they were so prepared and dedicated to the cause that they never changed out of their clothes while they thought there was a threat of danger to the city. They carried their spears day and night. They were even armed while eating and drinking.

It’s so easy to start something out strong. This has always been the case for me with exercising. I start out strong for the first few weeks, last year I made it two months into the year! But then, I get lazy. I get distracted by video games, TV, people, great tasting fatty food, and many other things that distract my focus.

Such an incredible story.

Pray
Prepare
Stay Committed

What area of your life do you need to immediately apply these three actions?