Praying and Working

 Prayer is a wonderful privilege and responsibility for every believer. We can take all of our needs and burdens to the Lord. We can ask Him to show us what direction to go. Then, we trust the Lord to answer the prayer according to His will. However, just because we pray doesn't mean we can sit back and do nothing, waiting for the answer. We need to be working on it, too.

Nehemiah was a great and godly leader for the people as they rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem after the exile. They were able to overcome the opposition of the people living in the area, when they threatened to attack them. (Nehemiah 4:9) They prayed to God, and because of the opposition, they set up a guard against them day and night. They prayed, and they worked.

I am a firm believer that we are to pray like it all depends on God, and to work as if it all depends on us. When we pray we are not absolved of our responsibility to do what is right.  We pray for God's help, even for His miraculous intervention into our life, but we don't know how He will choose to answer us. He could bless our work to bring about His will.

Therefore, most of the time this is the formula for seeing God's will done: Prayer + Work = God's Will. When God sees that we are depending on Him, but we are also doing our part to see His will done, it pleases the Lord. Then, He is able to answer us apart from our work or by using our work. We just need to pray and work and see what God chooses to do.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Nehemiah 5-7.