sacred strokes

I hope to shoot a buck every single time deer season rolls around. (Okay, I’ve even prayed for one before… but most of us have prayed for questionably selfish things, so do your best to not hold that against me.) But I don’t just hope and pray and sit in my apartment. I prepare months ahead of time by practicing to become even better at shooting and getting good gear, reliable equipment, and promising hunting spots. I go out despite weather that strongly suggests I stay home where it’s warm and dry and comfy. I do pray to score a nice buck, but I also prepare so that the opportunity is much more likely to arise and so that I am able to respond well if it does. And thankfully even when I don’t get one, my husband pulls through and fills the freezer for us.

I was reading Nehemiah last night and something stood out to me which hadn’t any of the other times I’ve read that particular portion of scripture. I feel like I have to share because it’s been on my mind all day. To set the context, Nehemiah 4 begins by reminding us that several officials and foreign enemies were adamantly against the Jews rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem. They were angry, malicious, intimidating, deceptive, and abusive to the Jews throughout its construction, despite the fact that Persian King Artaxerxes had condoned the project and even sent supporting letters, army officers and a cavalry with Nehemiah to protect him as he traveled to Jerusalem to begin the work.

There are two verses within that fourth chapter which really stood out to me, especially coupled together though they do not appear consecutively. In verse 9, after mentioning the plots of their enemies, Nehemiah states “But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.” This verse alone provoked some thought, and then the chapter continues to say that Nehemiah assigned half of the men to do the work on the wall, and the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows, and armor. Verses 16-18 continue to add that “The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked.”

The second verse I’d like to throw into the mix before getting into my thoughts is verse 20. This is when Nehemiah is speaking to the Jews and concludes, “Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us.”

Both verses 9 and 20 stand out to me because they seem to address a particular nuance about faith. On one hand the verses state that “We prayed to our God” and “Our God will fight for us.” On the other, those same exact verses state that they “posted a guard day and night to meet this threat” and call the people to assemble to fight at the location of the trumpet’s sound – wherever an attack may be taking place along the wall. The people prayed, but they also prepared. In my opinion, both are important aspects of real faith.

Prayer without preparation suggests doubt. At least to me. If we pray and leave it at that, making no effort toward what we believe the Lord has for us, are we really sure that the Lord wants that for us? In my opinion, passive behavior suggests that we may have our doubts. I mean, we would hate to put in some effort to have it come to nothing, after all, so why do anything? But seriously, are we really willing to invest in His plans? Or do we expect Him to just make it all happen for us? He surely can and has provided and created opportunities and opened doors many, many more times than we are probably even aware of in our lives. But are we taking the lazy approach to faith? The “well, God will take care of it however He wants to and so I’ll just go with the flow” type of mindset? Friends, when we do that, I believe we are missing out on being more helpful and involved in His story. His plans cannot be thwarted, yet if we don’t take the action steps to play a part, He will bring up another who will. I think of the time in Esther 4:14 when her cousin Mordecai wisely advises her “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.” We are the ones who miss out most when we take the lax, apathetic approach to our faith. In my opinion, it demonstrates more faith to take action steps toward what we believe are God’s plans, to dive in, to make the investment of time or energy or funds, than to sit around and wait for everything to fall into place. It can and does happen sometimes, but I don’t think we should expect that every time, and we certainly should not allow ourselves to unwittingly fall into a complacent, lukewarm, or inactive kind of faith. We don’t want to cross the line between trusting God in faith and making flat-out demands of Him due to our own negligence or laziness.

On the flipside, preparation without prayer suggests pride. At least to me. Psalm 10:4 says, “In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” When we prepare without taking the time to pray for the Lord’s direction and discernment, we could be making preparations toward something that may not be a part of God’s plan at all. We could be pursuing a path that He would rather have spared us from when He had something even better (eternally speaking) in mind. (I know that “better” is a subjective term so I will explain here that by “better” I mean more aligned with God’s will, more kingdom-serving, more apt to bring us closer to Him in even our own lives as well.) We can think of many folks in the Bible and even in our personal experiences who chose to move forward on something without bringing it first to the Lord in honest, self-abandoned prayer for His guidance. Movement is not the same as progress, and the wisdom of man is not the same as the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:25 tells us that “The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength” and 1 Corinthians 3:19 reiterates that “The wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.” Our human logic, even with counsel from skilled or intelligent advisors, can actually lead us astray. And our emotions and feelings tend to be even more unreliable. Sometimes the Lord’s plans will align with our logical conclusions or gut feelings (and obviously will if we are truly being led by the Holy Spirit), but our earthly logic and human emotions can also easily deceive us at times. That is why it is so important to pray for the Lord to work in us, to direct us, to help us know what we should do according to His thoughts rather than our own. The Tower of Babel, Jonah’s escape by sea, Nebuchadnezzar’s arrogant bragging about his kingdom building – the Lord can easily devastate plans that are not aligned with His will. And when this happens, the ones who lose out are those who forgot about God or tried to pursue their own way rather than His better way. Proverb 19:21 states that “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

Tied to this thought about preparation being integral to faith is a passage in Luke. In Luke 14:27-33, Jesus tells His disciples: “Whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you,　saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 　If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 　In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”

To me, and I could be interpreting this passage incorrectly, a key takeaway is to carry your cross when following Jesus, rather than just passively allowing Him to carry His cross for you. Your cross could be any number of things, but it is usually comprised of things which are quite difficult- perhaps something painful or emotionally crushing, or the loss of relationships or material comforts or the sense of physical safety, all of which you may experience as you pursue His will in this world. Carrying one’s cross is making the investment – it’s us taking the steps, it’s action-oriented, it’s something we need to make the effort to do, it’s preparing and planning and doing. Jesus gives examples of planning ahead when building a tower or going to war. In the same way, are we prepared, have we thought ahead about what the Lord is asking us to do? Have we sought His counsel and direction? Or are we just plugging away at our own desired outcomes with no regard for whether or not He is on board? Are we preparing, each and every day, for the time when we enter His new creation and experience life without sin or any obstacles between us and our King?

The final takeaway I had from these verses in Nehemiah 4 is that the people did not stop at just working on the wall. They so firmly believed in their calling that they were willing to defend it, to fight for it, to protect it even at the potential cost of having to kill someone, or being killed themselves. They did not blindly work away while being slaughtered… they prayed and they prepared for potential attacks. They trusted the Lord to protect them, and took the necessary steps to ensure that they would be doing their part if asked or required by their God.

If God is asking you to do something in faith, what are you waiting for? And if he hasn’t, become better prepared for when He does! Spend time with Him and stay in His Word. Pray for His Holy Spirit to create in you a longing and desire to be used for His glory. And get ready for when He makes the ask! It’s so exciting that we each get the opportunity to be a part of His story in all kinds of ways!

Proverb 16:9, HLC