Doing Our Part

Nehemiah 4:9 ESV
(9) And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

To give a little context, this verse is in the middle of Nehemiah's wall rebuilding project. He heard reports that there was opposition to the work and was afraid for their safety and that of the project. This verse really stood out to me this morning because I think it really speaks to the balance we need to have in our lives.

Prayer is vitally important. We can do nothing apart from the work of the Spirit in our lives. However, we also can't just sit back and wait for God to zap our lives into order. We have a part to play too. It's important that they prayed for protection, but it was also important for them to set up a guard.

Personally, I'm more likely to just set up a guard and forget to pray. Others may be more likely to pray and not do anything else. I think this passage shows the need to do both.