Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving! Pick up your staff and raise your hand over the sea. Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground.”—Exodus 14:15-16 NLT
Our scripture above was recorded when Moses came to the edge of the Red Sea after leaving Egypt. The Red Sea posed a dilemma for Moses and the people of Israel. It seemed they were trapped, prompting Moses to cry out to God. However, God’s response was both striking and interesting.
Sometimes God expects us to wait on Him for further instruction; sometimes He expects us to take a bold step and make a move. With Moses’ experience, the call was not for more prayer and crying out to God, but for action: to show leadership and encourage the people to move forward.
The story of Nehemiah in rebuilding the broken walls of Jerusalem is a classic example of leadership and integrating spiritual dependence on God in prayer with practical action.
When Nehemiah heard about the state of the walls of Jerusalem, he went into a period of mourning, fasting and prayer: “When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.” Nehemiah 1:4 (NLT)
After praying, Nehemiah acted by approaching the king to request permission to return to Jerusalem to rebuild its walls. He didn’t just pray for favour; he was strategic in his planning, asking for letters of safe passage and resources for the construction work. “I also said to the king, ‘If it please the king, let me have letters addressed to the governors of the province west of the Euphrates River, instructing them to let me travel safely through their territories on my way to Judah. And please give me a letter addressed to Asaph, the manager of the king’s forest, instructing him to give me timber…’ And the king granted these requests, because the gracious hand of God was on me.” Nehemiah 2:7-8 (NLT)
In another setting, when Nehemiah led the construction of Jerusalem’s walls, he faced stiff opposition from enemies who mocked and threatened the rebuilding effort. Nehemiah prayed again and took a decisive action by posting guards to guard the city and arming the workers. “They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion. But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves.” Nehemiah 4:8-9 (NLT)
I have, however, noticed a strange and almost faithless attitude with many Christians. We seem to find it easier and more convenient to pray or “wait on the Lord” rather than take the necessary action to address a situation. It’s like we use prayer as a cover-up for our laziness, inaction, fear, and our unwillingness to have hard conversations.
We will talk more about this in the next episode.
Stay blessed,
LaraLex
Hills and Valleys 