When You Need More Than You Have

Read Nehemiah 4

Yesterday, we saw Nehemiah leading and inspiring all the tribes of Israel to do their part in building back the walls.  The work progressed impressively.  However, today in Chapter 4, we see there is opposition.  It’s important not to skip over this.  Whenever good work is moving forward, there will be opposition.  This observation is so reliable that it might as well be a law.  It is the spiritual application of Newton’s law; for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  A confirmation that you’re doing good work is that resistance to that good work develops.

To overcome Newton’s law, more force than is available must be exerted against the resistance. The force must come from outside the initial action.  For Nehemiah and the people of God, it means they need more force than they have by themselves to overcome the resistance. So notice the force Nehemiah applies to the resistance of Sanballat and Tobiah; he organizes prayer and a protection detail.  The Hebrews pray AND act.  They know they cannot do it in their own strength so they pray to God for help.  But they also take action trusting God will magnify their action.  The Newtonian forces of resistance are overcome and progress continues.

Apply this to any good work in which you are engaged right now.  First, is there resistance?  If there is, chances are good that it is work worth doing.  Progress then depends on exerting more than you currently have available.  This is the work for prayer.  Prayer is a purposeful partnership with God which garners the force necessary for progress to continue.  It is not magic; it is spiritual physics.  Jesus alludes to this partnership in many places, but here is one of my favorites in Matthew 7:7-8:

Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door is opened.

So ask God for help. Then act in ways that trust that God will in fact add the force needed to overcome the resistance.  Tomorrow, we will see that even though the resistance was overcome and progress continued, it was not all smooth sailing.  But for today, remember how resistance is overcome. Ora et labora – Pray and work.

Prayer:  God we are unable to overcome the resistance against us in our own resources.  Multiply and magnify our resources and help us to continue working knowing you will give us the needed progress in your strength. Amen.

Prayer Focus:  As promised, pray for the Democratic party today. 

Song:  Warning:  this song has a couple of words of profanity in it.  If you would prefer not to hear them, skip the song today.  But the lyrics of this song match beautifully the message for today, so I decided to use it

Tyler Chambers – Work Hard, Pray Harder