What's Your Response?

So in Nehemiah, just three paragraphs after the haters show up, we see that the work has continued until they got the wall to half its height. Why? Because the people worked with all their heart. It's amazing what can be accomplished when people work with their heart.

So let's hold hands again and... nope here come the haters again. And they are angry. Now they are plotting. Now they are really stirring up trouble.

There might be a few different kinds of haters. There are certainly the snipers. They just fire off from a distance. But this group of haters in Nehemiah are getting more involved. They are moving closer.

What was Nehemiah and the people's response? "But we prayed to God". That is always a great thing to do. But this is why I wrote this post today. "But we prayed to God AND posted a guard day and night." (emphasis mine)

Many times we just want to pray things away. I tend to think that we put some of our responsibilities on God. Don't get me wrong, God is involved and working and has our best interests (not necessarily our wants) in mind. And there are some things that only God can do. But we have a responsibility as well. And sometimes those responsibilities will cost. Now they are building a wall and pulling guard duty. This is starting to get more difficult.

Should we pray? Yes. Should we post guards day and night? Yes!

So what is your response? Is everything up to God or will you do the work required as well?

Nehemiah - It Doesn't Take Long for the Haters

So Nehemiah has done this incredibly insane thing and set out to rebuild the walls. He actually recruited people and they were next to him and he was next to them. Now let's all hold hands and sing nice happy songs together. Oh wait a minute. Here come the haters.

There were a group of people not so interested in this sense of community and accomplishment. And it doesn't take them long to give voice to their sneers and throw their judgments like Molotov Cocktails. "What are they doing? Will they restore? Are they going to finish in a day?" Blah Blah Blah.

There will always be haters. They will always speak. Loudly. They will speak to others about you. They will speak to others about your work. They will condemn, criticize and corrupt the things you are trying to do.

Screw the haters.