Skip to main content

Be Aware, Be In Prayer And Be Prepared

Be aware, be in prayer and be prepared…

By one definition, to be aware is having knowledge and understanding that something is happening or exists

In this situation, there was awareness.  They were engaged in a good work.  But in the midst of doing the work, they heard about insults that were being hurled at them from their enemies.[1]  But it didn’t just stop at insults; threats were being made by their enemies to come to stir up trouble in order to disrupt the work.[2]

By one definition, to be in prayer is to earnestly seek help.

In this same situation, given their awareness of the potential problems their enemies could cause, they knew they would need help.  Rather than turn to other nations for help, as was typical for that day, they chose to seek help from the one source that could provide what they needed.  That one source was God and prayer was how that source was accessed.  So they prayed to God and sought His help.[3]

By one definition, to be prepared is to be ready to do or deal with something.

In this very same situation mentioned so far, they were not only aware of danger and they not only prayed but they also did what seemed to be a very wise and appropriate response to danger; they posted a guard day and night to meet the threat.[4]   

The awareness, the prayers and the being prepared (posting of a guard) ended up being effective and the work was completed.  When their enemies heard about the completed work, they became afraid and lost their self-confidence because they realized that the work had been done with the help of God.[5]

But beware, this “be aware, be in prayer and be prepared” should not be seen as a magic fixit formula.  Awareness requires careful observation and discernment and magic is not at all a factor.  Being in prayer and seeking God’s help is not formulaic but is predicated on faith and humility.  In comparison to the planning and resourcing needed in the posting of a guard, a quick fixit approach is severely lacking.

However, this “be aware, be in prayer and be prepared” can be a reasonable approach to some situations in life.  After all, it can encourage us to be engaged in what is going on.  It can keep us dependent on God.  And it can remind us that even when relying on God’s help, sometimes there are still responsibilities for us to fulfill.

  



[1] Neh 4:1-3

[2] Neh 4:7-8

[3] Neh 4:9a

[4] Neh 4:9b

[5] Neh 6:15-16

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Excel Still More!

To excel, according to some of the meanings from a few dictionaries, is to surpass others, do extremely well, outdo, do something better than anyone else. In 1 Thessalonians 4:1, we find the phrase “excel still more”.   It prompts the question:  if we are already doing something better than anyone else, why would we be encouraged to do even more? Perhaps it would be helpful to see the wording that other translations use for “excel still more” to see why we would be encouraged to do so.  Here is a sampling: • abound more and more • to keep doing so more and more • but try even harder • live that way more and more. • that you progress even more. • that you increase more and more in how you ought to walk Maybe it would also be helpful to see some other verses where the word “excel” is used: “Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which when translated means Dorcas); this woman was excelling in acts of kindness and charity which she did habitually.”...

Value Proposition

Value proposition:  it’s a marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service.  It should clearly and concisely communicate what customers can gain from selecting a particular brand over that of its competitors. In a value proposition, you don’t want your product to be viewed as being worth less than what your competitors offer.   But even worse, in a bit of a quirk of how letters and spaces can fall, if you take out the space between “worth” and “less”, you get “worthless”, which means something of no value.   If that word is used in conjunction with how your product is viewed by customers, it’s a word that will likely kill your brand. In the book of Philippians, the Apostle Paul, in a sense, communicated some value propositions. In chapter three, he starts off with describing the value of some things that many considered as extremely valuable in that day and age.   They had to do with status and achievement in the reli...

New Year Trash or Treasure?

You probably know the old saying:  “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.  I am not going to try to prove or disprove it, just look at it from a different angle. Cheryl and I were recently walking on a beach in Florida .  A man was walking along with a bag and was picking up trash and putting it in the bag.  Was he picking up things of value? We also saw a different man walking along the same beach with a metal detector.  He would swing it back and forth and would occasionally stop and dig in the sand.  Was he looking for things of value? Both were intent.  Both were focused.  Both were diligent. I’m guessing that the one picking up trash was not looking for things of value.  I’m also guessing that, by picking up trash, he was valuing the beauty of the beach and didn’t want the trash to mar it.  The one with the metal detector, I’m guessing that he was not looking for metallic items of trash but was looking for...