| Nehemiah 4:9 “Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.” Do you have problems? People problems? Problems at home? Problems that can’t wait? Maybe your problem is a ten-year-old problem with blonde hair and blue eyes! What in the world are you supposed to do?
What does it mean to totally trust God? Does that mean passivity-sitting back and doing nothing while waiting on God to take care of your problems? I submit to you that totally trusting God means having an “active” rest. I have a friend who is sharing the Gospel in a hostile environment overseas, and his email address includes the phrase “active rest.” Trusting God is a proactive dependence on Him. That’s a great description of the kind of trust we need to have!
Nehemiah was building a wall that people did not want him to build. In verse 9, he said,“Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.” What did Nehemiah do when faced with opposition and problems? He prayed to God and armed some men to watch the wall! He was activelytrusting God! He wasn’t sitting on his hands; but he wasn’t wringing them either. He was trusting God, but he didn’t stop what he was doing, either.
Nehemiah depended upon God, and then he took action. He was actively trusting in God. Trusting God, in this case, meant setting guards by the wall and arming the workers. Today, actively trusting God will mean that you have a proactive determination to trust God with what you are doing. The old adage is true: work like it all depends upon you; pray like it all depends upon God. All things being equal, you are the person God is going to use in your workplace and your home. Trust God, take action, and depend upon God for the action you are taking. That, my friend, is “active rest.” |
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