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A Man of Action, September 14
Nehemiah 2:1-8
It pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
Nehemiah 2:6
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While Nehemiah implored the help of God, he did not fold his own hands,
feeling that he had no more care or responsibility in the bringing about of his
purpose to restore Jerusalem. With admirable prudence and forethought he
proceeded to make all the arrangements necessary to insure the success of the
enterprise....
The example of this holy man should be a lesson to all the people of God, that
they are not only to pray in faith, but to work with diligence and fidelity. How
many difficulties we encounter, how often we hinder the working of Providence
in our behalf, because prudence, forethought, and painstaking are regarded as
having little to do with religion! This is a grave mistake. It is our duty to cultivate
and to exercise every power that will render us more efficient workers for God.
Careful consideration and well-matured plans are as essential to the success of
sacred enterprises today as in the time of Nehemiah.... Men of prayer should be
men of action. Those who are ready and willing, will find ways and means of
working. Nehemiah did not depend upon uncertainties. The means which he
lacked he solicited from those who were able to bestow.
The Lord still moves upon the hearts of kings and rulers in behalf of His
people. Those who are laboring for Him are to avail themselves of the help that
He prompts men to give for the advancements of His cause.... These men may
have no sympathy with God’s work, no faith in Christ, no acquaintance with His
word; but their gifts are not on this account to be refused....
As long as we are in this world, as long as the Spirit of God strives with the
children of men, so long are we to receive favors as well as to impart them. We
are to give to the world the light of truth, as revealed in the Scriptures; and we
are to receive from the world that which God moves upon them to give in behalf
of His cause.... O that Christians might realize more and still more fully that it is
their privilege and their duty, while cherishing right principles, to take advantage
of every Heaven-sent opportunity for advancing God’s kingdom in this world
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The Southern Work, March 15, 1904
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