In God’s Classroom of Prayer
“This work had been done
with the help of our God.”
Nehemiah 6:16 (NIV)
Next week I’ll be in a classroom teaching a women’s Summer Bible Study on the twelve prayers of Nehemiah. The book of Nehemiah is one of my favorite Old Testament books and contains two of my “go to” prayer verses:
“Strengthen my hands” (Nehemiah 6:9)
“Don’t let all this hardship be insignificant before your eyes.” (Nehemiah 9:32)
My translation of the last verse is “God, please don’t waste our suffering!” As James Bruce’s Mama, I prayed these two verses a lot!
Nehemiah records the remarkable story of individuals coming together in 445 BC to achieve a seemingly impossible goal. Jerusalem walls that had lain in ruins for 150 years were rebuilt and restored in only 52 days when the entire city rallied under Nehemiah’s leadership to do the work. Nehemiah summarized the building project’s success with his words: "This work had been done with the help of our God." (Nehemiah 6:16) Nehemiah’s pattern of prayer was to pray, work, and then pray some more. He prayed as if the whole project depended on God, but he worked as though the project depended on him.
This week, however, I was in God’s classroom of prayer. Each morning I was privileged to gather with five other women on the Briarwood VBS Prayer Team. Together we prayed by name for each of the 630 children and 350 adult and teen volunteers who attended our church’s annual Vacation Bible School (VBS).
Much like Nehemiah’s wall workers, there was great diversity among our volunteers. Two physicians and a Ballet teacher helped man the Special Connections classroom each day. Praying down our list of volunteers, I recognized the names of lawyers, teachers, CPAs, stay-at-home moms, business owners, college professors, administrators, graphic designers, and police officers. We prayed for our food service folks; nursery workers; greeters; teen volunteers; church staff; decorators; classroom teachers; storytellers; drama cast; medical personnel; mission project recipients; security guards; and facility workers. As we prayed, I realized how many people were giving their time and talents to teach the truth of the Gospel to the next generation. (Psalm 78:4)
Each day VBS children also had an opportunity to submit their personal prayer requests. No request was deemed too big or too small. Our team prayed for a child’s boo-boo and a grandfather’s cancer; a friend’s broken arm and good gospel conversations; for swim meets, golf lessons, and MeMaw’s surgery. Whatever was on the children’s hearts and lists got prayed for. We didn’t know all of the specific needs, but we trusted our God who does. And so we brought them to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16).
This week of prayer also provided an opportunity for us to pray for our church congregation, leaders, and the Reeder family as we continue to mourn the recent death of our beloved Pastor Reeder.
Prayer is never to be a substitute for good planning or hard work, but John Bunyan was correct when he said: “You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”
We can’t measure the fruitfulness of this week’s VBS, but we can bear witness to the faithfulness of all those who came, taught, and prayed. Our 2023 Briarwood VBS is now complete, and we can testify along with Nehemiah, “This work had been done with the help of our God.” Nehemiah 6:16 (NIV)
To God be the glory!