Having conversations with Nehemiah is risky. I had just finished writing about daily prayer. I went up to take a shower. And as I was turning the water on, I said, out loud, “Wait a minute. Is praying all you did for four months?”

I’m pretty sure Nancy didn’t hear me.

But Nehemiah did. He was waiting for me when I went back down to my office.

“Of course not,” he said, answering my question. “I prayed. I went to work. I started paying attention to the needs around me. I talked more with my brother, who also started praying. And the strangest thing started to happen. One day I was thinking about the situation and thought, ‘The city is in ruins and the gates are burned.’ Just that simple. In the middle of preparing the king’s wine, I would start thinking ‘You know, if I did go to Jerusalem, we’d need to get some lumber to rebuild those gates.’ Listening to reports come in from the provinces, I’d think, ‘We would need to get permission to pass through their territory.’

“After four months of talking to God and thinking about the problem, I had a whole plan worked out. I wrote it on the papyrus on my table. I called it ‘What I would do if God gave me a chance.’”

I leaned forward. “So that day when the king asked what was wrong, you were ready?”

“Absolutely. I mean, I was terrified about getting caught looking sad in front of the king. I was surprised that this was the day, but I realized that God was ready.”

I said, “But I always thought God just gave you the plan instantly when you were in the situation. Like Jesus said would happen when the disciples were brought before judges. I didn’t know you actually thought about all this.”

Nehemiah sat up straight. “Oh, I don’t have any question about God being able to work that way. But I had four months to think and pray and research. If I hadn’t used that time, I would have been pretty irresponsible.”

I couldn’t tell if his feelings were hurt or not.

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Reflecting on Nehemiah 2. Taken from A Great Work: A Conversation with Nehemiah for People (Who Want to Be) Doing Great Works.