Faithing Problems

Written by Charles Sell

This article is courtesy of HomeLife magazine.

Nehemiah, a leading figure in the Old Testament, had problems. He was directing the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem. The rubble of the old wall was everywhere, his work force was meager, and Israel’s enemies were poised to attack.

Nehemiah knew how to handle problems: he prayed. For a godly man, whether raising a wall or raising children, praying is essential. “The upper hand is the praying hand,” said the late David Simmons, a popular lecturer.

LifeWay Recommends Nehemiah: Becoming a Disciplined Leader Nehemiah knew he could never rebuild Jerusalem alone; his only chance was in humbly seeking God's help. His attitude reminds us that even in our moments of greatest pain and helplessness, we still have access to God. Like Nehemiah, we must pray persistently and specifically. Then God will bless us beyond anything we can imagine.

Consistent prayer for our children gives us an incomparable leverage on the sticky family issues that so often gum up family relationships. There is nothing more strategic than prayer when it comes to dealing with children. Nothing!

Though in some situations we can do nothing but pray, we should be careful not to make prayer a substitute for action. Nehemiah didn’t. When the threat of enemy assaults became severe, he prayed and posted guards. Combining action with prayer, Nehemiah “faithed” his problems.

By contrast, one writer encourages a do-nothing sort of faith. He tells of driving to a meeting with two other men when their car broke down. He explains that the natural thing would have been to get out and try to do something about the car. Instead, they did the “supernatural” thing. They sat in their car and praised God, believing He would get them out of their mess. The story ends when a mechanic notices their plight, knocks on the window, and offers to help.

However, if we are to follow the example of Nehemiah and other godly leaders, it’s proper to both pray and act. Prayer should never be used as an excuse to avoid problems.

Often when I’ve asked parents what they were doing about a family problem, I’ve been told, “We’re praying about it,” and they were actually doing nothing. This can be a form of denial. Physicians see it frequently: patients, ignoring symptoms of critical illnesses, come to them too late to be treated successfully.

Though denial can be an outright refusal to admit there is a problem, most of the time, it takes other forms. Minimizing a problem is a kind of denial. We do nothing because we think, It could be worse. At other times, we postpone doing something, hoping the problem will fade away like the morning fog. Delay is a deadly form of denial.

After all, denial is a neat way for us men to handle problems, especially problems at home. We already have plenty of problems at work, so we don’t need more of them at home. Doing something about our child’s failing grades or finding out why our teen’s personality has suddenly and drastically changed takes time and energy we don’t have to spare. Besides, deep down we may be afraid to admit our situation is as serious as it is. Prayer can sometimes give us an excuse to wait and do nothing.

It takes courage to face our problems. A friend of mine told me how facing his son’s problem was one of the most difficult things he had ever done. Suspecting his teenage son was using drugs, he took him to a treatment center for diagnosis. As he sat in the hospital waiting room, he asked himself: What’s a nice family like us doing in a place like this? However, he realized that the fact that they were there meant they were not the wholesome family he had supposed they were.

When going through problems with my children, I sometimes thought we were a terrible family and I was an awful father. As I look back at how we got through those problems victoriously, I now realize I was wrong. A family is not measured simply by its ability to avoid all problems, but to face the ones it has.

Our family was weak enough to have problems, but it was strong enough to deal with them. Families need to learn how to “faith” problems as Nehemiah did.

Share your thoughts with other readers:  Post Comments   Rate this Article