Yes.

We see a plan between several nations to attack Judah and King Jehoshaphat is very nervous about this, so what does he do? He prays to the Lord for guidance and sends out a command to the whole nation of Judah that they are to fast and seek the Lord. Finally King J calls everyone together at the temple of the Lord and they pray. God gives a word of knowledge to one of the men who declares that the warriors are to prepare and go out and then do… nothing. Nothing but watch the Lord move. And that’s exactly what happens! God causes confusion and division among the enemies of Judah and they kill each other while Judah watches.

So… despite what I said at the beginning — “Yes.” — it would seem that if God’s going to take care of it that I do NOT need to do anything. So that’s great! Because this Netflix ain’t going to binge itself!

Not so fast, my friend! Note that the army still fasted, prayed, sought the Lord, acted on His instructions, and prepared for the battle. We are to prepare in any and every way the Lord has asked us to and THEN watch Him work. It’s not trusting the Lord to lazily go in without and plan and hope He bails you out!

We cannot appreciate how much work goes into a thing we have never done. As a web developer I’ve dealt with MANY clients who trivialized my work and told me that it’s as simple as this or that! Which I always found baffling. If you thought my work was that simple, why did you pay the agency I work for 20, 30, or 40 thousand dollars to do it?

In the same way, if we don’t prepare for the work that God is going to do, we don’t know what it’s worth, and if we don’t know what it’s worth, we cannot fully appreciate what he has done for us.

Put the work in.