“Let us start rebuilding.” (Neh 2:18)
Do you know of anything that needs to be rebuilt? Nehemiah did. The walls around Jerusalem! And he felt this so keenly about this, that He set out to do something about it! First he spent time in fasting and prayer. Next he gave up a position of honor in the courts of the Persian King, leaving his life in the lap of luxury in the capital of Persia to travel to Jerusalem, a city in ruins.
And what did he find there? Besides the ruins, he found his own people surrounded by those who were dead set against the walls being rebuilt! Namely, Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official. They started off by mocking and ridiculing (Neh. 2:19, 4:3). They threatened the people and insulted their work (Neh. 4:3). They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it (Neh 4:8-9). Their threats wrought discouragement among the builders (Neh. 4:11), forcing the workers to work with swords in one hand (Neh. 4:18). And finally, when the walls were completed but the gates not yet hung, they plotted to harm Nehemiah, sending him a message of deception (Neh. 6:6,7). They even bribed Nehemiah’s own people into a plot to kill him (Neh. 6:10-12).
But through all of this, Nehemiah’s response was two-fold:
a) He recognized the deception (Neh 6:8 “I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.”; and Neh 6:12-13 — “I realized that God had not sent him . . . He had been hired to intimidate me . . .”; see also Neh. 6:2)
b) He gave the problem to God (Neh 4:4 — “Hear us, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads.”; Neh 4:20 — “Our God will fight for us!”; Neh 6:9 — “[But I prayed,] ‘Now strengthen my hands.'”)
And what was the result? Neh 6:15-16 — “So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.”
What is there in your life that needs to be rebuilt, my friends? Relationship? Finances? Health? Freedom from addictions? Whatever it is, NOW IS THE TIME TO START REBUILDING! But just as in Nehemiah’s day, whenever God starts rebuilding us, the devil will try to prevent this from happening. He will resort to ridicule, insult, mockery, deception, threats, and outright attacks. How do we respond? Do we abandon what God has begun? Or, just like Nehemiah, do we: a) recognize the hand of the devil; and b) Give the problem to God?
Let’s follow Nehemiah’s example, my friends! For by doing so, the impossible will be accomplished, for the work will be done with the help of our God!
“[But I prayed,] ‘Now strengthen my hands.'” (Neh 6:9)
Love in Christ,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets ( www.scripturalnuggets.org ), Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org