On The Wall

So I sent messengers to them, saying, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?" (Nehemiah 6:3)

Nehemiah learned a lesson in doing a work in the name of God. He was moved in his spirit to restore the ancient walls of Jerusalem, restoring the faith of God's people in the process. Rest assured that any time this is tried, opposition to God's work will manifest itself. Here we see the enemies of Nehemiah and God's people continue to use the tactics of fear. See how they continuously sent messages and tried to conceal their true agenda. Nehemiah responded with a basic way of working while being bullied, deceived, threatened, and intimidated.  You'd better know who you are working for and the plain purpose of the work. Nehemiah was working to restore the glory of God. He was working on the wall, and could not come down. Focused on the Person and purpose for that which he worked helped to keep him working amidst the threats of fear. It still works today. While we are distracted, threatened and harassed by forces that oppose the will of God, if we know who we serve and why we serve, it keeps us on track. The threat of slanderous lies are brought to Nehemiah and he responds with a denial of the lies. Our only true defense is the truth. We don’t need to justify what we are doing when we serve God…we just continue to faithfully serve God. Constantly fighting our fear can certainly discourage us. But Nehemiah learned the secret of being courageous. Staying close to God and His purpose builds courage. Believing the lies of man and doubting the truth of God brings discouragement. We will give up the fight when we don't know why we fight. Nehemiah was in a fight to glorify God and restore His name. He was in a fight to overcome the reproach of God's people among other nations. When the wall was completed, many of the surrounding people, the nations, believed that God was helping His people. Nehemiah's success was only because God was successful. The people of God today do well to heed the lesson that Nehemiah was learning. When God builds our faith to persevere through the trials it is always with an eye to the future. More trials and bigger tests are coming. We can pass the bigger tests when we begin to see a bigger God. It is an easier thing to rebuild walls out of stone cold stones than to restore life to stone cold hearts, petrified by the trials of life. Some things only God can do. When God is doing His work we must do our part. Our part is to trust that He will…and He can… revive us again. God's people had been in exile many years. They were now in a position to trust God again. Would those who witnessed the rebuilding of the walls surrender their broken lives to God and be rebuilt? Will we bring our brokenness to God to be restored? The only one who can trust God for you is you!