Stand firm

 Three quick lessons from Nehemiah

I want to share a quick encouraging thought with you that comes from Nehemiah 4:1-9 . Nehemiah was originally a cup bearer to the king Artaxerxes (try saying that ten times fast...) but GOD called him to rebuild the nation of Israel in Jerusalem. Quite something for a government official! I don't know many government officials that are actually involved in rebuilding and growing countries...

Anyway, I am really encouraged by the way that Nehemiah responds in this scripture for three reasons:



1) Nehemiah stood firm in the face of ridicule.
Sanballat, reckons he's hardcore, an early version of Chuck Norris, and starts to openly mock Nehemiah's attempts to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. You see, this wasn't just any wall, it was a symbol of the nation's strength, worth and stature.

The fact that it was lying in ruins was indicative of the heart of the people - they too were in ruin's. I think that this is true for a lot of us at times in our lives. We allow the world to overcome our true calling and get stuck in situations and relationships that maybe we aren't too happy about. As soon as we start to change our situation we find ourselves under attack from various places. I believe that the dark-side (Satan and his bunch) knows that in order to disrupt and corrupt what GOD is trying to do in our lives, they can make a successful attack if they personlise the assault and bring our character and motives into disrepute.

I have found that whenever I try to do something new, or change the status-quo – especially in church, people with ill-motives will attack me personally and it can be turbo discouraging! But if we keep our eye on the big picture and stay rooted to what GOD is calling us to do, then we will be able to stand firm in the face of ridicule.

2) Nehemiah stood firm in the face of difficulty.
Let’s not beat around the bush here… building a wall, around an entire city, without back actors, cranes, trucks and other machinery – is no easy task. They had to, by hand; cart, carry, lift, place and secure large building rocks! So, when they’d started laying some of the stones, they were probably fairly precarious as they were only the first few stones of the wall.

They weren’t the entire wall, and they probably weren’t even completely closed up yet, because they were just the first few stones. Tobiah could see this and he points it out in a mocking fashion. This could really have disheartened the workers but we read a verse later that the workers worked with all their hearts!!

Nehemiah encouraged his people to keep at the task, no matter how difficult it seemed. When we are starting something new it’s always hard. If you start a new ministry or join one, there will be new people and new ways of doing things which could be difficult and you might get it wrong in the beginning – but that’s okay. It’s only the first few stones. Again, if we concentrate on the bigger picture – like Nehemiah did with the city wall, we’ll be able to prevail and stand firm in the face of difficulty.

3) Nehemiah stood firm in prayer and action
I love this part – “We countered with prayer and stationed guards.”

Nehemiah didn’t just pray and then sit back. No, he asked GOD for help (continuously) and then set to the task before him, WITH GOD’S HELP! All too often I find that I ask GOD for stuff and then sit back and wait for him to do it. Instead of working with GOD, we sometimes expect GOD to work for us. Prayer has to be accompanied with action – James writes similarly in his 2nd chapter when he says that faith and works go hand in hand. Nehemiah was a success because he stood firm in prayer and action.

Can I encourage you, as you seek GOD’s plan for your life, to stand firm in the face of ridicule, to stand firm in the face of difficulty and to stand firm in prayer and action.