Nehemiah, Day 2
IN EVERYTHING BY PRAYER
RESTORING SECULAR DEFENSES
By Resourceful Entrepreneurs — Chapter 4
By Relentless Endeavors — Chapter 5
Chapter 4
As the Jews were working on rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, two Arabs (Sanballat and Tobiah) decided to oppose the rebuilding effort. Nehemiah prayed and asked God to turn their insults back on their own heads. Once the walls reached half of their height, Sanballat and Tobiah, along with the Arabs and Ammonites, became very angry and decided to fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble. So the Jews continued to pray and posted guards day and night to meet this threat. This threat continued to wear on the Jews. Nehemiah continued to lead by example and challenged the Jews to continue working and promised that the Lord would fight for them. The detractors heard that the Jews knew of the plot that was being planned against them and that they continued to build the walls. From that day on, half of the men worked to build the wall and the other half of the men provided protection against their enemies. Nehemiah had a colleague by his side who had a trumpet. Because the work was extensive and spread out, he instructed the workers to leave their work site and come to Nehemiah whenever they heard the sound of the trumpet. That would be a place of protection for them because “Our God will fight for us!”
Chapter 5
As the work was being done, the wall-building men and their wives raised an outcry against their fellow Jews. They were being taken advantage of by being charged extra taxes on their food and their properties. The workers and their families needed grain to eat. Some had to borrow money to pay the taxes on their fields and vineyards. Nehemiah became angry and once again took matters into his own hands and accused the nobles and officials of their wrong dealings with the Jews. The nobles and officials listened to Nehemiah and repented of what Nehemiah was challenging them about. Nehemiah summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials take an oath that they would abide by their commitment to cooperate. Nehemiah continued to provide leadership over the building of the walls of Jerusalem and to protect the workers and their families from being taken advantage of.
Application
Once again, we are talking about a man (Nehemiah) who was a cupbearer of the king of Persia, who had so much passion for the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Because of Nehemiah’s heart for God’s continued plan and his love for his God, he was given strength, leadership abilities, and words to speak to the detractors and THEY LISTENED TO HIM!
I know that we all have passions for certain things in our lives. God is looking for His people to have passion for His work and for being a witness to the lost by sharing His Gospel. They are lost and need Jesus because they are destined for damnation. He will give us the strength, leadership abilities and words to speak if we JUST STAND UP AND TRY. Won’t you pray to do so and accept His invitation to GET INVOLVED and BE USED BY HIM FOR HIS GLORY?
Blessings from Carlton Ringer