Archive for August, 2009

Read Nehemiah 4:16-23

I am the least mechanical person you’ll ever meet.

I can’t build or repair anything.

It doesn’t matter if I have instructions. It doesn’t make a difference if I have the best tools known to mankind.

I am completely worthless when it comes to doing anything mechanical. So, I wouldn’t have been able to help Nehemiah with the construction part of his plan to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

However, I could have done something.

In fact, I noticed in this passage that there were those who stood guard with weapons in hand, others who carried supplies to the appropriate places, and there was even one guy who just had to play the trumpet from time to time.

And God uses all of these right where they were without expecting them to be something they weren’t.

And He does the same thing with us today.

Maybe we can’t teach or lead. But we can do something.

And hopefully you are!

Read Nehemiah 4:15

As we do God’s work, distractions are inevitable.

In fact, they begin to come at us in all shapes and sizes. Big distractions. Little distractions. Random distractions. Routine distractions.

I think we can all agree that distractions are just a part of life, but if we’re not careful, they can become our life. And as a result, they can keep us from doing those thing God is calling us to do.

I love how Nehemiah and his fellow countrymen handle distractions.

They hear of a threat, address it together, and go right back to doing the work God had called them to do: rebuild the walls!

They don’t let what would be a huge distraction to most of us even phase them in the least. They deal with the distraction in an effective manner and go right back to important business of rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem.

Father, You know how easily distracted I get. Please help me not to get bogged down in stuff that doesn’t matter and instead, help me to become totally obsessed to what You want me to do!

Read Nehemiah 4:10-14

Great leaders don’t panic under pressure.

At least Nehemiah didn’t.

First of all, he had to deal with low morale. People were getting discouraged with how long the rebuilding efforts were taking and seemed to be thinking about quitting.

Secondly, word was getting around that Jerusalem was going to be attacked and everyone in the city began to panic. The people couldn’t think of anything else. And because they were obsessed with these rumors, they completely neglected the important task of rebuilding the wall.

But along comes Nehemiah.

He puts a plan into motion that can be summed up in two phrases: “Remember the LORD” and “fight” for your families.

And that’s exactly what they did.

They remembered why they were doing what they were doing, and prepared to fight for it.

Read Nehemiah 4:9

It is vitally important that we pray.

However, sometimes we need to get up off of our knees and begin to do something ourselves.

When Nehemiah was facing criticism from every angle, the Bible says that he and his team “prayed to our God”, but it also says something else.

It goes on to say that “we…posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.”

So, did Nehemiah trust God or not? If he did, why did he feel compelled to make a plan? Why not just let God take care of everything?

Nehemiah fully trusted God. I don’t think anyone can disagree with that. But at the same time, he knew that God had given him enough sense to make a plan to combat his enemies. They weren’t going to magically disappear.

He prayed. And then he got off his knees and made something happen.

And that’s exactly what we need to do.

Read Nehemiah 4:7-8

I think there will always be negative and pessimistic people in our lives, people who seek to put a damper on what God is up to in our lives through their words and actions.

And I know that it seems like we keep coming back to this subject, but I’m not the one who keeps bringing it up.

Nehemiah is.

But as I’ve read this book up to this point, and I think about my own life, I can’t help but come to the conclusion that little people with little vision love to criticize big people with big vision.

Isn’t that true?

And I can’t speak for you, but I’m not going to let the little voices with little to say keep me from doing what God has placed on my heart to do.

And you shouldn’t either.

“Father, may people continue to talk about me, because when they stop, that probably means I’ve stopped pursuing Your vision for my life.”

Read Nehemiah 4:6

I love the phrase, “…the people worked with all their heart.”

There is nothing more beautiful to me than seeing a team of people work together with all their hearts to do something to the glory of God.

In the original context of the passage, I love that the citizens of Jerusalem united together and worked their tails off to rebuild the walls around their city. They gave it everything they had!

I’m sure Nehemiah wasn’t surrounded by the most talented and driven people in the world (or else the wall would have already been rebuilt before he showed up), but under Nehemiah’s leadership, they became a force to be reckoned with, accomplishing so much in such a small amount of time.

And as I think about the citizens of Jerusalem committed to building that wall, I can’t help but pray that we as a group of committed Christians at Southside will be a team of people working together to accomplish something amazing as well.

Father, help us to work together to accomplish infinitely more than we ever could alone. May we combine our strengths, as few as they may be, and watch You do amazing things!

Read Nehemiah 4:4-5

Have any of you ever prayed a pray like this one: “God, they want to hurt me, so will You please hurt them instead”?

Or maybe you’ve prayed a pray like this before: “Father, please make them pay as severely as possible for their sins because they don’t deserve your mercy.”

Something doesn’t seem right about that prayer, does it?

And yet Nehemiah prays a very similar prayer to these preceding prayers when he asks God to stick it to Sanballat and Tobiah. Nehemiah was clearly ticked that anyone would ridicule his team of dedicated builders and I don’t know about you, but I appreciate Nehemiah’s frustration with these evil men. I love how he turns them over to his Heavenly Father.

And maybe, just maybe it’s something we ought to try.

Heavenly Father, please help me to take my frustrations with people who oppose Your work directly to You. I don’t want to be guilty of taking matters into my own hands, but instead I want to hand over people like Sanballat and Tobiah directly to You. Thank You for being a God who I can share my frustrations with.

Read Nehemiah 4:1-3

Critical people are everywhere, or at least that’s what it seems like.

I often feel surrounded by people who seem to be waiting for me to mess up, so they can laugh at me or point out my mistake to everyone else.

So, when I read about Nehemiah’s adversaries, Sanballat and Tobiah, I can definitely relate.

Tobiah and Sanballat are all about causing trouble and wrecking unity. The questions they ask and the statements they utter clearly reveal their true colors.

And I think we’ve got to remember that we’ll always have critical people around us. As long we live, there will be people who get angry with what we say and do.

Read Nehemiah 3

Have you ever heard of Meremoth, Meshullam, or Melatiah? How about Hattush, Hanun, or Hashabiah? Or what about Palal and Pediah…surely you’ve heard of them?

Actually, you probably haven’t heard of any of those names.

But those are just a few of the names of the men who worked with Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

I know sometimes it seems like Nehemiah did all the work by himself, but he didn’t. He had a team of people to help him. Yes, he was a courageous leader, but he didn’t do everything all by himself.

And neither will you.

We all need people around us to fulfill God’s vision for our lives, but at the same time, we need to be prepared to be those people in other’s lives as well.

Read Nehemiah 2:19-20

I hate being made fun of!

Of course, no one I know enjoys being ridiculed, but I almost always take it personally. In fact, I almost always want to retaliate and make fun of whoever happens to be making fun of me.

Needless to say, I could learn a lot from Nehemiah.

When he was being “mocked” and “ridiculed” for attempting to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, he responded with only a handful of words, with the most appropriate words being, “The God of heaven will give us success.”

Instead of being distracted by the foolish words of those who weren’t on his side, he saw an opportunity to give credit to the God who was on his side.

And after that, he makes this significant statement, “We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”

It’s like Nehemiah is saying, “We trust in God to give us success, but it isn’t going to happen automatically. We’ve got work to do, and that’s what we’re going to do right now. And on top of that, when we’re finished, you’re not going to be able to say you had anything to do with it.”

I love his response. And I so want to be able to say something like that when I’m facing ridicule from others.

Father, I want to be more confident in your ability to bring success in my life and less confident in my own ability. Help me to respond to any ridicule that comes my way with trust in You!

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