| Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked … Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water. |
| —Nehemiah 4:17-18, 23 |
Nehemiah not only had the passion and the call of God to rebuild the ruined walls of Jerusalem, he had ungodly opposition from ungodly, jealous, and powerful neighbors, who plotted several ways to stop the rebuilding. Their taunts and threats so endangered the workers and the process to which they had been called, that they kept their weapons in one hand and worked with their trowels in the other.
God calls us all to the task of the building of His Kingdom. Never should we doubt that the enemy will come with his traitorous, ugly opposition to our work. We need to stay vigilant and stand prepared to fight the enemy’s poison arrows and his manipulations.
Nehemiah modeled the servant-leader. He prayed about the situation, before and during the construction. He prayed for his workers. He worked humbly alongside them. And, he refused the financial benefits that were offered to him from the king. Because of their vigilance and their sacrifice, they succeeded in their task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.
How do we then remain faithful in the work to which we are called and, at the same time, fight against our enemy? We must humbly acknowledge that, in ourselves, we have no power against our foe. But, the Holy Spirit will fight for us. When we pray in the Spirit, we are fighting with the most powerful weapon we have: the two-edged sword of the Spirit, which is the written Word of God (Ephesians 6:17) and (Hebrews 4:12).
In order to accomplish the tasks to which He has called us, only our God can help us work and fight at the same time. The witness to the world of our great God will not fail to attract the attention of those who need to see Him.
I love the results of the work Nehemiah and his crew saw. Nehemiah 6:16 tells us:
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.
Our Lord will accomplish not only His purpose in building up His church. But, He will cause the world around us to acknowledge His glory and His power. We multi-task with His hand upon us!
