Nehemiah

We are told that the Hebrew meaning for Nehemiah is, God comforts.

But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. Nehemiah 4: 9

Here is Nehemiah and all the other workers who have undertaken a rebuilding work for God. The Wall of Jerusalem has been down and Nehemiah, God's servant, has undertaken a task that to all around, is folly and futile. The builders are insulted, ridiculed, mocked, laughed at and made to look as total fools. But when those who oppose this rebuilding effort realise that their taunting and efforts to get the re-builders to stop, have failed and that the wall was halfway up, they resort to another strategy.

Nehemiah 4: 7 – 8 tells us that a 'Five Ally Force', comprising Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod, plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to stir up trouble. But Nehemiah refused to let the work for the Lord, stop. You see, the one aim of the enemy was for this work to stop and Nehemiah and the workers just could not give the enemy that satisfaction.

You need to see this present enemy as those things which come into our lives to frustrate and fight us. You need to see that the single goal of our 'Five Ally Force', is to cause us to give up. How do Nehemiah and his people deal with such a powerful force? There are two things that we can follow today, as we have no choice but to face the fierce foe.

PRAY - As obvious as it may seem to you, listen to it again. They faced the enemy with prayer. They prayed to their God. Again, you may ask, who else but God? But be not fooled. There are many false gods around, making lucrative business. Here is what I was made to learn again, these past few days. The true God handles prayer differently from the fake gods, who are so very upfront in our lives. Here is a stunning truth. Prayer is what God, your God and my God gave to us. It is He who teaches us to pray, because He knows full well that we can't pray. Is it not true that the fake gods in our lives bring us unnecessary grief about our inability to pray? Can you breathe? Why? Simply because breath is in you. Then you can pray, precisely because prayer is in you. Let us learn to pray to our One True God. Even a sigh, or a tear is sufficient prayer for the One True God.

POST GUARDS - The second thing Nehemiah did was to post a guard, in the day and in the night to meet the enemy's threat. In this kind of situation, we too are called to not just pray, but be guarded day and night against the unscrupulous allied forces. Here is where we get caught. We pray and we are guarded in the night hours, but often we drop our guard during the day hours, the bright hours, the safe hours of the day. Be as wise as Nehemiah and know that you need to post guards at all times. Though some may become weary and weak, they can be strengthened. I have learned and am still learning that there are times when God wants us to use our 'human guards', to advantage. They are to be strategically posted to frustrate the enemy force. Listen to Nehemiah 4: 15. When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work.

The work of God must go on by you and me, though we struggle feebly here on earth. God loves us and cares for us as much as He loves and cares for the church triumphant.