September 18 - Nehemiah 3:1-5:13 | Nehemiah 6:1-7:3

Good morning everyone, 

In chapters one and two we read that Nehemiah had gotten word of the terrible disrepair the wall around Jerusalem was in, there had actually been no effort to put it back up and it hurt his heart, so much so, that he quit his job to go and do something about it. Upon arriving in Jerusalem he spent three days assessing the situation and rallying the troops to get to work rebuilding it.

In chapter three the work begins on the wall to go around Jerusalem. Eight different teams will take a section of the wall covering a distance of about two and a half miles in length. Each team will be responsible for building their section of the wall out of stones, roughly forty feet high and eight feet thick. Good grief, that makes my back hurt just thinking about it and yet they are an enthusiastic, dedicated group of workers. The enemy is not liking what he is seeing, however, so once more he sends Sanballat in to give them grief. He  first starts with belittling the workers then moves on to ridiculing their work, trying to break their spirit, but Nehemiah just prayed for his people while they continued to work knowing God would see them through.

In chapter four we read that when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry and that they all plotted together to fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. Nehemiah again prayed then told the workers, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” And so they did with weapons to protect themselves strapped to their sides. In a record breaking 52 days only, Nehemiah and the people of Jerusalem would complete the reconstruction of the wall around the city. Only by the grace of God!

What really stood out to me was that Nehemiah encouraged them to remember the Lord and fight for their families. The very same thing is true today in our walk with the Lord, we must be in the Word and walk with our Abba Father because it directly effects our families and their values. I read a quote yesterday that said “If we don’t teach our children to follow Christ, the world will teach them not to.” Do we want the “world” to be in charge of what our children believe to be true? We have got to be passing on our ethics, our moral code to our children and not just letting them go on auto in hopes of them picking up what we believe in by osmosis. 

On a more personal level, if I don’t begin my day talking with the Lord, reading His Word and doing His work in this devotion, my day is a harder, there is like a weight pushing me down all day long. I am not as forgiving or loving and I think more selfishly consequently my family suffers. 

When we hand our day over to the Lord each and every morning saying “Abba, let your will be done,” there is no doubt about it,my days are, our days are so much lighter. Proverbs says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” When we have trust and faith in what God has in store for us, we are a calmer, much happier person and that joy will flow over onto our families. Seriously? Who doesn’t want that? Amen

Have a great day and to God be the glory.

God bless you all …..