Nehemiah Chapter 4 Study Continues…
*Scripture references are in the Tree of Live Version
In verse 4, The “rubbish”, in Hebrew, it’s the only occurrence of this word. The next nearest translation means “rubble”, “dust”, “debris”. The picture in my mind is like what ground zero looked like after 911. There was so much, that it took so many, many people so long to clear it. I imagine the workers at the beginning full of strength and patriotism for their country. Then after months, and years, see the heaps upon heaps still staring at them in the face can feel like a dent has hardly been made.
I have a couple thoughts about “building” and “the rubble”. When I was 35 years old I set out on an assignment back to my home church with the mission to help build the House of Prayer, which was 2 fold; the children’s equipping center and the prayer room. When I turned 40, I really struggled with looking at the 5 years I had been there and feeling like I hadn’t even made a dent in the work to be done. We can tend to look at a project or an assignment with an imagination or expectation of what its transformation process and outcome should look like. This is a common pitfall for many, myself included.
One thing we must be on guard about is this- when we see the rubble, guard your heart from feeling overwhelmed, disappointed, discouraged or disillusioned. Keeping your eyes on Jesus in the midst of the work will strengthen us. Just keep climbing the mountain… stop counting the meter markers. A final thought about the ‘rubble’. The rubble needs to be moved, or dealt with, in order to build or rebuild.
While we cant focus on the rubble to the point where it saps our strength and takes us out, we also cant ignore it. This is a beautiful key for how to pray for pastors, leaders, missionaries etc. When praying for “laborers”, pray specifically for God to STRENGTHEN them. This reminds me of Luke 22 where Jesus is strengthened by an angel. Some translations say, “a strengthening angel came to Him”. We can pray this! We can ask God to send “strengthening angels” to help our brothers and sisters and support them in getting their eyes on Jesus, the mission and fuel them with emotional, mental and spiritual strength.
Fully Alive and Awake
In verses 7-9 TLV we see the rise of the Watch come into play. These passages are where the early prayer movement got the term, “The Watch of the Lord”. Now, I realize not everyone is called to what we now say as "the Watchmen" calling. (That is sometimes a term used to describe someone called to full-time intercession, or the modern-day priesthood) But there is a part of "soberness of spirit" that all believers are called to. The thing about the watchmen here, and specifically Nehemiah, was that it was not the priesthood. These were 'laymen' with a sober spirit and a mind to work (vs.6). There is a "priest-like" quality about these laymen simply because they count their work to be sacred.
I believe their hearts had to be awakened by God to be able to come into such unity and get this wall up, diligently, not getting distracted, in such a short period of time. This is why I see the body of Christ in this hour coming more and more into alignment with a blending of the secular and the sacred, one body fully sacred in all our work and fully alive and awake.
The enemy doesn’t rest. He is spending his time constantly conspiring and plotting and planning continued attacks... but its like the villain in the movie mega mind- his plans always fail but he thinks he’s so smart. so where does he get this upper hand from? Basically he’s doing something while we are doing nothing. THATS ALL. He’s not doing anything special. The problem may just be that we AREN’T doing anything. in the security training i remember they talked about facing abduction and how in that moment, that is your best chance to escape. I thought about the verse (Hebrews 10:11-13) that God provides the way of escape-- but the thing is you have to keep your eyes on GOD.
When your eyes are not on God, everything is impossible. But when your eyes are locked with His, nothing is impossible.