The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Nehemiah 4:1-8 (day three)

“What are these feeble Jews doing?”

A well-worn aphorism: “When you have the facts on your side, pound the facts, when you have the law on your side, pound the law, and when you have neither, pound the table.” All the harrumphing going on here betrays the weak position of Nehemiah’s enemies. Confident people don’t employ ad hominem arguments, and Nehemiah knew it. He could see through their ridiculous rhetoric. But would his resolve envelop the people he led? This question fueled his prayer. The resulting calm and courage in him provided a steady voice to which all the people rallied.

Re:Verse passage – Nehemiah 4:1-8 (day two) Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on, and that the breaches began to be closed, they were very angry. v. 7

There is/was an historic animosity between these people groups. It can be seen playing out in our headlines every day. I don’t want to get into the geopolitical situation that we are experiencing today, but I think we can find parallels to Nehemiah’s story all around us. There will always be people who actively discourage you. It is one of those things like death and taxes that you can count on. How do you deal with those words thrown at you? How do you confront the plot to undermine your work? How can you push forward, when there is such an active force pushing against you? Trust your call. Surround yourself with others who share the vision. Rely on the Lord. Nehemiah knew what was before him was a great task. He was select in whom he trusted with the vision, and he was undeterred by those who were against him. This doesn’t mean it will be easy, but surround yourself with the Lord’s protection, and get to work.

Re:Verse passage – Nehemiah 3:1-5 (day seven)

After them Benjamin and Hasshub carried out repairs in front of their house. After them Azariah the son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, carried out repairs beside his house. Nehemiah 3:22-23

The first time I heard about Nehemiah was not in a Sunday School class nor was it a sermon. It began outside the walls of the church. I read it on a t-shirt of the local high school football team where my father was the head coach. He had chosen this passage to communicate principles of teamwork through the building of the wall.

The highlight and main point that has stuck with me all these years was the fact that each person did the work outside of their own house. This was an ingenious move by Nehemiah, clearly wisdom from the Lord, because it not only helped the speed of the construction process it also helped the quality of the construction. If you are in charge of building the wall in front of your home, are you going to give it half of your effort or are you going to make sure it is done perfect to protect your loved ones? If each person builds their wall swiftly and thoroughly, you will be able to complete the entire wall in no time and can trust that you can keep the enemy out.

Now I think the point for the football team can be translated to our spiritual life equally as well. Your job is not to worry about the integrity of the entire wall. You just need to do the job that is in front of you. If everyone does their job correctly, the wall will hold up against any enemy trying to break it down. What if you just started to build a spiritual kingdom with what God has put right in front of you? Your family, your home, your neighborhood?

Re:Verse passage – Nehemiah 3:1-5 (day six)

…you are a chosen people. You are royal priests,^[b] a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9

In his commentary on Ezra–Nehemiah, Christopher J. H. Wright notes, “Those who had put their faith in Jesus Christ (in the first century)… had been grafted into a people with an identity stretching back nearly two thousand years.”

As the Church, our identity is not disconnected from Israel—it is deeply rooted in the story of God’s covenant people. Through Jesus, we’ve been grafted into the same calling: to be a holy nation, a city on a hill, a light to the nations.

This is why the vision and unity displayed in Nehemiah 3 matter so deeply. Like the people of Jerusalem rebuilding their walls, we too must recover a shared Kingdom vision and embrace a shared Kingdom work. Now more than ever, the Church must recapture its missional identity as God’s set-apart people, shining with His light in a dark world.

Re:Verse passage – Nehemiah 3:1-5 (day five)  I wonder how Nehemiah reacted when the wall actually started getting rebuilt. He had prayed and planned. He had shared his heart with many. He had faced real opposition (where we last read in chapter 2). He had sensed the Lord’s leading and provision. He kept believing and trusting. Did he ever doubt?  Did he ever question?  Was he anxious or discouraged?  Was there an underlying sense of hope and courage in the midst of it all?

Then in chapter 3, it actually started happening. Little by little and space by space… progress. God was moving and working in the hearts of people to accomplish His plan and purpose. There was work. There was community. There was unity. There was diversity. There was worship. There was joy and celebration. And there was opposition. Sounds like missions and ministry, doesn’t it?  Let’s get to work!  Let’s join in too (to what God’s doing in and thru our church). Let’s serve others, share faith, work, and worship!!  Let’s build God’s Kingdom through His Church.

Re:Verse passage – Nehemiah 3:1-5 (day three)

While several of the names listed in this passage don’t mean anything to us, they would have meant a great deal to Nehemiah’s original audience. In a collectivist culture like this, family names and family heritage meant a great deal, and loyalty to one’s family or clan was a high value. Loyalty was strongest among one’s immediate family (though that included far more people than we would today), next strongest among the clan, present but still less strong among tribes, and the pattern continues as you draw the circle wider.

When we come to this list of names, we’re meant to be struck by such a great number of families coming together in unity for this shared task. These people didn’t come together in a vacuum. I’m sure there were plenty of past hurts and tensions, ideological differences and even bad blood between some of these families. They all gave up time, resources, and even their own security to participate in building the wall. This is a miraculous picture of unity!

Chris has often said that one of the primary marks of revival and movement of the Spirit is unity among God’s people. We get a beautiful picture of this in Nehemiah. What opportunities has the Lord given you to participate in such Unity?

Re:Verse passage – Nehemiah 3:1-5 (day three)

“Next to him the men of Jericho built, and next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built.”

The people followed Nehemiah. He facilitated their skills, helping them channel their engineering, masonry, and stonework abilities to rebuild an entire city. But Nehemiah also followed the people. That is to say, Nehemiah responded to the hopes and desires already present in their hearts. These longings were not wishful thinking or flights of fancy, but deep yearnings long dormant from ancient times, passed down from generation to generation from the time of the exodus, full of the fervor of Moses’s preaching and the promises of the law. These were dreams – initiated by God – that would not die. It was these dreams, present in Nehemiah’s own heart too, that Nehemiah heard and followed.

Re:Verse passage – Nehemiah 3:1-5 (day two)

Then Eliashib the high priest arose with his brothers the priests and built the Sheep Gate; they consecrated it and hung its doors. V. 1

Never far from the minds of those working on these gates and the wall is there purpose, both as a structure and as a symbol. After each door, gate, or portion of the wall is completed they consecrated that section. To consecrate is to set aside as to make holy. It is to bless all those who will use it, and to ask for a blessing on the structure itself. They were under no illusion. This was holy work. Do you take your work that seriously? Maybe you think your job is not that significant in the Kingdom. You may not be rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, but there are people around you that are counting on you to model a life lived in service the Jesus. Try to reframe your life as one which is building the Kingdom whether at home, in the office, or wherever you may be.