Nehemiah is too smart to get into a debate or a shouting
match with his opponents, he does the truly wise thing, he prays and leaves it
to the Lord. Their opponents started out
as angry and greatly enraged and as they saw the progress they got angrier and
they got others to join them in a plot to come against the city and cause
confusion, to distract them from the work.
Again Nehemiah prayed and he also set a guard, someone whose job it was
to look out for trouble so that the others could continue to stay focused on the
work. Then, there was discouragement in
the camp itself, opposition and threats from without and also even their
families who were outside the city begging the workers to come out to them in
part to avoid being attacked by the opponents.
He was forced to divide his labor force, half acting as soldiers at any
given time and only half working on the wall, but all prepared to fight if
necessary. Nehemiah is an incredible
leader.
Jesus tells parables of the kingdom that show that we are
not to despise the day of small things as Zechariah said as the temple was
being rebuilt. We are to take comfort in
the fact that if we remain faithful to the work we are given to do we will, in
time, see something remarkable. When the
work on the walls of Jerusalem began the outsiders couldn't imagine that they
could be rebuilt and those on the inside probably heard the taunts and faced
discouragement because there was some sense in what was being said. They believed and they kept on working and
soon enough the Lord had given them favor and the work was done, the walls were
restored. When we begin a new work for
the Lord or when we attempt to rebuild we will often face similar
discouragement but we need to remain focused on the kingdom and such parables
as these should always call us to hope and to work.
What began with eleven men after the crucifixion is now "a
great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes
and peoples and languages." Can you
imagine the encouragement John would have received from this vision? Here he was on Patmos with a small community
around him, he was unable to go out on any sort of mission work, and in this
vision there is a vast multitude there from every nation on earth proclaiming, “Salvation
belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” John could surely continue his work on that
island in the knowledge that he, like the people of Jerusalem in the day of
Nehemiah, was part of something so much larger it was unthinkable. There is always reason to hope if you're
working for His kingdom. Even the
martyrs and those under persecution know that ultimately this will end and in
that glorious eternity they will never suffer again. The kingdom of God will ultimately prevail
and we will see the fulfillment of the parables of Jesus.
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