One Man

In the last two posts, I have been journeying through the book of Nehemiah.  In case you are just joining in the fun, here are the links for first two posts.

Grab a Brick and a Bible

You Have No Right

The Holy Spirit desires to rebuild the broken areas of your life.  There will be Sanballats and Tobiahs in your life who will try to discourage you.  Many times, our thoughts can be that discouraging voice.  Be mindful of your thoughts.  Do they line up with what the Lord has said to you?

Just today those thoughts came in an attempt to discourage me. Then, I remembered the post and what I wrote about and I know those discouraging thoughts are not from the Lord.

I am standing on the Word of the Lord.  His Holy Spirit is helping me rebuild and I will arise and build!  The Word of the Lord will be accomplished.

If you remember, in the last post "You Have No Right", Nehemiah had just finished telling Sanballat and Tobiah that they had no right to Jerusalem, so in other words, "Shut it!"  That was at the end of Chapter 2.

Moving on to Chapter 3, I noticed that Sanballat and Tobiah were nowhere to be found.  They are not mentioned again until Chapter 4 and there it says that "when they heard that we were rebuilding the wall", which tells me they left.  The enemy will leave when you speak the truth.  He may return again, but he has to leave at that time! 

Now Chapter 3 is all about rebuilding the wall.  At first glance it appears to be a lengthy list of people who helped build the wall.  It could be easy to just skip over it and not pay much attention to Chapter 3.  I know when reading through parts of the Old Testiment it is tempting to skip over lists of people (like the "begats" lists), but it is all in there for a purpose.

What do I see when I read Chapter 3?  Well, first of all I notice that there were a multitude of people who helped with rebuilding the wall.  In addition, all the materials they needed to rebuild were already there. What does this mean?  To me, it means that these people were there all along and they could have rebuilt the city at any time. They were already in Jerusalem.  Why did it take over ten years for them to decide to rebuild?

To me this indicates how one person, Nehemiah, can make a difference.  It took Nehemiah going to Jerusalem and inspiring the Israelites to rebuild in order for the walls and gates to be rebuilt.  One man made a difference with his belief and enthusiasm.

The other factual nugget revealed in Chapter 3 is that the Lord will bring the right people with the right skills and materials to accomplish His will and plan.  The list of people who helped with the wall is remarkable.  It appears that the whole city came out to help, given all the names listed.

Do you realize that the city walls and gates that had for all practical purposes been destroyed for one hundred and fifty years were rebuilt in fifty-two days!  And it all transpired with the inspiration of one man who listened to the voice of the Lord and inflamed enthusiasm in a nation! 

Wow!  Nothing is impossible with God.  We need to always remember how one person can truly make a difference in others, their nation, and the world!

And that, my friends is Chapter 3...isn't Nehemiah a hidden treasure?!  Chapter 4 is good too!  I will be discussing Chapter 4 next time.  {smile}

"Let us rise up and build" Then they set their hands to do this good work.  Nehemiah 2:18b

"Let us rise up and build"!!