Apart from being knee-deep in essays over the past few weeks and in the throes of writing my next book, I have been geeking out on the book of Nehemiah.
The evidence in my Bible of this obsession is found in my multicoloured highlighter graffitied doodles and inked scribbling over every single page of Nehemiah’s account of rebuilding the wall. Every. Single. Page. However, after reading his story, it was Nehemiah’s resolute resolve that I found renewed his dedication and brought about a determination within me.
If you’re unsure of the story of Nehemiah, you’ll find him in the Old Testament wedged between the Book of Ezra and the Book of Job. Former cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, Nehemiah decides he needs to quit cup bearing and become a wall builder as he sadly discovers that his people are in trouble as a result of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins. The king, amazingly, grants permission for Nehemiah to change his career path, and so God places a secret plan on Nehemiah’s heart so the Jews can start to rebuild the wall. ‘And so, they began the good work. Our adversaries lost no time…when they heard of our plans, they mocked and ridiculed us.’ [Nehemiah 2:18-19]
Typically, have you noticed that when you’re attempting to build something for God the enemy will try to deliberately deconstruct your construction one calculated intimidation tactic at a time? As I read Nehemiah’s resolute resolve, I found the enemy was using the same tactics in something I was trying to rebuild in my own life.
What I discovered was that if you ignore each one of the devil’s ongoing threats then he’ll try to lead you down a path that looks good on the surface level, however, if you dig down a little deeper, you’ll uncover a tripwire he has concealed to cause you to fail and fall flat on your face, thus stopping the rebuild. For Nehemiah, it was gonna take every ounce of his relentless resolute resolve to resist such rubbish being sent his way and keep up his determination in rebuilding the wall.
Nehemiah recorded the tactics of Sanballat. ‘We know our enemies’ intent was to intimidate us into stopping our work. They reasoned, “These Jews will stop rebuilding out of fear and discouragement. Progress will grind to a halt.”Nehemiah was no fool. He was in the middle of a great work and his enemies’ dogged determination to make him stop rebuilding was as ruthless as it was rigorous.
But the thing I love about Nehemiah’s servant-leader heart is that rather than allow the bullies to dishearten and scare him, he dug deeper and found a reservoir of resolute resolve. ‘Instead, I renewed my dedication, strengthened my hands.’ [Nehemiah 6:9] Four words were sent to the intimidators, “I renewed my dedication.” That is resolute resolve right there. Nehemiah was saying, you thought your scare tactics would stop the work because I would be intimidated. Well, for what it’s worth, I renewed my dedication. And guess what, you did me a favour because all your plans to take me out actually strengthened my hands.
What have you started to build and then found that you stopped the great work because of fear and discouragement? The devil doesn’t really give a hoot about our plans. For he knows that all our proposals and systems are not even worth the paper they are written on if we don’t follow through with our actions.
Our enemy doesn’t get rattled with good intentions; he perspires with our progress reports. Momentum and pace are what cause him to break out in a cold sweat as he knows our resolute resolve will bring God’s breakthrough. This is why the devil only sends in the bulldozers to take down the walls when he sees we are progressing in the work God asked us to do.
However, Nehemiah states, “Even with all that interference, the wall was soon finished.” [Nehemiah 6:15] When we decide to renew our dedication to complete the work God has set before us it is then our hands are strengthened for the task ahead. Perhaps we should view every interference, every intimidation and each scare tactic from the enemy as a sign that we’re on the right path else he wouldn’t even bother with the inconvenience of meddling in our affairs. Once he sees that your resolute resolve has strengthened your hands for the work God has called you to do then it’s his schemes that will be in ruins.
If you’ve renewed your dedication so it strengthens your hands then your resolute resolve will complete the work God asked you to do. For ‘we have become His poetry, a re-created people that will fulfil the destiny he has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfil it!’ [Ephesians 2:10]
So, take a leaf out of Nehemiah’s book, his story proves that with strengthened hands and resolute resolve, you can build something amazing for God regardless of the enemy’s intimidation tactics!
Wendy xo
Have you tried to rebuild something but stopped the ‘good work’ because of fear and discouragement?
Thank you for the encouragement, Wendy.