Nehemiah 6:15-19 – With God’s help, we will achieve

The work Nehemiah and the Jews were called to do was not straightforward. It was attended by many obstacles and opposition. One person Nehemiah knew he could count on right from the onset was God. That was why the first thing when he heard of the plight of Jerusalem, was to go into fasting and prayer. Nehemiah 6:15 said that the wall was rebuilt in 52 days. It was hectic but certainly gratifying. In all, it took approximately 10 months to rebuild the walls, from the time he first learned of the plight of the city from his brother Hanani.

Fifty-two days to rebuild such an extensive wall was nothing short of remarkable. The contributing factors to the success were: firstly, was because of the blessing of God. He was present with the workers to supernaturally enable them. Secondly, they had a godly and energetic leader in Nehemiah who had learned to put his trust in God. Thirdly, it was because everyone was willing to put their heart into the task. Fourthly, it was because many people were involved in the work.  In the upbuilding of the church which we are part of, we too need these factors. To ensure that we are progressing in God. We need workers with willing hearts to work. We need godly and energetic leaders who learn to trust God wholeheartedly. We need more people to join hands to work. Most importantly, we need God, without whose help we will accomplish nothing, for apart from Him we can do nothing.

When the church understands her mission and everyone put in their fair share of contribution, we can frustrate the enemies as did Nehemiah and the Jews. Verse 16 had this to say, “When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.” Our success in God can discourage the enemies and make them less effective in seeking out downfall. They may try but with God, on our side, we will be hard to defeat.

In Nehemiah’s case, the enemies even had an internal link. Tobiah one of the opposers was linked by marriage to someone within the community. Besides, he had many loyalists with him who constantly spoke in ways to unsettle Nehemiah. But the latter was not affected. Though Tobiah was a constant pain in Nehemiah’s neck, he was not as successful in discouraging him as he would have wanted. In Christian service, the greatest joy is to know that when God is for us, no attempt can frustrate what He wants to do through us. Let’s take heart, trust the Lord and do what we can and leave Him to do what we cannot.