“But we prayed to our God and because of them, we set up a guard against them day and night…then I stationed men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places…” (Nehemiah 4:9,13)
One of my favorite people in the Bible is Nehemiah. If I had to come up with a word that describes his life it would be: Strategic. He was a man of strategy in his warfare, in his leadership, in his prayer, and in his walk with God.
A little bit of context for ya: Israel had been attacked, and many of the citizens had been taken captive. While he was in Susa serving the King, Nehemiah gets news of the status of Jerusalem. His grief for his exiled people and the destruction of their capital was overwhelming and the King noticed. When The King asked what was wrong and what he could do to help, Nehemiah’s first reaction was to pray for direction. (2:4b) He then asked for permission to go back to Jerusalem and lead his people in repairing the walls that would defend their city. And so around 445 BC, Nehemiah returned to do just that.
“When Saballat…and Tobiah…heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel.”
Nehemiah 2:10
Shocker, the enemy doesn’t usually like to see us successful, happy and secure in our calling, identity, and purpose.
God begins to give Nehemiah ideas in his mind of what to do thanks to the intentionality Nehemiah had placed on depending on God’s direction through prayer. Often we aren’t listening or asking, but when we do, God is faithful to provide strategies – a plan of action for how to achieve what He has called you to do. (Side note: also pretty sure the Ark would have turned out differently if Noah tried to design it himself…)
That’s not to say it will be easy breezy to do, however. It definitely got rough really quick for Nehemiah.
“But when Sanballat and Tobiah heard it, they mocked us and despised us and said, “What is this thing you are doing?” (2:19)
And then comes the clap back:
“The God of Heaven will give us success; therefore we, His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem.”
Nehemiah 2:10
So the work begins, (even the girls, see 3:12) with everyone working on the section of the wall in front of their house; and along comes more mocking (4:1-3) Nehemiah describes the attacks of the enemy as “demoralizing” which is defined as “having lost confidence or hope, disheartened. to lose hope, courage or confidence, to weaken the morale: the enthusiasm, discipline, the self-esteem of a person or group”
Ever been there? I have.
This is the strategy of the enemy. He will come at you and try to get you to doubt or question yourself or God just like Sanballat and Tobiah did to Israel in Nehemiah 4:1-4
“What are these feeble Jews doing?… Are they going to restore it for themselves?… Can they finish in a day?… Even what they are building – if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!”
Sound familiar? “Can you really do it? Did God really say? Is it really making a difference? It won’t really matter…etc…”
BUT:
“But we prayed to our God and because of them, we set up a guard against them day and night…then I stationed men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places…”
Nehemiah 4:9,13
Strategy.
Where do you need a little strategic improvement in your life?
- How’s your prayer life?
- What are the low/exposed places in your wall?
- Who is your team? Who do you have helping you guard the low places?
Life isn’t easy, but we were never meant to do it alone.
“Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome…Our God will fight for us.” (Nehemiah 4:14, 20)
“Be on the alert, your adversary the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, but resist him, firm in your faith.”
1 Peter 5:8-9a
WOW ALL THESE QUESTIONS ARE BIG PIN POINTS FOR ME AMDND THIS VERSE IS SO STRONG DEFINITELY TAKING NOTES AND THINKING! 😊😍 THANK YOU FOR KEEPIMG ME REMINDED OF THE DEVILS TRICKS HES ALWAYS DOING PUSHUPS IN THE PARKING LOT AND WE HAVE TO BE PREPARED
So proud of you sis! You got this! Plus I’ll help guard your wall so I’ll be right here!
Excellent devotion Alicia. Comes at the right time as many of us are getting ready to plan our summer events, preparing for college, or new changes in our lives. Thank-you for the reminder to 1) Pray first 2) Guard our thought life and our hearts 3)Ask for prayer support! I love this! Thank-you for your insight, you have a wonderful gift being a biblical scholar, very encouraging.
Thank you Ruthie! Just one more step to staying Gospel Fluent in the every day stuff of life! 😁💪🏼❤️
I enjoy spending time in prayer throughout the day. Finding quiet to really listen is challenging, but the shower seems to be my place with very few interruptions, so that’s where God meets me most often. Weak places, I can identify the physical as a weakness and I am working on my strength and resiliency with intention. Is it possible for our relationship with our children to be a weak spot??? My husband is my most important teammate, but I have amazing sisters in Christ who are my defenders and I am there’s!
Lol so you have a prayer shower instead of a prayer closet? 😂😉 You are doing amazing my inspiring friend! And I love standing at your wall with you! Keep on keeping on! Eyes on Jesus! ⚔️🛡️
I just added this feed to my bookmarks. I enjoy reading your posts. Thank you!
I would like to thank you for the endeavors you have made in writing this piece of writing. I am trusting the same best work from you in the future as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to start my own blog now. Actually the blogging is spreading its wings rapidly. Your write up is a fine representative of it.
This is a wonderful news to get bloggers. It opens entry to a large spectrum of those people who are finding a location to style their issues. With ones theme, I can gain your visibility I am having at present. Thanks for this purpose informative publish, I learned lots!Have you considered promoting your blog? add it to SEO Directory right now 🙂 http://www.links.m106.com
It is the best time to make some plans for the future and its time to be happy I have read this submit and if I may just I desire to counsel you some fascinating issues or advice Maybe you can write subsequent articles relating to this article I want to read even more things about it!
Fairly insightful submit. Never thought that it was this simple after all. I had spent a beneficial deal of my time looking for someone to explain this topic clearly and you’re the only one that ever did that. Kudos to you! Keep it up
We like your post, the point that your web site is definitely a tiny bit diverse makes it so fascinating, I actually get fed up of seeing the same outdated tedious recycled stuff almost all of the time.
Sometimes seeing another person’s point of light enlighten my very own vision. I’m not going to going to say what everybody else has already stated, however i must say, I cant believe how a lot of this I just wasnt aware of .Thanks for publishing more info to this matter for us.
I just signed up to your blogs rss feed. Will you post more on this subject?
Well I really liked reading it. This post provided by you is very helpful for correct planning.
If you really want you can look the other way and not talk about it. The real truth comes with being honest with yourself and your goals. Generally this will lead to a mistaken and unproductive life.
Really appreciate you sharing this blog.Really looking forward to read more. Great.