Facing the Giants – Part II

One of my heroes of the faith is Nehemiah – a humble man, a praying man, but also a very smart man. Nehemiah believed God would hear and answer his prayers and scripture records that as he sought to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem that he sought God, and went fearlessly forward. Even though he was in captivity,he lived a good life as the king’s cupbearer, but having heard of the trouble his people were having, Nehemiah got permission from the king to rebuild the walls surrounding Jerusalem.

Once the people began the re-building, Nehemiah was taunted and threatened by Sanballat a Samaritan, and Tobiah, an Ammonite, who both felt that their intimidation would make Nehemiah cease working:

“[And Nehemiah prayed] Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their taunts upon their own heads, and give them for a prey in a land of their captivity.
Cover not their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have vexed [with alarm] the builders and provoked You.
So we built the wall, and all [of it] was joined together to half its height, for the people had a heart and mind to work.” Nehemiah 4:4-6 (AMP)

Nehemiah not only prayed a prayer of faith – he stood up to the bullies who threatened him and that courage was contagious, for vs 6b says: “for the people had a heart and mind to work.” I love it! When people grab hold of faith, and work together – nothing is impossible (remember the Tower of Babel?). Were his troubles over?

“But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabians, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were going up and that the breaches were being closed, they were very angry.
And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem, to injure and cause confusion and failure in it.” Nehemiah 4: 7 & 8 (AMP)

When there is a made up mind – that does not mean that everything will fall in line – but Nehemiah gave us a glimpse into what can happen when we continue in prayer:

“But because of them we made our prayer to our God and set a watch against them day and night.” Nehemiah 4: 9 (AMP)

The story is fascinating to me, because what Nehemiah did was to assign half the builders to completing the wall, while the other half kept armed watch – and even those who were building, had a sword on their side! And Nehemiah said:

“I looked [them over] and rose up and said to the nobles and officials and the other people, Do not be afraid of the enemy; [earnestly] remember the Lord and imprint Him [on your minds], great and terrible, and [take from Him courage to] fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.” Nehemiah 4: 14 (AMP)

Nehemiah would not be defeated – and the people grabbed hold of this determination and:

“During this time, none of us—not I, nor my relatives, nor my servants, nor the guards who were with me—ever took off our clothes. We carried our weapons with us at all times, even when we went for water.”

Nehemiah and the builders kept one eye on building the wall and one eye on watching the enemy – they kept one hand on the wall, and one hand on the spear at their side!

The message is the same for us today! We must fight – we must face our giants – we must pray to the God of our salvation and we must join together in unity against the real enemy – the devil – and we must develop a mind to fight for our sons and our daughters, our husbands and our wives!

God Bless You,
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