Tuesday; May 3

When the Jews returned from Babylonian Captivity, they had a lot of work to do. In addition to the damage done in the occupation, the great city had been unoccupied and idle which intensified the deterioration. By the time of the return the temple was in disarray and the walls of the city were ineffective. Repairing the walls became a focus of a guy by the name of Nehemiah who led the occupants in the rebuilding. Unfortunately, not only did they have to be involved in heavy construction, they also had to endure the criticism of their enemies. The adversarial leaders could be heard saying, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones?” (Nehemiah 4:2). Fortunately, Nehemiah had the heart of a leader. He prayed for God’s deliverance and it took it one step further by keeping the people focused on the work they had to do. Nehemiah reflected on the accomplishment by observing, “So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.” (Nehemiah 4:6).

I can see a parallel in God’s people in today society. In addition to having difficult tasks, we are surrounded by naysayers and critics. Those who can’t defeat our efforts will resort to belittling our work. While it is tempting to let them get us down, we have to take a page of Nehemiah’s playbook. First, we need to seek God’s strength, then we need to stay focused on the task ahead of us. Our work can overcome their words.

Are we finding ourselves losing steam in today’s environment? Let’s keep our focus and celebrate the success of our work.

Think About It!

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