Have you ever started a project and felt like everything that could go wrong did go wrong? I used to work for a company that embroidered shirts with company logos on them. Oftentimes we would have jobs of 600 shirts or 1000 hats and our machines would be running flat out to get finished on time.
On other days, we would have several jobs of just a dozen or so pieces to do and plenty of time to meet the customer's deadline.
Guess which one usually caused us the most problems? That's right...the smaller jobs. Those were the jobs that were priced higher so that you made money off of cranking up the machines to run a few pieces. But so many times we would end up barely breaking even because the wrong logo was sewn in the wrong location or in the wrong color or a machine decided to eat shirts that day. By the time we had finished the job, we wished we had never taken it!
I don't know if we were just too laid back with smaller jobs and so made more mistakes or if the machine demons were just out to get us on those jobs, but it sometimes seemed that the harder we worked, the worse the situation became.
Nehemiah is facing a similar dilemma in chapter 4. He has already faced some opposition, but now that the wall building has started in earnest, the opposition has really raised its ugly head! Sanballat and Tobiah first tried to discourage the Israelites by laughing at them and ridiculing their work. But the Israelites pressed on and built the wall to half its height (verse 6).
So Sanballat and Tobiah stepped up their game. They plotted to come and fight Jerusalem, and threatened to kill them all (verse 11).
But Nehemiah did not cower to their threats. He prayed to God, stepped up the security, and encouraged the people. He said, "Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives, and your homes."
When the opposition heard this, they backed off again realizing that God was on the Israelites' side and had frustrated their plans (verse 15).
Where do you feel frustrated in the work God has asked you to do? Have you prayed about it, strengthened your efforts and sought encouragement from God's people? Nehemiah's leadership tells us that this plan works. So we have a choice...let the opposition keep on attacking us or turn to God and His people. Which plan will you try today?
- Holly Barrett
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