During the reign of King Artaxerxes I, Nehemiah led the Jews to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Chapter 3 describes the people who undertook project Build the Wall. These were blue collar men, white collar men, and housewives. The people who built the wall were the faithful remnant of Israel.
Unfortunately, while they were undertaking this huge project, Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites conspired to fight against Jerusalem. I can't imagine the fear that these people must have felt. They're where God wants them and they're doing the job that has been commanded them. Then they find out that surrounding nations want to destroy their vision. Israeli history seems to repeat itself, doesn't it?
But then Nehemiah gives them this challenge. Fight. Remember that God is great and awesome. Fight for your families. Chapter 4 then describes how half of those in Jerusalem went into battle mode while the other half kept building the wall. But the builders "each wore his sword girded at his side as he built." These men where on a God-ordained mission and they weren't going to let outside threats get in the way of their calling. Verse 15 states that God ultimately frustrated the plans of their enemies so that the Jews could continue building the wall.
Sometimes I think that Christians look at the world and want to throw in the towel. The world is a disgusting place because of sin. We are constantly surrounded by people who want to thwart our calling. These people hate us and are not going to stop conspiring against us. But we've been given a God-ordained mission to carry the love of Jesus to the world. We've been called to live in the world and not of it. This means that we are going to have to be vigilant in carrying out our mission. We are going to have to wear our swords at our sides as we carry the love of Jesus. We can't stop fighting the good fight. We're most definitely outnumbered in our fight, but our God is great and awesome!
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