Corona Devo 1149

In @400 B.C. the Israelites were rebuilding their wall around Jerusalem.  Everyone was pitching in, and they were making great progress, which some people didn't like.  

As we work steadily, consistently, progressively for God, some people won't like what we are doing for His glory.  And they will have something to say about it.  But God will also have something to say about it.  And God will have the final say.  

When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, (2) and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?” 

(3) Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”  

(4) Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. (5) Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders. 

(6) So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.  

(7) But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. (8) They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. (9) But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat...

(13) Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. (14) After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”  

(15) When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.  ~Nehemiah 4:1-9, 13-15

~~~

Return to it today, Friends--your section of the wall: each to our own work.

It's just leading Bible study.  It's just attending Bible study.  It's just a recovery meeting once a week.  It's just helping out that neighbor.  It's just prioritizing family suppers and conversation within them about our days and Jesus in our days.  It's just doing-what-we-do-at-work fueled by God's call on our lives.  It's just being a friend to the person that doesn't have any.  It's just investing time and love into our grandkids or someone else's.  It's just deciding to live-for-Christ when the life we have barely feels like living.  It's just raising the special needs child.  It's just managing others, but with a Kingdom-foundation behind our leadership skills.  It's just forgiving.  It's just waking up early to begin our day in God's Word.  It's just praying with someone who needs it.  It's just going to church.  It's just choosing to do the right thing.  It's just turning the other cheek, when called to.  It's just standing up for God, when called to.  It's just investing in the next generation.  It's just investing in the older generation.  It's just voting for the candidates who stand for Godly principles.  It's just volunteering.  It's just coaching.  It's just remembering the birthday/deathday/anniversary.  It's just listening with our ears and our heart.  It's just caring about what we do each day, who we interact with, and Who we serve through all of it.  It's just choosing to bloom where we are planted even when we might choose to be planted elsewhere.  It's just assuming that the other person is doing their best, too.  It's just following Jesus today the best that we can. 

When we look at all of these ideas, all of these efforts, all of these people serving God in one way or another, as God has directed them--it sort of looks like a bunch of little words all compounded together, arranged tightly, building up something solid...forming a wall.

And that's what we are.  Individuals, yes.  Standing together in the name of God and serving Him (collectively) daily, also yes.  Together, we form a solid wall of Believers for God.

Are we feeble?  Yes.

But are we restoring the wall of God?  Yes.

Are we (doing our best today) offering sacrifices to God and of ourselves?  Yes.

Will we finish in a day?  No.  

Will we keep building, just as the generations-in-Jesus before us have?  Yes.  

Will we keep building for God today?  YES!

Can we bring people/their hearts/brokenness/hurts/hopelessness/hollowness/untruth back to life from... heaps of rubble—burned as they are?  No.  But God can.  

Can God bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?

YES!  And He is.  

So, when others look at us, jeer at us, sneer at us, bully and smear us, saying: “What are those feeble (Jews) doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?” 

Keep doing what you are doing for the Lord and in the Lord's Name today.  Let Him fight our battles for us, and He will.  We need only to keep tending to this day's work. 

When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.  ~Nehemiah 4:15

Lord, may our enemies HEAR that we are aware of their plot and that YOU HAVE FRUSTRATED IT.   You are our Protector and the Victor, Lord.  May we trust in You and thus, may we all return to the wall, each to our own work today.  Amen.

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com