Strengthen Our Hands!

Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: "Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono." But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you...They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed. But I prayed, now strengthen my hands.” (Nehemiah 6:2, 9)

Let’s take a look at these verses and what they might mean for 21st century Christians.  First, here’s a bit of context.  Nehemiah the Israelite was a servant of the King of Persia, who at that time ruled over Israel.  Learning that the walls of Jerusalem were collapsed, Nehemiah asked for, and received, permission to take charge of rebuilding the walls and making the people safe from attack.

By this point in the story, Nehemiah's work was almost completed, and his enemies were getting disturbed.  They tried to distract him from his work with offers and invitations.  But Nehemiah knew when people were trying to trick him.  His enemies tried again and again to stop the work of rebuilding God’s city.  They even sent Nehemiah a false message about a rumor of rebellion against the king, hoping he would fall for it.  And when Nehemiah refused their requests they changed tactics, attempting to discourage the workers by telling them the job was too difficult and would never be finished.

Some commentators suggest that they were trying to trick him into leaving Jerusalem, where he had armed support, to come to a conference where they could ambush him and perhaps kill him. Nehemiah evidently senses this.  But he ignored them, and instead called upon God to strengthen him and bless his work.

Can you see how this might have application for today?

You, too, may experience continuing pressure to change your mind and go along with something that does not seem right.  Many have fallen because they gave in to repeated pressure.  But Nehemiah persists in his refusal.  Here is his reason, “I am doing a great work, he says.  God has committed an incredible project to me, and if I leave, it will be threatened.”

One of the most helpful things that we can do to resist temptation is to remember that God has called us to a great task and to keep focused on that calling.  This is true of every believer in Christ.  I do not care how young or how old you are in the Lord, you are called to a tremendous work today.  That task is to model a different lifestyle so that those who are being ruined by sinful practices will see something that offers them hope and deliverance.  If they see in you peace in the middle of confusion, an invisible support that keeps you steady under pressure, they will learn that there is another way to live than the destructive way they have chosen.

How would our lives be different if instead, every time we faced distraction or discouragement, we prayed, “Oh Lord, strengthen my hands!” This is no time to lay down our tools.  

Strengthen our hands, Lord! 

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