“So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in
fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding
nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that
this work had been done with the help of our God” (Nehemiah 6:15-16).
Here’s the beauty of faith and the power of focus. In the
story of Nehemiah rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem we see that his
confidence in God is so deep that it requires few words. Nehemiah has many
reasons to turn from wall-building; many things to spend time pleading with God
about. Enemies threaten him. Insiders scheme and betray him. Nobles abuse their
own working class. Nehemiah has political and financial decisions to make and
500 mouths to feed at his own table.
A person of faith takes troubles to God in prayer. A person
of deep faith leaves them there and
goes back to work. So Nehemiah keeps his prayers short and pointed. In a few
words he drops all his worries and wishes with the God who has good ears and a
trustworthy heart.
Nehemiah doesn’t keep a list of prayer requests and the date
of their fulfillment. He’s not looking for proof
of God’s care; he fully believes God will do all that is needed… whenever He
chooses to. So Nehemiah simply implores, “Remember, O Lord,” and then he is
right back to wall-building. That’s the faith of confidence and trust.
While Nehemiah wished for his enemies to be silenced, he
wastes no time pleading with God for that. Instead he maintains focus and works
diligently trusting all eventualities to God. Now a scant 52 days later, the
wall is finished! Now the tables have turned and Nehemiah’s enemies are
intimidated. Nehemiah is avenged! His faith has allowed him to keep focus and
to keep working. God now uses his accomplishment to silence and intimidate the
enemies.
What a tight dance between our faith in God, our action in
this world, and God’s faithful follow through. Some would scoff and say, “You’re
an idiot. There was no God. Nehemiah did it all. It’s only natural consequence.
He kept working and the superstitious enemies were terrified by his speedy achievement.”
I can’t agree that this was all human and that God was not
needed. First, Nehemiah, needed God. He was clearly vexed by the various
impediments he faced. Without a God in whom to confide Nehemiah might have
taken one of three options: Spend time chasing the devil’s dogs, lose nerve and
go back to Babylon, or angrily push the completion of the project. He obviously
didn’t do the first two, and the outcomes show that he didn’t take the third
option, either. A willful person full of his own energy “twists the knife” once
he is successful: “Who can I now drag behind my chariot?” Instead, after the
wall is completed, Nehemiah turns his attention to defending the Name of God
through demanding respect for His law. God was definitely active in the story,
because He was active in the main character.
Second, the speed of completion could be, but isn’t
necessarily, attributable to Nehemiah’s single-mindedness. Something about the
52 days didn’t look like human achievement to the naysayers. We ought to be
just as clear-sighted as we assign credit.
And finally, without God’s influence, the enemies could just
as easily have set about to assassinate Nehemiah, undo the wall,
pillage the farmers outside the gates, etc. It was not just one or two lowlife
rabble-rousers that shut up; “all the surrounding nations… lost their confidence”
(6:16). That is the work of God in the hearts of the unrepentant.
So there’s the dance: Nehemiah’s confidence in God freed him
to stay focused on the work. God blessed and accelerated the resulting effort.
Then God used Nehemiah’s success to do what Nehemiah could not take time to do:
silence his enemies. It’s a divine game of billiards. Even when we see all the
balls, God helps us identify the critical one. We take the shot, and God remains active in the resulting movements.
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