“So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.” – Nehemiah 4:6
Rebuilding the ruined walls of Jerusalem seemed like an impossible job for the tiny remnant of people living in the city. However, once God stirred up Nehemiah to lead the people in this effort, they worked with enthusiasm. Each person and family took responsibility for one small portion of the wall. Not the whole wall. One small portion. As the men and women of the area focused on their portion, the wall came together quickly. Rather than looking at the overall job and being overwhelmed, each man and woman involved just focused on doing their part. Almost overnight, the whole length of the wall came together and the wall was built up to half-height.
There’s a powerful lesson in this part of the story. What seems impossible to us often just requires everyone available to focus on their small part of the job rather than the whole job. Focus on your part and trust that others are doing the same for their part. This is a vital lesson for churches and Christians as we obey our Lord’s Great Commission to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey Jesus. This is an overwhelmingly, impossibly enormous task for any one person or church. But if every church were to focus on enthusiastically doing the part God has called them to do, the work would get done in a surprisingly short amount of time – perhaps even in our lifetime.
There is, however, another lesson going forward from this mid-point in the reconstruction. The people accomplished the first part of the task in the power of their enthusiasm. It was at then that the became difficult. Enthusiasm waned. They got tired. Opposition became intense. People became afraid and had to take more precautions. Many wanted to quit. However, Nehemiah made wise plans and encouraged them to trust God’s power and protection. The rest of the job was accomplished not through raw enthusiasm, but by discipline, determination, wisdom, and prayerful trust in the Lord. Remember this well as you serve the Lord. When your enthusiasm runs out, then it’s the time for discipline, determination, wisdom, and prayerful trust as you #FollowJesus