So Built We the Wall Neh. 4: 6 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
Nehemiah said, So built we the wall. Rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem was a great feat. The Jews had to contend with Sanballat and Tobiah [Neh 2:19] and the men they gathered to hinder the work [Neh 4:7-8]. They had to work with a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other [Neh 4:17]. They had to deal with an abundance of rubbish in the way [Neh 4:10]. And yet they rebuilt the entire wall in just 52 days [Neh 6:15]! How did they build that wall that fast under those adverse circumstances?
They Put Their Mind To It – Neh 4:6 – they had a mind to work – Rom 7:25 Paul fought well against sin because with his mind he served the law of God – someone asked John Wannamaker how he could keep up with his Sunday school of 400 students when he had the business of his stores, his responsibility as Postmaster General and other obligations to manage. He replied, “The Sunday school is my business – all these other things are just things – 50 years ago I decided that God’s promise was sure, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.’”
They Put Their Heart To it – Neh 2:12 – God put something into Nehemiah’s heart concerning the rebuilding of that wall that went way beyond just thinking about it – in 1 Chr 29:9 they offered willingly with a perfect heart in the days of David so that Solomon could build the Temple – you are going to do what is in your heart!
They Put Their Knees To It – Neh 4:4-5, 9, 14-15 – they left nothing to chance and to their own power; they took their requests before the Lord so that he would prosper their work – they received divine protection, provision and guidance – Ben Franklin said, “Work as if you were to live a hundred years; pray as if you were to die tomorrow.”
They Put Their Hands To It – Neh 4:16-18, 21; Neh 6:9 – they didn’t just sit around and wait on God; they got busy and did something about it – even a mosquito doesn’t get a slap on the back until he starts working – they laboured in the work [Neh 3] – strive always to be like a good watch, open face, busy hands, pure gold, well-regulated, full of good works.
They Put Their Feet To It – Neh 6:1-4 – they didn’t stray into distractions away from the work but kept at what the Lord had prepared for them – one morning Farmer Brown told his wife he was going to plow. He got off to an early start sine he had to oil the tractor. Since he didn’t have enough oil he had to drive to the store. On the way he noticed the pigs hadn’t been fed. At the corn crib the empty sacks reminded him that the potatoes were sprouting. On his way to the potato shed he passed the woodpile and remembered that his wife needed wood. By the time the sun went down the frustrated farmer hadn’t even oiled the tractor, much less plowed the field – the first question D.L. Moody asked a convert of his that he had met 14 years after his conversion was “What have you been doing since your conversion?”
My dishes went unwashed today, I didn’t make the bed, I took God’s hand and followed Him to Sunday school instead. O yes, we went adventuring, my young people and I, explaining in the Bible, the truths none can deny. That my house was neglected, that I didn’t sweep the stair, in twenty years no one on earth, will know or even care. But that I’ve helped a girl or boy, in Christian witness grow, in twenty years the whole wide world may look and see and know.
Conclusion: The obvious thing, even to the Jews’ enemies, is that this work was wrought of God [Neh 6:16]. No one will ever see that God has wrought a great work amongst us and them if we don’t put our minds, hearts, knees, hands and feet to that work God has for us to do. And we definitely want the world to know that God has wrought a great work.