Nehemiah and the people of Judah had a huge task before them as they tried to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The rebuilding itself was difficult enough, but they also had opposition from the foreign people around them. As a result, the builders grew discouraged. When the enemies of God’s work begin to come against the people of God, the result is always discouragement. It was true in Nehemiah’s day and it is still true today.<\/p>\n
Discouragement is a normal part of being a member of the human race living on a fallen planet. Fatigue is a major cause of discouragement and must be guarded against by simply getting adequate rest, eating well, and getting enough exercise. But discouragement is also a weapon the enemy constantly uses against us. It is a highly contagious condition that easily spills over onto those around us. At first we often fail to see the connection between discouragement and the enemy, and so we struggle needlessly for a long period of time before we finally turn and deal with it. Prayer, Bible study, and fellowship are needed to overcome this discouragement and refresh our souls and spirits.<\/p>\n
There is an old fable of a man who challenged another man to an all-day wood-chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had. “I don’t get it,” he said. “Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did.” “But what you didn’t notice,” said the winning woodsman, “was that when I sat down to rest, I was sharpening my ax.” We need to spend time daily in Scripture so that the sword of the Spirit<\/em> in our lives is sharp as well.<\/p>\n “LORD, please keep us sharp and refreshed today as we walk with You.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nehemiah 4 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?\u00a0\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0Now Tobiah the Ammonite\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity:\u00a0\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked\u00a0thee\u00a0<\/em>to anger before the builders.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work. 7<\/sup> But it came to pass,\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth,\u00a0\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0And conspired all of them together to come\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.\u00a0\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and\u00a0there is\u00a0<\/em>much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times, From all places whence ye shall return unto us\u00a0they will be upon you<\/em>.\u00a0 13<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.\u00a0\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord,\u00a0which is\u00a0<\/em>great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work. 16<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass from that time forth,\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons; and the rulers\u00a0were\u00a0<\/em>behind all the house of Judah.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded,\u00a0every one\u00a0<\/em>with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other\u00a0hand\u00a0<\/em>held a weapon.\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and\u00a0so<\/em>builded. And he that sounded the trumpet\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>by me.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The work\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another.\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0In what place\u00a0therefore\u00a0<\/em>ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us.\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared.\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on the day.\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes,\u00a0saving that\u00a0<\/em>every one put them off for washing.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nehemiah and the people of Judah had a huge task before them as they tried to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The rebuilding itself was difficult enough, but they also had opposition from the foreign people around them. As a result, the builders grew discouraged. When the enemies of God’s work begin to come against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7381"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16406,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7381\/revisions\/16406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}