Nehemiah 4 sharing

Destructive thoughts/comments/limiting beliefs come up that keep us away from doing God’s works. Sometimes we are despised. But a lot of time, we despised ourselves.

What kind of thoughts/voices/limiting beliefs do we get from ourselves and others? Not so much different from what the Jews get from the Sanballat and other enemies.

1. What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify?
>> You are no good leader, how dare you take charge in this work? Will you do a good job?
2. Will they sacrifice?
>> You have tons of errands to run, will you have time to take charge in this work?
3. Will they make an end in a day?
>> A lot of the projects in church are “tiger-headed and snake-tailed” anyways, why shall we even start?
4. Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?
>> You have no resources, no financial bases, no experiences, will you make it?
5. Even that which they build, if a fox goes up, he shall even break down their stone wall.
>> With your limiting Bible knowledge, even a simple challenge from non-believers will knock you down.

I don’t know how close I made these parables. But my point is that when we face challenges like what the Jews are facing in rebuilding the walls, we react exactly like the Jews (4:10). We can easily find tons of excuses not to do what God wants us to do. Sometimes these voices come from others, sometimes these voices come within our hearts; sometimes those comments are valid, but a lot of time they are excuses or our personal limiting beliefs. We despised ourselves and trust what we see and feel over God’s power.

What did Nehemiah do on the contrary and what result did he get?
1. He prays to the Lord that the adversaries’ wrongdoing will not be covered because they provoked God to anger before the builders. Notice that Nehemiah’s focus is God’s feelings
(provoked God’s anger) and His images in front of God’s people (before the builders). He also cares about how the adversaries looked down the power of God. And with that in mind, he becomes stronger in his prayers.
2. He is more alert than ever, get prepared with swords and spears and bows and pray.
3. He trusts God and remembers His power.

The result is: The Jews work wholeheartedly AND stay alert with weapons for those against the Jews.

Next time when destructive thoughts /comments/limiting beliefs come up that keep us away from doing God’s works, remember that Nehemiah has set an example for us:-
The first thing we do is not to despise ourselves or get despised by others.
We shall make our prayer unto the Lord. (4:9)
We shall not be afraid and remember the Lord, who is great and greatly to be feared. (4:14)
We equip ourselves and work wholeheartedly. (4:16)
Then God will fight for us. (4:20) and God will make the enemies’ purpose come to nothing. (4:15)

God will use those adversaries to make us stronger and be more than who we are and what we want to be in His Kingdom.

Olivia