March 27, 2020

BIBLE READING: Nehemiah 4:14-23

“And 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, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses. And 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.”
‭‭Nehemiah‬ ‭4:14-15‬ ‭‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

In the 21st century, we do a lot to protect ourselves, don’t we. We have home security systems, automatic car locks, guns, even antivirus and locks for our computers, and who would of thought, we can unlock our phones with finger print and facial recognition. We go to great lengths to protect and keep ourselves, family, and information safe, and we should! Nehemiah does two things to reassure the people as they are working on the wall. First, he directs the people to God and their purpose, then has them set up protection in case of intruders. This was not out of worry, but out of awareness. We know there are those out there that strongly disagree with us and work against us, but, most importantly, we know there is a spiritual enemy as well. We could be fearful and be controlled by worry, but you do not have to be. These builders had full confidence in the Lord consequently because they were prepared for opposition, and the fear did not over take them. It is easy to focus on the problem, but God wants us to prepare ourselves spiritually for the battle. While there is a lot of focus on physical protection, how are we preparing spiritually? Not just reading, but using God’s Word as our protection, and trusting in God.

David Fulp II