Tag: weak hands

4.a. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

Nehemiah 6:1  Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates), Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm. And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner. In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports you wish to become their king. And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.” Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.” For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands.

Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.” But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.” And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.

Isaiah 35:3-4    Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.  Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

Hebrews 12:12    Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,

Psalms 56:3    When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

Psalms 71:1    In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame!

Isaiah 41:10     fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

2 Corinthians 12:9   But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Ephesians 6:10     Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

Nehemiah faced obstacles and trials from enemies who despised the rebuilding of Jerusalem and everything it stood for.  They even paid bribes to prophets to speak untruthfully.  Having to be mindful of the attacks from others is not something we give much thought too.  We seldom give thought to the attacks of satan.   Nehemiah gave thought to what was being said and asked of him by these evil men.  He weighed it against what he knew from serving God with his whole heart, mind, and soul.  He made decisions based on this.  He took action or stayed firm based on this.  There is no substitute for Godly wisdom, courage, and strength.

I wonder if our problem is that when we face an obstacle or trial in our life we use our self-wisdom, self-courage, and self-strength rather than from and through God.   It is when we humbly come before God when we lack wisdom, are afraid, and powerless, is when our faith grows and matures.  When we have surrendered our heart, mind, and soul to Him we will begin to gain the understanding of denying self and all of its paths of self-reliance.  In Him alone will we find a peace that passes all understanding.  In Him alone will we find true strength that comes from our weakness and His power.  In Him alone will we find wisdom beyond the reasoning of man.

3.y. “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build”

Nehemiah 2:11  So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode. I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass. Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.

Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.” And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work.  But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.”

Lamentations 3:45-46   You have made us scum and garbage among the peoples.  “All our enemies open their mouths against us;

Lamentations 2:8-9   The LORD determined to lay in ruins the wall of the daughter of Zion; he stretched out the measuring line; he did not restrain his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to lament; they languished together.  Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has ruined and broken her bars; her king and princes are among the nations; the law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the LORD.

Psalms 89:50-51     Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations,  with which your enemies mock, O LORD, with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.

Isaiah 35:3-4    Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.  Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

Nehemiah went to Jerusalem sometime after he had sent Ezra and the first waves of exiles who had returned.  These first to return had been there long enough to have married foreign women and have a child.  Nehemiah came sometime after sending Ezra and the repentance and turning back to God of those first to come.  Imagine what was going through his mind all the time they had been gone and reports coming back to him about the falling away, the repentance and turning back, and the status of the ruin of Jerusalem.  He had to have had thoughts of thankfulness, hope, despair, and worry.  Think about it.  He had the heavy burden given to Him by God and he had seen the hand of God soften the heart of the king to allow them to return to Jerusalem only to have the people live in ways apart from God.

After he had been there 3 days, he went out at night to look over and observe the walls Jerusalem.  That next morning he told the people, officials, leaders, and priests “let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.”  Nehemiah told them how the Hand of God had led his heart and what the King had said in response.  The people listened and were encouraged and strengthened to consider and begin the work before them.  Then comes the jeers and mocking and threats and rebukes of those foreigners living near them.

When we have been led by the hand of God to do “a great work” and have seen His hand paving the way we have to be aware of the opposition and trials that may still be ahead.  Remember when God led Moses to speak to the Pharaoh, “let my people go” and sent signs and wonders 8 times to show the Israelites His power and leading, and to show Pharaoh the power of God.  When Pharaoh had finally consented and let the people go there had to have been joy and encouragement in the hearts and minds of the Israelites.  They had witnessed the power and leading of God.  Then what happens?  Pharaoh changes his mind and sends out his army with instruction to kill all of the Israelites.  Then when they are faced with the Red Sea before them and the Egyptian army approaching from behind them did they call on God and rely on the same power and might of His leading, no they did not.  God showed them once again His power and leading by parting the Red Sea and destroying the Egyptian army.  God did not stop there He showed them power and leading by providing water and food and proved over and over again His presence and leading by displaying Himself to them as a cloud by day and fire by night.  What did the people do?  They rejected His leading and wonder in the wilderness for 40 years until that disbelieving generation was no more.

We see something different in Nehemiah, don’t we?  We see a burdened, believing, and trusting heart willing to be led, strengthened and encouraged by what God has done and commissioned them to do.  We see commitment and determination in the face of what seems overwhelming.  We see a willingness to be led.  We see the courage to face the tasks and opposition.

Saying close to God does not mean we will not see opposition, trials, and troubles but it does allow us to rely on, trust in, and cling to Him and see His mighty hand at work.  Stand firm.  Remain firm. Keep your eyes on Him and those trials and troubles will fade away as His purpose and plans are carried out in ways that only He can do.

3.k. “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

Ezra 4:1  Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.” But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 6:9    For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands.

Isaiah 35:3-4    Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.  Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

Jeremiah 38:4   “for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.”

The people came together and first built the altar for sacrifice to God.  When this was completed they laid the foundation for the temple and people shouted with joy, though some wept, because of this great coming together with one purpose – to honor, glorify, and seek God in building His temple.  People of the land heard of this and acted as though they wanted to help build but after being rejected they were malicious in discouraging and frustrating the people.

Not much has changed with mankind.  We still see this happening, people with clear direction and leading from God are being criticized, challenged, and blasted from almost every angle.  We shouldn’t think this is an attack on us but an attack on God’s plans and purposes.  If we give any room to thoughts that these attacks are against us we will certainly become weary, afraid, confused, and without motivation.  However, if we see this as God’s plans and purposes being attacked we can take comfort, strength, and courage because the battle is His.  We know that He will always accomplish what He speaks and how He leads us in service to Him.

Keep your eyes on the task and do not become sidetracked by those in opposition.  God is in control.  No one can stop what God has put in place.  Remain strong, remain faithful, remain obedient.