BRAVE ON BEHALF OF OUR PEOPLE

After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” —Nehemiah 4:14

When they had begun to make real progress, the people’s work of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem caused resentment and opposition among nearby groups. Sympathizers warned them that they were likely to be attacked.

The building work was hard enough in itself, but these threats added extra difficulties, including the need for the builders to be armed as they went about their work. The building progressed slowly. As the leader of the project, it fell to Nehemiah to encourage the people in their work and in their defense of the re-established community.

He urged them to remember their great and awesome God, but he also pointed to their families, children, wives, and homes as a motive. There will be times in all of our lives when we are faced with defeats, threats, disappointments, and fear.

“When those times come, your obligation is to look toward others as witnesses of God’s goodness, to remember your responsibilities to care for others, and to remember that you are always a witness, whether you want to be or not.”* There are always people who need us to be brave, whether it is in helping them to grow their courage for the things they must do or in doing acts of service and support for them. Even when we are not feeling strong in our courage, we might be motivated to be brave on behalf of our families and friends.

* Alan Noble, On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2023), 35, 36.