Nehemiah 3:1-32

When a task seems impossible to accomplish, there is really nothing else to do accept “dive in” and get to work at accomplishing the task that God has set before us.  Nehemiah had revealed to the people what the Lord had laid on his heart and how the king had not only approved of the project but had agreed to fund it.  That was all good news, but there was still a huge job that needed to be done.  Planning and preparation are important steps to the success of any task, but there comes a time when we must roll up our sleeves and get to work.

THE TASK REQUIRED COORDINATION: There was a clear organization that sent different groups of people to different places along the length of the wall.  Everyone assumed the responsibility of building the various sections of the wall as well as the different gates in the wall.  Someone had to coordinate who would go where and that seems to have been pulled off without a problem.  The work went forward in an organized fashion as each group focused on its particular part of the wall.  Too often in the Lord’s work today, we see a lack of this type of coordination between different churches.  We all desire to see the fame of Christ spread to the nations of the world and we are working towards that task, but there seems to be a lack of coordination between missions, churches and other agencies in accomplishing this task.

THE TASK REQUIRED COOPERATION: I find it interesting to see all of the variety of people who were involved in building the wall.  The priests, the gold workers, noble men and farmers were all working side by side to accomplish the task.  Position and power did not seem to matter, to anyone, they all were cooperating do get the same job done.  Too often we see competition between different groups instead of this kind of cooperation.  When there is a job to do, we all must be willing to jump in and get it done even if it is not exactly the area of our expertise.  We must never get to the point where we consider ourselves to be “above” a certain type of work such as manual labor.  Humility and hard work are necessary components to the accomplishment of any project.