Rise Up and Build Or Sit Down and Rot!

                Nehemiah, by God’s grace, came upon the scene at a time when Israel desperately needed his leadership. He proved himself to be a man who not only recognized the problems that existed, but was willing to seek the solution. Beyond this, Nehemiah was willing to spend himself to help effect the needed solution. Upon returning to Jerusalem, Nehemiah covertly inspected the crumbled remains of Jerusalem’s defenses. His heart had been deeply hurt by the news of the plight of his brethren. But now that he saw it first hand, he came to understand the urgency of the need. With the simplicity of message and words, he called upon his brethren to motivate themselves to action:

                “Then I said to them, ‘You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies in waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.’ And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. So they said, ‘Let us rise up and build.’ Then they set their hands to do this good work.”(Nehemiah 2:17-18)

                In less than 58 days, the walls had been rebuilt. This was an amazing feat. Surely, we can see the hand of God in their success. But, we need to see something else. God did not come to earth in a physical form to do their work for them. He supplied the encouragement, motivation, and protection. The people had to supply the will and the motivation. They succeeded because they were of a mind to work and rose to build. Israel could have seen the need and even known the solution, but if they were unwilling to move themselves nothing would have been accomplished. Without their willingness to rise up and build, the walls would have remained a crumbled mass of broken stone, and they would have continued to be the laughing stock of the region.

                The need to rise up and build is as great today as it has ever been. While we do not literal walls to build, we remain in need of defenses. The walls of our heart need to be founded deep in the Word of God. Will we rise up and build or sit down and rot? The foundation of our faith needs to be constantly strengthened. Unless it is built upon an unwavering confidence in and knowledge of the Word, our walls can easily be crumbled by our spiritual enemies. Strengthening one’s faith requires using it. Have you risen up to build or are you sitting on the sidelines waiting to rot?

                Within the Lord’s Church, there is much work to be done. There are weak that need to be strengthened, unfaithful that need to be rebuked, and the ignorant that need to be taught. Do we see the need? Do we see the solution? Are we willing to move ourselves? Will we rise up and build or sit down and rot? One basic difficulty in rising up to build is motivation. No one can motivate you, but yourself. Others can encourage, provide rewards, or threaten punishment, but ultimately, it is you who will decide what to do. Look around you – do you see things that need to be done? Then why not rise up and meet those needs? 

-- John A. Smith