A Willing People Get the Wall Halfway Up
Nehemiah 4:6; Exodus 35:21, 29
Our God is a God who does great things! He is all-wise, all-powerful. And yet, when our God does these great things, He works in and through people.
In the story of Scripture, we don’t hear about God reaching a giant hand out of the sky to move things around the way He wants them, or exclusively working through the prestigious and powerful. Instead, He works in and through ordinary people like you and me.
Now, God is able to bring about His purposes through anyone. But He delights when ordinary people willingly and faithfully participate in His purposes. God could have done this Himself, but He chose to work through people. This account from Nehemiah specifies that “we” built the wall. This was a community project that people joined together to do. Folks would have different responsibilities; they’d play different parts, but they worked together to see the job done.
As they worked together, the wall got half built very rapidly, and it’s said to be because the people had a mind to work! They wanted to do something that God was behind, and then they did it! Their hearts were willing and their hands were able, so they set themselves to do what God had laid on their hearts. They didn’t know all that this would entail, but they trusted God with the details by putting their heads down and working.
The people had waited and prayed, and then the time came to work. Building a wall was no small thing. It was a momentous task! It would be challenging and difficult work. In this verse we see that there is still more to do—it’s only half done! God’s people had accomplished so much; they’d done incredible things when they were faithful to Him.
That same God still accomplishes incredible things today. He seeks to work His will in your life and my life. Perhaps the task is challenging or intimidating. There could very well be opposition and difficulty.
What does it look like for us to have a mind to work in God’s purposes? It doesn’t always look dramatic or as impressive as a wall being built! Faithful participation in God’s purposes often happens in regular places, through ordinary acts of obedience.
Sometimes God’s purposes are accomplished through the gifts and abilities He has given us. Sometimes they are accomplished through simple faithfulness in things that seem remarkably ordinary. God’s works can be enormously impressive—like starting a new church, providing drinking water for a community without any, or providing for a family in need when they have nothing. God’s works can also be quiet and intimate, like patiently loving your child, sitting with someone who is hurting, or sharing forgiveness with someone who has wronged you.
God is a God who accomplishes His purposes through ordinary people as they faithfully submit to Him, and He is seeking to do that in you.
Question to Consider
Where is God calling me to faithfully participate in His purposes?
