Bible Study
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Reference: Nehemiah 4:6
Topic: “Get Your Head
in the Game”
The lesson aim is to show that there is always an action
associated with the “work” of God. More
importantly, the “work” has to become part of our everyday life. The “work” should not be segregated from our
personal lives, but integrated into our daily routines. Whatever work we’ve
been called to perform must have our full attention.
Nehemiah and the children of Israel were under attack from the
outside. Sanballat and Tobiah expressed
their anger and discontentment about the “work” that was being initiated in Jerusalem . The enemy will
always try to throw you off balance and disrupt your game plan. However, as offensive players in the game of
life we must learn to read the defense. The
art of the game is to keep the defense from preventing you from reaching the
goal. One of the most common tactics of
the opposition is to get into the mind of the players, thereby becoming a
distraction. Those who win the game are those that play the game with
excellence. Those who win in the spirit
realm are those that follow the instructions recorded in Psalms 37:5 and Proverbs
16:3. The term “commit” connects
our desires to God’s will.
I can appreciate the fact that the text does not focus on
the condition of the people’s hearts or minds prior to Nehemiah’s arrival. We know that the people were in “great
affliction and reproach”. According to
Hanani’s report, the people had lost their desire to rise above their circumstances. Nonetheless, something powerful takes place
between chapter 1 and chapter 4, “transformation”. During the transformation process, Nehemiah
conveys to all the people God’s plan for Jerusalem .
(Read: Nehemiah 2:12) Nehemiah’s
spirit became contagious.
Subsequently, Nehemiah
4:6 is a summarization of the people’s attitude toward the visible
enemy. Through deductive reasoning we
can conclude that our commitment to the “work” has to be from the heart. Otherwise, the enemy will work to create fear
in our hearts and cause the work to slow down or even cease. The heart is the control center for spiritual
maturity and the mind records and executes the protocol for spiritual
renewal. (Read: Psalms 51) The
people’s mind toward God had been restored and their confidence in God’s
ability had been rekindled. Thus, the “work” was a manifestation of their
commitment to the God-centered plan that Nehemiah presented.
References:
Psalms 110:3; II Corinthians 8:15-17; Philippians 2:13; Hebrews
13:21
