Vol.5, No. 33 – August 30, 2020
Effectively handling the Problems Life Brings — Nehemiah 6:15
So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. –Nehemiah 6:15
Contrary to the abundance of teaching, Nehemiah did not construct the whole wall. He reconstructed parts and repaired the balance. It is still a massive project, and completed in fifty-two days. The work completed by hand, it is 2.49 miles long, an average of 39.4 feet high, and an average of 8.2 feet thick.
The wall is for protection of the people living within and for protection against enemies of the nation coming in uninvited. Contrast that to the wall project on our southern border of our country. With all the modern equipment and labor, the wall is still not finished, three years into the present governing administration. Unlike the wall of Nehemiah’s day receiving negative “press” and active demonstrations and militaristic kinds of violence, and still complete, the wall on our southern border remains incomplete due to the negative actions of our own Sanballat Party.
The wall of Jerusalem is complete, finished in fifty-two days. Phenomenal. In God’s economy, finish lines are important.
- In six days the heavens and earth are successfully finished, along with all their contents (Genesis 2:1-2)
- After eight months, Moses finishes the work of the tabernacle and the glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle (Exodus 40:33)
- Solomon finishes the Temple in 7-1/2 years (1 Kings 6:14)
- Jesus says to His father, I have finished the work (John 17:3)
- Paul writes his “swan-song,” I have finished the course (2 Timothy 4:7)
Finishers are successful. All these, every one, are winners!
Nehemiah and his team enter the winner’s circle with their finishing of the wall project. We might ask how Nehemiah completes the wall in fifty-two days. There are some basics to get the checkered flag.
- There is unstrained selflessness
- There is strength in their unusual unity
- There is cohesiveness; a pulling together (they made their prayers and set a watch)
- There was an uncontrollable enthusiasm (the people had a mind to work)
- There was a quiet and steady plodding (day and night the team gave what they had)
The apex of the project success—the wall is finished!
I am determined never to stop until I have come to the end and achieved my purpose! –David Livingstone. He had a goal, and he pursued it to the end.
Life Application
A business executive, at the insistence of a New York publishing firm, received an invitation to write his autobiography while still alive. He absolutely refused a lucrative offer. He stated, “It is not how a [person] starts or even climbs the corporate ladder, but how does he finish? I see too many [people] “flack out!” coming down the home stretch. I want to finish well, then, you can write about it!”
It is easy to begin; it is much harder to finish well. An important contribution for finishing well is staying power; that is what so many people lack. If one starts a thing, the expectation is to finish that thing. Quitting makes a dead-end of any road traveled.
Whatever we start, we need to finish it. Once we are underway, regardless of hindrances, obstacles, and discouragements, finish well. Finish it well for the glory of God. It is the finish line that determines when your goal is complete.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. –1 Corinthians 9:24
Handling effectively the problems and opportunities, that life brings!
