“Our God will give us success, therefore, we will arise and build” (Neh. 2:20).

The last few years have been hard on churches. Some have closed their doors or had difficulty energizing members to attend, much less pour themselves into kingdom work. And yet, other churches have thrived. So what’s the difference? How do we hold onto Christ’s vision for the church, fostering the fervor and focus of the early church? Wouldn’t it be helpful to open our Bibles and find a practical strategy for God’s people to accomplish a great work together? What if the Bible featured a case study in building side by side for the Lord? Wouldn’t elders love to study the man God directed to lead? Wouldn’t we want to see how they overcame critics, division, unequal workloads, and threats—never stopping until they accomplished together in 52 days what none could dream of doing alone? God inspired and preserved such a case study for our learning (Rom. 15:4).

In 586 BC, Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. When Babylon fell, the Persians sent Babylon’s captives home. So, in 536 BC, Zerubbabel led the first colony back to Judah and rebuilt the temple. Years later, the city stood unprotected and dishonored, without walls or gates. Cities built walls to keep out armies, so the stones were enormous, bigger than people. Reconstruction would be daunting, but Nehemiah, the cupbearer to Persia’s King, took it on. The church is a community of builders in God’s epic construction project to build his body (Eph. 4:11-16). If we work the way Nehemiah and the Jews did, through God’s help, we will succeed.

Why Does Good Work Stop?

When Nehemiah introduced his building project, critics came out of the woodwork to oppose it. “So they strengthened their hands for the good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, ‘What is this thing that you are doing?’” (Neh. 2:18-19). We shouldn’t be surprised when the same happens to our work. When critics sow doubt, Christians refuse to help, people look to start fights, and complications pull us away from our work, what’s happening? If we could pull back the curtain, we would find Satan trying to frustrate God’s good work. If we think Satan will allow us to unite in productive work without a total onslaught, we are naive and underestimate our enemy. The more we work together, the more he wants to tear us apart. The more fruit we produce for the Lord, the more of a target we have on our backs. Without fail, churches that work and grow discover new problems. But we will “not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs” (2 Cor. 2:11).

So, how do we keep building when Satan tries to break us?

1. Keep Believing When Critics Plant Doubts — Satan will target our faith in our work’s importance & God’s power to accomplish it, but we will maintain our trust in the Lord (Neh. 2:19,4:2-3,6).

2. Keep Working When Brethren Refuse to Help — Like the Tekoites, we will find new places to contribute, unphased by those who choose not to join in (Neh. 3:5,27).

3. Keep Courage When People Just Want to Fight — At times, we’ll need to contend for the faith, and we will not run from a fight, nor will we go around looking for one. With the Sword of the Spirit in one hand, we will build with the other (Neh. 4:8-9, 13- 20, 23). 4) Keep Focused when Distractions Pull at Us — Our confidence that “we are doing a great work” keeps us on track when other demands tempt us to abandon our work (Neh. 6:2-16).

It Starts With Faith

When the enemies of the Jews threatened Nehemiah, he said, “Our God will give us success, therefore, we will arise and build” (Neh. 2:20). We don’t stop working because God promises success. In fact, like Nehemiah, we are motivated to “arise and build” because of God’s promise. We can not fail. Therefore, we boldly dive into our work. We won’t work like they did until we believe what they did. We can have confidence in our work because God fights for us (Neh. 4:14-15, 19-20). Our faith leads us to pray, knowing that prayer is the source of more support and strength than we can imagine (cf. Eph. 3:20).

We, Too, Will Work

“As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven” (Neh. 1:4). Nehemiah cared so much he wept, but he didn’t sulk. He acted, confident in God’s power to create change through him. Take a cue from Nehemiah, and recognize that you can do something to build up this church. How much do we care about God’s church and our work to save others?

Nehemiah didn’t come to town with a wide-eyed dream and a lot of talk. He came quietly and “told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem” (Neh. 2:12). A few days after arriving, he “inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down” (Neh. 2:13). After an honest appraisal, he made a plan. He enlisted all of the Jews in the project. We must give everyone a job (Neh. 3:1-32) because if I have nothing to do, I have no chance to contribute and no investment in the mission. God has work for you, too. Embrace hard work. Even if half of us have to hold spears while the other half carries on the job “from dawn until the stars appeared” (Neh. 4:21), we can do this together.