The Trowel And The Sword
Have you ever created something, only to have it destroyed? If you answered yes, you need the trowel and the sword. Today, we are going to read chapters 4 through 6. To bring you up to speed with the story, the walls that were built to protect Jerusalem the city, the church, and the people was destroyed. The city was destroyed. Nehemiah and a band of believers that were called to rebuild the wall...... really the city, GOD's city.
Starting in Chapter 4 Nehemiah starts to have opposition, then in chapter 5 Nehemiah has to take care of an internal problem that came in the way. Chapter 6, Nehemiah saw more resistance to building the wall, even a threat to his life (6:10), but, towards the end of the chapter they finish the wall in 52 days (6:15).
Bringing the Bible Alive
Throughout biblical times the sounding of the trumpet; or shofar, was used for signaling. In Nehemiah's case, if the shofar was blown, all the people would gather as one, for protection (4:18).
In biblical times people could not go into debt as we can today. They would sell their children into slavery to pay off their debt, hoping to redeem at a later time (5:1-19).
Nehemiah was a leader and business man, he was not a Levite or priest. It would have been wrong for him to go into the temple as he was told to do. He would be breaking a commandment of GOD (6:10)
Scripture
"Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. 18 And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me." - Nehemiah 4:17-18 ESV
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| Charles Spurgeon |
Thought For the Day
Charles Spurgeon wrote a book, The Sword and the Trowel. I am sure that you know what a sword looks like, but do you know what a trowel looks like? A trowel looks like a pointed spatula. It is a tool that is used while laying brick, it lays the cement between the bricks, it also smoothes and removes the extra cement...... it is used for building things.
So, maybe instead of calling this devotional The Trowel and the Sword, we could call it Build and Protect. Let's face it, life is work...... it is building things. Whether it is a family, business, friendship, church, marriage, savings account, retirement, you name it. your life is spent building things. Do you protect it?
If you are a Believer, you have an enemy! satan and his band of demons are REAL. They would love nothing more than to tear down ANYTHING that you have spent time building up. Nothing would bring them more joy then to see you discouraged, tired, hopeless, and ready to give up.
So, my question again, are you protecting what you are building? You might
ask, how can I protect what I am building. First, without getting spiritual, I believe you need to use common sense. Do you trust the people you are working with? Have you researched your project? Are you making an effort to work on your marriage day by day? If you are dating, are your goals the same?
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Second, is your spiritual life firmly planted in Jesus Christ? Are you in constant communication to Jesus all day long? Do you know your Bible? Remember when satan tried to destroy what Jesus was building? (His Church) satan tempted Jesus in the desert, how did Jesus respond? With Scripture!
I will leave you with a couple of closing thoughts that you can take today to think over. What are you building right now? Is it protected? What has GOD called you to build? How can I defend it? These two thoughts should go hand in hand. Please post your comments below.
Closing Prayer
Dear Jesus
Father of love, peace, grace, kindness and forgiveness, just to name a few, thank You for Your words and Your teachings. Father I pray that I can continue to grow in You. I pray that I can seek Your help and hear Your voice and be there for those around me. Please give me the strength Father to carry on through my day and protect what is dear to me. Help me to never be discouraged.
I love You and I pray in Your Name, Amen
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