Nehemiah 6:1-9 – Praying For Strength

Don’t you hate it when you are tying to do something and stuff just seems to get in the way? Seems like whenever I sit down to write or do something I think that’s important something always pops up and tries to pull me away from the task at hand. When that happens it can be hard to stay on task can’t it? Today, I want to tell you about another guy from the bible that was having obstacles thrown in his way when trying to get a job done. We are going to look at Nehemiah Here was a man that was tasked with a huge job to accomplish. He was asked to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. He was not an architect, he was a politician. He had nothing in his background to suggest that he was the best guy for this but he had faith so he went to do the job. When the people around him heard what he was trying to do they mocked him (Nehemiah 4:1-3). When they saw him making progress they sent messengers to distract him with requests to sit down and talk. When he would not meet and talk with them they sent threats and tried to run him off. Nehemiah knew though that he had a task to accomplish. One that God had put on him. He kept his focus and stayed on the task at hand. All that is impressive but verse 9 is the one that I like the most. What did Nehemiah do when faced with all the challenges? Did he run? Did he give up? Did he give in to the distractions? No, he prayed. Not for vengeance or anything against the folks that were trying to get him off the task but he asked for strength to get the job done. How many of us would have that kind of mind? I would have asked for a bull dozer, a crew of 100, and some air conditioning probably. He could have asked for anything from God, but all he wanted was strength to do what God had asked him to do. What are you asking for in your life? Are you asking for understanding of what God wants you to do and strength to do it with? Or are you asking for the desires of your heart? Are you asking for discipline and focus in order to do what God needs you to do? Or are you asking Him for the easy way out? Nehemiah let nothing come between him and the task that he was called to do. I would pray that we all would ask for that same kind of focus in our own life when it comes to doing God’s will.