It was a worthy task because it was God’s task.
In chapter three we see that most of their work was that of “repair”. The word is used 35 times in this chapter alone. However, this was not the kind of repair we might normally think of. The word for “repairs” is the Hebrew word chazaq. It has the idea of strengthening, encouraging, of making something strong. These are principles that have application to far more than material gates and walls.
These are the benefits of team. When the sum is greater than the whole. Strengthening, encouraging, and accomplishing something together we never could have done as individuals.
“The Fish Gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hassenaah. They laid its beams and put its doors and bolts and bars in place. Meremoth son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired the next section. Next to him Meshullam son of Berekiah, the son of Meshezabel, made repairs, and next to him Zadok son of Baana also made repairs. The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.” – Nehemiah 3:3-5
But not everyone pitched in. It’s interesting to me that it was the “nobles” who failed to be a part of the team. Shows you what pride and position can do to us. Maybe they thought they had a better plan, maybe they didn’t like how Nehemiah was doing it. Whatever their reason, I bet they regretted it later. They stand in infamy as the only people mentioned in this chapter who did not join in the work.
I wonder how their leadership suffered as a result. Also makes me wonder what part of the big picture I’m not “putting my shoulder to” that I should be.
Posts
Team work is a tricky thing. When we throw our lives into something we do not want to see it fail. That statement in itself is not a very smart one. How can something "fail" when it is of God? Why should be involved in something that is not of God in the first place? Anyway, to build something up, I have learned, that you can not do it on your own. If you try to do it on your own, you will have growth but it will be stunted growth. You have to have people around you working together. That is the hard part. When you are leading something it is your all and all. You have God, your family, then what you are working on. Your passion may not be the passion of others on the team. They may like what you are doing and they may even work hard but, they will not work as hard as you because it is not their "life work". The trick is to totally trust God to bring together your team and then to let go of the project and hand it over to the team. You can and for sure should be a HUGE part of the team but, you can not be the entire team.
ReplyDeleteMichael, I like what you wrote about not wanting to see something fail as not being a very smart statement. I Agree so much with you. While we talk about it all the time, failure is often determined by how we measure success. there in lies the problem for most of us. We simply struggle with measuring successes as man might measure instead of how God WILL measure.
ReplyDeleteThere are many "walls" in my life I feel God wants to be built (or torn down). The interesting thing to me is when it seems like a wall to be built, but instead it's the lesson to be learned while building. The wall may never be finished, but the lesson is learned. While I might consider that a failure, God certainly would not look at it like that (unless of course I never get the point of the journey).
I think about a handful of my church planting friends. There is a pretty high percentage of plants that simply do not "make it". Meaning maybe after a year or two of trying, they throw in the towel. some may call that a failure. The planters themselves might too. but as long as they were responding to God's calling when they planted, they can rest assure that there was victory in their obedience. All along the way you will see lives changed, perspectives changed, faith grown, and other spiritual fruit. Even if just one person came to Christ through the experience... would that be a failure? Ask that one person. Better yet, ask God.
The cool thing is, if we are trusting and following God, victory has many faces.