Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me, as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work. Nehemiah 2:18
The words in our text ‘Let us rise up and build’ have become the watchword for many great projects for God during the past centuries. They speak of a willingness to launch forth with great enthusiasm into the work despite the odds. Someone has well said that when the Lord’s people say let us rise up and build, the devil says let us rise up and oppose. No good work for God has ever gone unopposed by the devil. And yet, it takes a commitment to launch forth in order to achieve anything worthwhile, and these words are an expression of such a commitment. But we should note carefully who said these words. They were not said by Nehemiah, who had travelled a huge distance for this very purpose. He had presented the people with the pitiful situation they were in, and had pointed out the great need for the gates and walls to be rebuilt. But it was the people who had responded in such a positive way as they heard of Nehemiah’s desire and of the support he had received from God and from the king. And they are to be commended for their response.
The call to rise up is a call to change what we are doing now. In our comfortable and affluent western society, we can very easily sit back and relax instead of getting involved. We can also ignore or downplay the greatness of the need, and try to justify our lack of involvement. We can be so taken up with our own agendas and projects that we have very little time or energy to put into doing anything for God. When it comes to doing something for God, we are all for it, as long as somebody else does it, or as long as it doesn’t cost us much effort or money. We need to rise up before we can move forward.
The people agreed to build. Both as individuals and as a company, they recognized the job that had to be done, and they threw themselves into the harness, just as we need to do. Building is hard work. It is far easier to tear something down than to build. Very little skill is needed for destroying things, but a builder needs to have good equipment and good skills. As Christian builders, we need to have a firm grasp of the Word of God. We also need to have a solid knowledge of the principles of Scripture, on the great doctrines of the faith, of the truths of God’s pattern for the gathering of His people. Without these, we won’t be able to build very well nor accomplish anything worthwhile. Builders are the energetic folk, the optimists, the people with vision to set in place those things that will serve the Lord’s people today and into the future.
Today’s text is very encouraging. Let us use it as a prompt for us to rise up and build for our Lord. -Jim MacIntosh