02/05/2024 – Practical Lessons in Perseverance – Part 1
Nehemiah 4: 6 So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart. 7 But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. 8 They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. 9 But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. 10 Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”
God used Nehemiah to motivate the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. They began the work with great hope and enthusiasm. But something happened when they got to the halfway point. They realized that the higher you go, the greater the difficulties and challenges you will encounter. Things got much more difficult for them. They got tired; the work became more difficult. The first half of a building is a lot easier than the second half and the enemy became angrier.
We all know that is much easier to start something than it is to finish it. Many of us attempted to learn to play a musical instrument, read a book, complete a project. There are many purposes we have not completed in our lives. But there is a project that we must complete. There is a purpose we must fulfill, and it is the purpose of God for us. We must devote all our energy, pay whatever price, invest all our effort to complete the purpose of God in this life. God has a purpose for you. There are works that He has prepared for you to do. You must complete them whatever the cost.
Complete what you started for God. He is a God of fullness. He does not do anything halfway. He does not hire part time workers. Whatever you do for Him, you must do whole-heartedly, and you must bring it to completion!
It would have been better not to start than to leave God’s work incomplete. The Lord declares a better condition to be cold than to be lukewarm!
Luke 14: 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— 29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’?
Most difficulties do not appear at the start but show up after we have begun the work. We are naïve if we think we will not face difficulties in anything worth starting. There will be difficulties in school, at work, in marriage. There is a high price to be paid, but you have what it takes to finish. You have the Spirit of God, the word of God. You have the support of God. Do not lose heart.