But while he thus spoke with the full assurance of confiding faith, he was not led by that faith to negligence. True faith never leads to negligence. It always stimulates exertion and rouses men to hopeful energy. So it did in the case of Nehemiah, for the same verse which contains the assurance contains also the spirit of active preparation. We will study the conduct of Nehemiah as furnishing an illustration of the union of faith and effort, examining first his effort, then his faith.
I. The Effort made.
It was made under very discouraging circumstances. The city was in ruins, the walls were in heaps, and there were only a few restored captives to labour for their restoration. Now, in what spirit did these feeble Jews rise to their work?
(1) They all worked together.
There was just such an united and harmonious action as we long to witness in the Church of God. It is an old proverb that “union is strength.” In this case the whole wall was portioned out and all classes united. First came the High Priest and his brethren, next the men of Jericho, soon followed by the carpenters, the goldsmiths, and the apothecaries. Then came the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, followed by Shallum and his daughters; further on we read of Baruch, who set an example to the whole company, for he earnestly repaired the portion entrusted to his care, till at length the circuit was complete.
(2) They worked with a will.
There is such a thing as work without a will. There is the dull, lazy work of the idle man, and the mechanical work of those who take no interest in what they are about. Just as in religion, there is the languid performance of a routine as different as possible to the real wrestling with God in faith. There is no soul in it, and who can wonder if there is no result? In this case there was rapid result, and they built the wall, and the reason is given, “for the people had a mind to work.” [51] An important lesson this for every Christian effort.
(3) They made real sacrifices for their work. It must have been a sore inconvenience to these men to leave their own occupations and to labour on the wall; but they laboured night and day till the wall rose from its ruins. Oh, that we had more of this spirit in the Church of God! Would that we knew better how to give to Him so as to pinch ourselves; to give our time, our money, our painstaking, our real self-denying work, in order to glorify God, and show that we live not unto ourselves, but unto Him that died for us and rose again.
II. Their Faith.
This showed itself in three ways.