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Our church has been doing a study on the story of Nehemiah, a guy in the Old Testament who was used in an incredible way. Not only was Nehemiah instrumental in bringing about restoration of the people of Israel back to their famed city, Jerusalem, Nehemiah also facilitated the restoration of God’s chosen people, the Jewish nation, back to the intimate relationship God longs for. Long had Israel been on a cyclical journey of obedience and blessing turned stubborness, selfishness, and disobedience that distanced them from God. Once again God was in pursuit of his beloved, and this time he chose Nehemiah.
Nehemiah takes on a major mission. His mission is exciting. His mission is dangerous. There are those who don’t buy into the whole “God’s chosen people” thing and are, quite frankly, disturbed that the Israelis are rebuilding their city. There are many who are quite territorial, and don’t want a threat in their neighborhood.
What is the result? God comes through. Nehemiah rallies the people to work their butts off for 52 straight days. Men work day and night – day as laborers building the wall and they take turns guarding the city at night. People are doing masonry work on the wall with a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other, always prepared for a potential attack. At one point (4:20) Nehemiah encourages his people “God will fight for us!” And He does. And He comes through.
15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.
When it comes to winning a battle, a game, an argument, there are a few things at work. For one, it feels great to finish something, to be “better” than the competition, to emerge victorious. There is the smiting of the enemy, ruining his claims to mastery to the craft in which you just destroyed him! But what’s more intriguing, more impressive, more lasting is the the epic nature of a battle, a game, an argument. It’s the way in which the story goes, the way the sum of the parts does not equal the whole. It’s that sort of thing that makes a difference between winning and really winning.
There is a vast chasm between a mark in the W column that comes from beating a team that hasn’t one in 2 seasons with your reserve squad versus knocking of the #1 ranked team when all the odds are stacked against you. Let me tell you, from the world’s perspective, all the odds were stacked against Nehemiah, stacked against Israel. And when He comes through, you notice. Everyone else notices, too.
Do you have a story to tell? When did you notch a victory in the W column that was bigger than you?
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Interesting that this part comes right after Mizzou took down BCS #1 Oklahoma…thanks for rubbing it in Will! hahaha
In all seriousness this is a great topic and looking forward to discussing it Thursday.
Comment by Tiffany October 27, 2010 @ 8:01 amIndeed it is interesting. One could also apply the above to the Texas Rangers knocking of the NY Yankees for their first ever World Series birth. There’s something about those stories that are more interesting than the Yankees going to the WS 8/10 years. Something more amazing than Oklahoma beating Mizzou 19/21 years. It’s the underdog.
Do you think maybe the cultural phenomena “root for the underdog” is deeper than just a bunch of successful Hollywood films?
Comment by williamjgood October 28, 2010 @ 5:07 am