Remember the Lord - Nehemiah 1-4

Nehemiah 4:14 (ESV Strong's)
And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

Remember the Lord

Nehemiah was a master motivator and a great leader.  Perhaps one of the best leaders recorded in Scripture.  In the above passage we read his response to the attacks that were being presented against the work he was called to do.   God sent him back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls.   In ancient days a city without walls meant that any animal or enemy could come easily into the city and destroy both material goods and people.   In chapter one we read how ashamed the Jews were that the walls of Jerusalem were still destroyed, 70 years after the nation of Israel was exiled out of the city because of their disobedience to God.  Jerusalem was not just any city!  It was a symbol of the pride and prosperity of Israel and the place the Temple was built where God would reside.   The city walls were paramount to that symbolism.   New walls meant that they (Israel) were once again a restored nation.   In the above passage we read Nehemiah’s message to the people when the local tough guys come to discourage the workers and threatened to attack them.  Nehemiah’s message was NOT to trust him and his great leadership.   It was NOT to trust themselves and their ability to fight.   It was to REMEMBER the Lord.   Like the message to Job in the midst of his depression and Elijah in the midst of his despair, Nehemiah simply wanted the people to remember who God was.  The knowledge of God is the key to our fighting spiritual and physical battles.  Note what Paul says about making sure we don’t let anything “rise up against the knowledge of God:”

2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (ESV Strong's)
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

Our FEARS in the midst of struggle arise because we fail to REMEMBER who God is.  When we REMEMBER how great God is there is nothing that we can fear.  NOTE:

Psalms 91:1-6 (ESV Strong's)
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.