HEALTHY FAMILIES FOR ETERNITY

are concerned for their personal safety (Nehemiah
4:10-12). Nehemiah takes this threat to heart and
sets out to deal with it!
Now notice chapter 4, verse 14: “After I looked
things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the
officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid
of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and
awesome, and fight for your families, your sons
and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
Remember The Lord
Nehemiah provides the best answer to his
people’s concerns: “Remember the Lord, who
is great and awesome.” Friends, we serve an
awesome God. We do not worship a weak or
helpless God. We are not disciples of some puff
of wind or some pretend god, nor do we serve an
unknown god. Our God is great and awesome
and we are the apple of His eye; the lost sheep
rescued by His own hands; his prodigal sons and
daughters who, when He “sees us from afar off,”
runs to greet us and welcomes us home (Luke
15:20). He is not a distant, harsh judge; not a
callous ruler who reluctantly hands out rewards
for the few. Our God is great and awesome and
personally invested in us as His people.
Fight For Your Relationships
Now notice what Nehemiah says to the
people. After pointing them to their awesome
God, he then says, “Fight for your brothers, your
sons and your daughters, your wives and your
homes.” (Nehemiah 4:14).
Nehemiah said to the people, ‘Our God is
great and awesome. So sit back and do nothing.
Just go about life as you always do and leave it to
Him!’ NO, this is not what we read in this verse!
He said, “Fight for your brothers, your sons and
your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
On a number of occasions in Scripture God
invited His people to stand still and see His
power in action. He said to Moses, “The Lord
will fight for you; you need only to be still”
(Exodus 14:14). But on so many other occasions
God called for action. When Jesus healed people
He called them to action: “stretch out your
hand,” “take up your bed,” “go and wash in the
pool.”
Nehemiah was saying to the people, ‘These
are serious times. This is a crisis! We need to
stand up for our families and do everything we
can to protect them and keep them whole! We
cannot afford just to float along and hope for the
best. It’s time to act!’.
As a child I can recall my mother saying many
times, “Don’t just stand there! Do something!”
Nehemiah called his families to action. ‘Don’t
just stand there and worry or fret: recognise that
your God is an awesome God, and step into
action.’
When I was a teenager, I joined my older
brother and four other friends on a three-day
canoe trip down a winding and log-filled river!
We had to be alert to the potential danger of
obstructions and possible damage to our canoes
and our lives. One of my friends sat in the front
of our four-man canoe and his task was to alert
us of any upcoming dangers so we could take
the necessary action to keep safe on the river.
This meant that we had to row together to get
ourselves out of any danger. Unfortunately my
friend didn’t always get it right! If he saw a log in
the river a long way off he would call out “log”
and row frantically in any direction. But if all of
a sudden a log appeared just in front and it was
now very important that we all row, he would
‘freeze’! He would become so frightened that he
just sat there still.
Nehemiah couldn’t afford to have his people
frozen in fear when it was time to act. Nor could
he afford to have his people unaware of the need
to work together with energy and commitment.
This wasn’t the time to just stand there—this
was the time to ‘do something.’ It’s time to row!
There are dangers in the river and they are straight
ahead.
Build And Protect
Now notice chapter 4, verses 16 and 17:
“From that day on, half of my men did the
work, while the other half were equipped with
spears, shields, bows and armour. The officers
SERMON
21
BUILDING MARRIAGE AND FAMILY