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“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).
Temptations to forsake good works have ever plagued mankind. Satan has always known that the quickest and surest way to bring a good work to a halt is simply by discouraging the workers. Our enemy, as “a roaring lion . . . seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8), delights in shrouding any shining ray of hope behind dark clouds of doubt and defeatism.
A wonderful biblical example of one who overcame Satan’s temptations to quit a worthy work can be found in the Old Testament story of Nehemiah. Nehemiah had not been laboring long in rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem before Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem, enemies of God’s people, heard of it and began a major campaign to halt the work. At first they ridiculed the project. Tobiah dismissed the wall as being so weak that it would fall under the weight of a fox. (Nehemiah 4:3.) But the work continued.
These enemies then “conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it,” but still the work continued with the workmen holding a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other. (4:8,17.) Sanballat and Geshem tempted Nehemiah to take a rest from the work and meet with them on the plains of Ono to talk the matter over. But the invitation was refused and the work continued. (6:1-4.) Finally, ugly and untruthful rumors were circulated in a last-ditch effort to discredit the work and the motive behind it. (6:5-9.) But the work continued and the wall was finished in just 52 days. (6:15.)
The keys to Nehemiah’s success? Among others, note these: first, “They strengthened their hands for this good work,” believing that God would help them. (2:18,20.) And second, “The people had a mind to work.” (4:6.) Because the work was perceived as greater than the workers and because it was seen as a work of God and aided by God, Nehemiah’s company “had a mind to work.” They would thus be neither discouraged nor dissuaded.
Satan met a brick wall when he came up against Nehemiah and his workmen. May the same be true of his efforts against our good works as we labor for the Lord today.
Dalton Key
Broken Arrow, OK