The Value of Not Neglecting Spiritual Life
But we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them. — Nehemiah 4:9
Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. — 1 Peter 5:8
Author
Faustino de Jesús Zamora Vargas
Summary: In a world in spiritual ruin, we cannot do God’s work by relying on our own strength. Our strength lies in prayer, intimacy with the Father, confession, and repentance; depending on him each day reflects spiritual maturity. Nehemiah teaches us first to renounce what binds us and submit to God’s will, without taking credit for what we have received from his hand. He also calls us to humble ourselves before God when opposition arises. If we have neglected our spiritual life, we must rebuild the broken-down walls. Let us pray and keep watch day and night: the enemy seeks a way in, but God fights for us.
In a world in spiritual ruin, we cannot afford to rely on our own strength to do God’s work. As ministers of the Lord, our greatest strength is prayer, time spent in intimacy and devotion with our heavenly Father,
confessing our sins and repenting before our merciful God, because we know well that the enemy we face in everything we undertake for God’s glory is entirely spiritual. Our daily dependence on God reflects our spiritual maturity.
The book of Nehemiah is a manual of spiritual practice. We see this from the moment he gives up his position as the King’s cupbearer. We sense it in his first cry to the God of heaven, before telling Artaxerxes of his desire to go to his homeland and rebuild its ruined walls. The first virtue of a spiritual person is renunciation—of possessions and passions—in order to submit to God’s will. The Word rightly warns us: “No one can serve two masters, for he will despise one and love the other, or be devoted to one and scorn the other. You cannot serve both God and riches.” (Mt 6:24). Either cupbearer to the King or servant of the Lord of Lords. In this respect, we still have much to learn. We often cling to what we possess and believe we made it ourselves, as though we had achieved it on our own and God’s hand had been absent.
God and his people have an enemy who works through human beings to oppose his plans. Chapter 4 of Nehemiah holds beautiful lessons for Christians today, called to serve the Lord in a world that dazzles us with its glitter but saddens us with its moral ruin. Our struggle is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph 6:12). If the evil one has gained ground in some vital battle, we will have to rebuild the walls that have been torn down because we have neglected our spiritual lives. That is the breach the enemy exploits to slip in “like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet 5:8).
After renouncing, we must humble ourselves before God. When Nehemiah saw the mockery and conspiracy of the enemies of God’s people to prevent the wall from being rebuilt, he called the people to humble themselves and cry out: “Then we prayed to our God, and to defend ourselves we posted a guard against them day and night.” (Neh 4:9). The enemy may be powerful, but our God is almighty; the enemy has already been defeated at the redeeming cross. Even so, we must keep watch day and night so that he does not gain ground and obstruct God’s plans. Our enemy’s problem is that he still has not understood that by opposing the work we do for God, he is in fact opposing God himself, and that, although he persists in waging war against God, he lost that war two thousand years ago. “…our God will fight for us.” (Neh 4:20)
Let us pray to the Lord and keep watch day and night. In a world in moral and spiritual ruin, we cannot neglect our relationship with God.
God bless you!
Suggested reading: Nehemiah 4