Read: Nehemiah 3:15-5:13
Nehemiah had undertaken a giant task. The walls of Jerusalem are reported by Josephus to be about 4.5 miles in circumference. Other sources tell us they were 15 feet thick and perhaps 12 feet high. Given the immense task, the relatively few people he had to work with, and the constant threat of enemy attack, Nehemiah needed some big contributors to get the work done.
Scripture lists several of the families that shouldered large sections of the wall. Their contribution to the work was significant. However, Nehemiah also documents the contributions of a group of priests who were only able to repair small parts of the wall, “each one opposite his own house” (Nehemiah 3:28). Considering the grand scope of the project, that small distance hardly seems worth mentioning, but God took notice.
When can get easily discouraged and overwhelmed by the problems in the world around us. We see Christian ministries reaching the masses and think, “What little I can do isn’t worth anything.” But it is!
God has anointed every believer as a member of the “royal priesthood,” and like those rebuilding Jerusalem’s wall, we must take responsibility for the ministry opportunities in front of us. We may not be able to feed every hungry person in the world, but we can buy lunch for the homeless man on the street corner. We might not preach to packed stadiums in a Billy Graham-style revival, but we can share the gospel with our friends and coworkers. We can be godly husbands, wives, children and parents. We can speak kindly to the people that hate us. We can rebuild our little section of the wall.
