Next Unto You

Day three hundred twenty three

I woke up thinking that I was going to have a lovely morning hanging with my hubbie before he had to leave for work, but the Lord had something different planned for me.  In my prayers I asked the Lord to bless me with opportunities to help others, you now the "I'm here, send me!" thing I'm working on.  He was listening!  I received a phone call from work, my supervisor was sick and needed me to work.  The cool thing is that I wasn't really upset by it, I was happy to help out.  Is that personal growth?  I sure hope so!  So on my way to work I said a prayer thanking the Lord for the blessings of service and work today.  It's great to know He is listening.

Nehemiah 3

At first glance this chapter seems a little dry, just another list of names.  But I always seem to find something more that just names when I come to chapters like this.  Today was no exception.

We start with Nehemiah wanting to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem.  In chapter 2 he did a little moonlight reconnaissance (vv 13-16) to assess the needs to repair the wall.  In this chapter we see Nehemiah’s extraordinary gift of administration and organization. He was able to mobilize and empower 44 separate groups of people for the ingenious task of rebuilding the walls. 

Chapter three lists the people that helped and didn't help rebuild the wall. More importantly it is a testament to the power of what can be accomplished when people work together.  The phrases: “next to him,” “next to them,” “after him,” and “after them” are recorded 28 times in this chapter! The biblical principle is this: every person is to be involved in God's work because everyone has a job to do.

It’s hard to find the right job! Some people seem to know exactly what they need to be doing – both in their career and in their spiritual life. Others are struggling to find their niche.  This is where teamwork comes in.  For those that know what they need to be doing, it is so helpful for those that are still searching to work beside you and to learn from you. Incredible things happen when people work together, they are building themselves up too.

There are 6 principles from this chapter that will help each of us work well with others:

Leaders must set the example (v 1)
If anybody in the city should have been busy with the work, it was the priests, for God’s reputation was at stake. The high priest had no hesitation using his consecrated hands to swing a hammer or push a wheelbarrow.

God uses all kinds of people (v 8)
“Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired the next section; and Hananiah, one of the perfume-makers, made repairs next to that…” The Lord didn’t need a thousand masons and carpenters to rebuild the wall – he needed ordinary people who were willing to work. People from a wide variety of different backgrounds, trades, and localities gathered to work on the wall. The rulers and priests worked together with regular people, some who even lived 10-15 miles away.

Some people will not work (v 5)
Having said that every person has a job to do, there will always be those who refuse to exert themselves. Most people worked, but some shirked their responsibility. We see this in verse 5: “The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.”

Some do more work (v 27)
In every church, and in any project, there will always be some who are slack in their serving. At the same time, there will always be those who do more work than others. Remember the men from Tekoa? In verse 5, we read that they finished their section of the wall, even though their nobles didn’t help out at all. Drop down to verse 27: “Next to them, the men of Tekoa repaired another section…”

Some work with passion (v 20)
 In this entire chapter, there is only one guy mentioned who worked zealously. Look at verse 20: “Next to him, Baruch son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section…” The Hebrew word means “to burn or glow” and suggests that Baruch burned a lot of energy. He was not just serving; he was on “fire.” This is amazing because in 4:6 we read that “the people worked with all their heart.” Everyone was working hard, but in a crowd of committed construction workers, Baruch stood out from the rest.

Some work as families (vv 3, 12)
The final principle from this great passage is that some people worked as families – either on a section in front of their home, or on another section away from their neighborhood.  At least six different workers, plus an unknown number of priests, repaired the portions of the wall that were nearest to their own houses.

We are taught to start at home, but we’re not supposed to stay there. In verse 3, the Fish Gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hassenah and in verse 12, the daughters of Shallum worked on the wall. As families, we have the opportunity to work together in our neighborhoods and in our community. Instead of just looking at what you can do as an individual, think about how you can include your entire family in accomplishing the Lord's work.


Nothing has ever been done for God without hard work. If God’s work is going to get done, we all have to cooperate with one another, not compare or criticize. We must keep the main focus on God, not on ourselves. And, we have to recognize that we won’t all give equally, but we can all make equal sacrifices. The next time you are called to serve the Lord, stop and think about who could benefit from having someone 'next unto you".  I think you will find that the benefits will go both ways and the job will be so much more enjoyable!