“Then I said to them, ‘You see the trouble we are in…Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.’ And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good…
And they said, ‘Let us rise up and build.’ So they strengthened their hands for the good work.”
Nehemiah 2:17-18
It’s a beautiful thing to see the people of God coming together to do His work.
When God compels a leader to arise, impressing on his/her heart to begin a certain work, He doesn’t reveal how it all will come together. One doesn’t know who will come alongside to help accomplish the task set before them.
How encouraging it is to see God calling together each person needed, and to see them respond. Not just morally supporting the idea, but joining in. Rising up and strengthening their hands for the good work.
In this, as each individual rises to actively fill their role, we see the body of Christ as it is meant to be. Together, we “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16).
We each have a part to play. A role we are designed to fill. Our unique details, our strengths, our weaknesses, our personalities—God wove us together so that we would fit properly in the body of Christ as He molds us into His image and strengthens us for each calling. For our part, we need to draw near to our Shepherd, to spend time with Him and learn to recognize His voice. There is a humility and a quietness required, as well as a determination to respond as God compels our heart—whether we are coming alongside others in His work or stepping forward to lead as He begins something new.
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good…For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ…God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.”
1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 12, 18
In Pleasant Places 