"They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, 'Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.' But I prayed, 'Now strengthen my hands.'"

Nehemiah 6:9 (NIV)

Someone is trying to finish something and you might be in the way. That is an uncomfortable sentence to sit with. We have spent three days looking at the tactics of the enemy and the courage of Nehemiah. But today the devo turns the mirror around. Because for every Nehemiah trying to stay on the wall there is a Sanballat sending letters. And the hard truth is that some of us have been the one sending letters without ever realizing it.

Sanballat did not see himself as a villain. He saw himself as a regional governor protecting his interests. He had legitimate concerns about power and influence and stability. He was not twirling a mustache in a dark room. He was a man with an agenda who used every tool available to him to stop something he did not understand and could not control. The problem was not his intelligence or his strategy. The problem was that his agenda was set against what God was building. And that made him dangerous to everyone around the wall.

Paul's instruction in Romans 14:13 is more personal than it first appears. He does not say avoid being a stumbling block to strangers. He says stop putting obstacles in the way of a brother or sister. The word obstacle in that verse refers to something placed deliberately in someone's path. Paul is writing to people inside the church. People who knew each other. People who shared the same faith but were using their influence to slow each other down. The same dynamic that played out between Sanballat and Nehemiah was playing out inside the early church. It still plays out today.

This is us: We have confused our discomfort with someone else's calling for discernment. When someone in our lives starts moving in a new direction we do not always celebrate it. Sometimes we question it. Sometimes we slow it down. Sometimes we send letters dressed as concern that are really just our own fear of being left behind or left out. We call it wisdom. We call it accountability. But if the fruit of our words is weakened hands on someone else's wall then we have become the very thing we have been praying against.

Think about the people closest to you right now. Is there someone in your family or your church who is trying to finish something God gave them? Have your words been strengthening their hands or weakening them? Have your questions been Spirit-led or self-serving? Have you been cheering them toward the wall or finding subtle ways to call them down from it? These are not easy questions. But they are the ones a person of integrity has to ask. Sanballat never asked them. That is part of what made him Sanballat.

Godseekers, don't be someone else's distraction. The wall in someone else's life is just as sacred as the wall in yours. Your words have weight. Your influence has direction. And the people around you are either finishing faster because of you or finishing slower. Decide today which one you want to be. Strengthen someone's hands this week. Speak life over their assignment. Get behind what God is building in them with the same energy you want people to get behind what God is building in you.

Prayer

Father, You are the one who assigns every wall and equips every builder. I praise You because You are not building in isolation. You are building a people. Search me today and show me where I have been an obstacle instead of an encouragement. Show me whose hands I have weakened with my words or my silence or my doubt. Forgive me and give me the grace to go back and strengthen what I have slowed down. I want to be the kind of person that makes finishing easier for the people around me. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Personal Reflection

1. Think honestly about the people in your life who are building something God has called them to. Have your words and actions been making their wall easier or harder to finish?
2. Is there someone you need to apologize to or encourage this week? Someone whose hands you have weakened without realizing it? What would it look like to go back and strengthen them?

Step of Faith

Today, reach out to one person in your life who is in the middle of something God has called them to. Send a message, make a call, or sit with them in person. Tell them specifically what you see God doing in them. Strengthen their hands with your words.