CREED, Rebuilding Your Family FortressSample

4. Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

DIY. Do. It. Yourself!

Oh, how we men love applying this approach to everything in life? From inserting our own skew cupboards, to taking on all our problems by ourselves. We love to DIY!

However, Nehemiah did not DIY on Jerusalem’s walls. Even the men of Jerusalem did not do it themselves. Throughout today’s reading we see men from other towns and regions coming to lend a hand on reconstructing the wall. Heck, we even see some guys putting their daughters to good use (verse 12). This was not only a family affair, but a community commitment. It is said that it takes a village to raise children, but here we see it took a couple of villages to raise a city wall.

We often think it shows courage to take up responsibility by ourselves. But the truth is that it’s also easy to lose hope, become less enthusiastic and neglect excellence when we try going the distance alone. Yes, we should all have a sense of ownership in our personal and family lives to do our part. But a portion of our part as men, husbands, and fathers, is also to take courage and ask for help. It is also easier to stay devoted to our families, our calling, our work, and our own growth when we have accountability.

It's easy for us to only scroll through today’s scripture, neglecting it as a list of names and chores, but it really shows how much further men can go when we build into God’s kingdom together. You will face things at work you struggle with. There will be things in your relationship with your wife (or wife-to-be) that you’ll need outside godly counsel on. And everyone who ever had children will agree that nobody really knows what they’re doing in raising them while they are doing it. Part of taking up authority for your marriage and family, is also understanding who you have, or need to have, in your corner.

Again, this does not mean you use others as a crutch throughout life where instead, you need to step up yourself. But it does mean that when there are steps that are too high for you to climb yourself, you should know who will be there to lend a hand. And that will most likely need to be your very own family, it might be a father or a brother in Christ, and a community of believers with other men who are faithful and godly.

Nehemiah understood this all too well. He did not just delegate the building of the wall, but he did not labor alone either. He called others to action with him, and then also took charge himself. This is how we lead a family, and this is also how we should be able to lean on each other as men.

Together, everyone contributed what they could. And then, at the end of the day, we still see that every man took responsibility for his own section of the broken wall that needed repair, right in front of his own home… (verse 28)

Inspect your own walls:

1. How do you find the balance between taking courage to call on the help of others, and then also stepping up in your own responsibilities?

2. Who are the people that help you stay enthusiastic to build and lead your family in excellence? Where do you find them?

3. What, or who, must you fully devote to God in prayer today?