Nehemiah’s position was to be prepared, to be armed and ready, to watch, and to stand his ground. His faith rested upon Jehovah, the great and terrible God — the same God that delivered Israel from Egypt (Neh. 4:14; Deut. 10:21-22). “Our God shall fight for us” (Neh. 4:20). Nehemiah does not attack; he is, however, prepared to fight for his brethren, their sons and daughters, their wives and their houses. The battle must begin in the home. Just as the men built the wall to protect their homes, they are now prepared to fight for their homes.
Timothy is exhorted to “fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:12). There must be an earnest contending for the faith; Satan will never give up trying to weaken and destroy the body of Christian truth. If we are going to live in the good of the things into which we have been brought through the work of Christ, we must lay hold of it in a decisive fashion. The children of Israel never possessed what was rightfully theirs, because they didn’t walk it: “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you” (Josh. 1:3). As a result, the enemy was never driven out.
With one hand they labored and with the other they held a weapon: “Every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded” (Neh. 4:17-18). The girdle served two purposes: it kept the tunic from flapping about, and it provided a place to hang the sword. We are told in Ephesians, “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth” (Eph. 6:15). This is the first item of the soldier’s dress. It seems so elementary that it hardly appears worth mentioning. To the contrary, unless the Christian is securely girt about with the Word of Truth, there is no hope of wielding the sword aright. How many a young Christian has rushed off to fight some spiritual battle with their tunic just thrown about them. They are “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14), and they quickly succumb to the subtleties of the enemy.
The one offensive weapon we have is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Eph. 6:17). This is the only means we have of refuting the wiles of the devil — and note that it is the sword of the Spirit; it’s not my sword. Our example is the Lord Himself, who, when tried in the wilderness, countered each attack of the enemy with the Word of God (Matt. 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13). He neither sought to engage the devil nor to argue with him. This should be a strong lesson to us. Never underestimate the strength of the enemy — it must be God who fights for us (Neh. 4:20).
The work of a soldier is not an easy one. Neither Nehemiah nor his men, servants, and guards, put off their clothes during this period. Paul encourages the young man Timothy, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (Neh. 4:23).