Chapter 3 of the book of Nehemiah gives an account of all those that were involved in the building of the wall. People from all sorts of professions including goldsmiths, perfume-makers, merchants, priests were involved. Families built it together. Daughters also worked alongside their father and helped build their section of the wall. Most of them very likely didn’t have any prior experience in fixing doors, adding metal bolts and wooden beams etc.

V20 says that Baruch eagerly/zealously built his section of the wall.

However, in V5 we see a group of elite people, leaders, nobles that refused to take part in the hard work. Maybe they thought it was below their dignity to do it. Maybe they didn’t want to take orders from Nehemiah. Maybe they were friends with Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem (Ch 2, v19) that were mocking and ridiculing those involved in building the work. We don't know why, but in the whole chapter of 32 verses where everyone was working as a team, half a verse is dedicated to this group of nobles from Tekoa. You can expect opposition and often times it will be from within when you want to take on a ministry responsibility.

Even though the nobles of Tekoa refused to be part, the men of Tekoa still went ahead and built the section assigned to them. Infact v27 says they went above and beyond and built another section as well. Similarly, Hananiah and Harun in V30 were involved in their second section of building the wall.

Kingdom work including involvement in ministries/church requires team work. More than ability, it requires your availability. It requires serving and often times stooping below your status in society. It requires going above and beyond your initial commitment. And do it eagerly, with zeal and with excellence.

(This article was written during the lockdown due to corona pandemic)