Give Up or Get Up?

Give Up or Get Up?
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
by Dr. Paul Chappell

“Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.”

Nehemiah 2:17–18

When Nehemiah got to Jerusalem, the city was in dire straits. The lack of a wall around Jerusalem meant a complete inability of the people to defend against marauders who came to attack. Nehemiah’s first step was to make a survey of the situation, and when he had a grasp on the problem, he immediately launched a plan to solve it. He challenged the people, describing the need and then offering a solution. They caught his vision and together built the wall in just a few weeks.

Every time we face a crisis in any area of life, we have two basic choices. We can sit around feeling sorry for ourselves, wondering why things like that keep happening to us and blaming others for the trouble we’re in. Or we can evaluate the situation, determine the best solution, and get up and do what is necessary to resolve it. The more time we spend reviewing our troubles, the more discouraged we will become, and the less likely we will be to do anything to make a change.

If we want to accomplish great things, we must be willing to “rise up and build.” There will always be obstacles we can use as excuses to avoid moving ahead, but if we take that route, we will never get anything meaningful done. Once we have prayed and planned, we should get up and get busy.

Today's Growth Principle:
When we attack our problems head on, we often find them smaller than we had feared.