620 the wind and sometimes sail against it, bu t we must keep sailing all the while and neither d rift nor lie a t an chor. The main them e of th e book of Nehemiah is restoration. In the book of Ezra— th e temple is rebuilt, in th is book the walls. R estoration properly began a t th e h eart of things and moved outward. This is the Divine method, to sta rt at the center and work toward th e circumference. When th e h ea rt is rig h t w ith God, the outw ard work of his service can go forward. No one can read th e record of building the walls of Jerusalem w ithout being im pressed w ith th e whole-hearted service th a t went into it. Every man builded over against his own house. Priests, rulers, goldsm iths, apothecaries and m erchants labored side by side, and Shuilum , the ru ler of half th e city, was helped by his daughters. We are told who set up t)ie various gates w ith th e locks and bars thereof. No detail of work done for God is overlooked by him and he delights to pu t on re cord th e humblest service. The work ha,d many adversaries as does all work undertaken for God. F irs t they rid i culed it. “ If a fox go up, he shall break down th e ir wall.“ Mockery hav ing failed, th e enemy sought to use force. Nehemiah armed the w orkers and ordered th a t when they heard the sound of th e trum pet, they were to re so rt th ith e r to repel the attack. Then they tried stratagem . F ou r times they sent a message to Nehem iah asking for an interview . “ I am doing a great work, why should I come down to you?” was his reply. L ast of all, he was bid den to flee to the temple for safety as he was in danger of assassination. "Should such a man as I flee?” was all he had to say. The enemies of our souls use th reats, wiles and plots of every kind like unto these If by any means they can hinder
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S or discourage us from th e work of the Lord. We only need to follow th e ex ample of Nehemiah and to remember who has commissioned us. As we make our prayer unto Him we shall disregard all suggestions th a t m ight quench our zeal or weaken our hands. A Man Who Was Not Afraid. Neh. 4:6-20. Memory Verse.— “ If God is for us, who is against u s?” Rom. 8:31. Approach.— Emphasize th e courage of Nehemiah, as you tell the story ol rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem . Make a little model of th e walls of Jerusalem , using BEGINNERS blocks or paste- AND PRIMARY ,board, and putting Mabel L. M errill wooden cubes in side for houses. Set the children to thinking of th e ir own tasks— a t home, in school, in church— and th e enemies th a t try to stop them, such as Laziness, Put-off, Fear. These can be conquered by prayer and tru st in God, th e same weapons th a t Nehe m iah used. Peloubet’s Select Notes. Lesson Story.— How many would like a story about a brave man? We have ju st such a story th is morning, about a man named Nehemiah. I know you will all like Nehemiah, and this story will teach us how to face h ard things and tcTovercome them . Nehemiah was living far away from his home city in th e palace of th e king of the country, for he was the cup b earer of th e king. To be a cup bearer to the king showed Nehemiah was faithful and could be trusted. I t was a good position and a fine place to live in th e palace of the king, in a land of beautiful flowers, where many stream s of w ater flowed through th e land. One day Nehem iah’s bro th er came from h is old home, Je ru salem, and of course he was very happy to have his b ro ther visit him, b u t after talking w ith him, Nehemiah was very
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