“They were trying to intimidate us into quitting.
They thought, “They’ll give up, they’ll never finish it.”
I prayed, “Give me strength.”
– Nehemiah 6:9 (The Message)

As practice was about to begin, two coaches watched as players came out of the locker room and onto the field. One athlete caught their attention. He was half-dressed, mad at the world and grumbling about the practice ahead. Shaking his head, one coach looked at the other and said, “That boy sure has a lot of quit in him!” Coaches are always watching and observing. We want to know how our players will respond to pressure and uncertainty. Times have changed and it seems that quitting is a lot easier than it used to be. As it becomes harder to get athletes to come out for our teams, it’s also an ongoing challenge to keep them out.

We can learn a great deal about the refusal to quit from Nehemiah as he built the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Nehemiah overcame many obstacles during this massive construction project and his focus was always on its completion in a timely fashion. There were those who wanted Nehemiah to fail and they were determined to throw obstacles in his path. Nehemiah kept one thought center in his mind, “I am doing a great work,” he says. “ I have a great calling. God has committed a tremendous project to me, and if I leave, it will be threatened.” Surely there were times Nehemiah was tempted to slow down, stop for a little while or even just quit. But each time he felt like quitting, he thought about why he started. What a great reminder this is for us. It has been said that there are three kinds of people in the world—those who don’t know what’s happening, those who watch what’s happening, and those who make things happen.” Let’s be a Nehemiah and make things happen!

Heavenly Father, thank You for never quitting on me. Help me take a page from Nehemiah’s life and teach me to stay focused on the great calling You have given me. Give me Your strength Lord and make me a person that makes things happen. Amen.