There's No Need to Fear, Underdog is Here

Nehemiah 6:15-7:3

 

 

According to Wikipedia, the cartoon TV series “Underdog” ran from 1964 to 1967. The storyline was about a dog by the name of Shoeshine Boy whose heroic alter ego, Underdog, appears whenever his love interest, Sweet Polly Purebred, is being victimized by such villains as Simon Bar Sinister. Whenever Underdog made an appearance it was preceded by him proclaiming, “There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here!”

Nehemiah is kind of like Underdog. He keeps making appearances to save the day. Whether he is dealing with Tobiah in his efforts to keep the wall from being built; Or appointing the gatekeepers, musicians and Levites; Or appointing new leaders of Jerusalem; Or setting the doors on the gates; Or giving specific instructions to the gatekeepers.

 You get the idea. It’s not too hard to imagine when Nehemiah appears to hear the words, “There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here!” But there’s a lot more to it than what is happening on the surface.

 If you look at the Bible as a whole, God has a pattern of working with underdogs. He chose Israel because they were a small nation; He chose Gideon who was hiding in the winepress; He chose David who was a young shepherd boy; He sent Jesus as a baby; and even Jesus chose common, uneducated men as his disciples. In a word, they were underdogs.

 And if you look at today’s passage the wall was completed in fifty-two days by a group of city folk who previous to this had been going their own way, doing their own thing. But Nehemiah was led by God, and against all odds, they accomplished this impossible task. They were underdogs.

 Why does God seem to work this way? Let’s look at His Word for the answer.

"But he (the Lord) said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”                   2 Corinthians 12:9-10

“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and His rule.”              Matthew 5:3 The Message

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”                   Ephesians 2:8-9

To be honest, the title of this devotional isn’t right. It should read, “There’s no need to fear, the Lord your God is here”. For when we are weak, He is strong. When we are at the end of our rope, He rules. When we recognize His gifts to us, we are ready to do good works.

 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=nehemiah%206%3A15-7%3A3&version=NIV;MSG

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/niv/Neh.6.15-Neh.7.3