Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.
The fight is for people, and it starts by remembering God.
Week 2 of 4
Fight for your house
Protection is not paranoia. It is a man who stays awake for their sake.
Watch! Stand firm in the faith! Be courageous! Be strong! Let all that you do be done in love.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14
Nehemiah’s men rebuilt with a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other, and he told them to remember the Lord and fight for their brothers, sons, daughters, wives, and homes. That is not a license for rage. It is a picture of protection that is alert and affectionate. A husband guards the physical safety of his house, and he also guards the emotional and spiritual weather. Courage without love becomes a tyrant. Love without courage leaves the gate open.
Scripture
Formal study reading, written for this series
Formal study reading, written for this series
Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
Courage is commanded in the same breath as love.
The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
You are a watchman under a better Watchman.
NASB, the Amplified, and the ESV open on Bible Hub. The Legacy Standard Bible opens on its own reader. Close, Expanded, and Easy on this page are original study readings. WEB is the World English Bible, public domain.
Watchfulness under a greater Keeper
Nehemiah does not tell the people to trust their spears instead of God. He tells them to remember the Lord and then to fight. A Christian husband is the same. You lock the door, you tell the truth about a dangerous friendship, you get between your children and what would prey on them, and you do not play God. Psalm 121 keeps you from both panic and passivity.
First Corinthians 16:13 is sometimes quoted as if “act like men” meant dominance. The next sentence will not allow it. Everything is to be done in love. Courage that crushes the house in order to save it has forgotten why the wall was built. You fight for them, not against them.
In the house
Name one real threat: a person, a habit, a corner of the internet, a silence around money, a mood that makes the children hide. Face it this week with love and with a spine.
Ask her where she does not feel safe — in the body, in the emotions, in the spirit of the house. Do not argue her answer into something smaller.
Seven days
At the table
- 1Where have you been asleep at a real gate?
- 2Where has your strength been aimed at them instead of for them?
- 3What would courage in love look like in a conversation you dread?
- 4Do you trust the Lord enough to act, or only enough to worry?
Your note
Stays on this device. No account.
A prayer
Lord, you are the Keeper of this house. I am only a watchman. Wake me where I have been careless, and gentle me where I have been harsh. Teach me to fight for my wife and my children without becoming someone they need protection from. Let all I do be done in love. Amen.