adjustments was amazing. Oregon
didn’t score again in the third or fourth
quarters, and Kohlhausen led his team
to tie the game 31–31 at the end of four
quarters. Then, in triple overtime, he
himself scored to complete the greatest
comeback victory in bowl history. And
all because a coach didn’t give up when
he met stiff opposition but instead
made some proper adjustments.
Nehemiah was something of a coach
himself, and he knew it was the YAC,
the yards after contact, that would
determine whether his team would
win or lose. So he, too, made some
proper adjustments at halftime when
the wall was halfway completed. He
put his finger on the problem of the
opposition he was facing. Some of
the Jews were dwelling too near the
enemy (Nehemiah 4:12). And the
problem was that those from the tribe
of Judah had been listening to those
Jews who lived close to the enemy.
The enemy was influencing them with
their negativity. Being far removed
from the center glow of the dynamic
rebuilding spirit, they were picking up
on the gossip of those who sought to
discourage them. Living so near the
enemy caused them to alter their focus
and place their immediate attention on
the enemy itself. They began to listen
to the scoffers instead of listening to
their God. This can happen to people
who are in the process of rebuilding
their lives. They can find themselves
dangerously close to those who are
attempting to discourage them, and
they can begin to listen to them instead
of moving themselves nearer to the
center of where God is rebuilding.
One of Judah’s primary concerns
and complaints was that there was
“so much rubbish” (4:10). There
was nothing wrong with the actual
foundation upon which Nehemiah and
his team were rebuilding their wall. It
was rock-solid. The problem existed
because for years all types of junk and
debris had accumulated on top of that
foundation. Any attempt to rebuild the
wall without first removing the rubbish
would have been frustrating and futile.
Oh, they may have gotten the wall up,
and it may even have looked really good,
but the first big assault of any kind
would have brought it tumbling down
once again. It is always dangerous
to attempt to rebuild a wall on a
foundation as unstable as rubbish. Yet
there are many who attempt this today,
especially when it comes to trying
to rebuild a relationship. Relational
rubbish has a way of accumulating
untouched over the years. To not
remove it and to attempt to build again
on top of it only assures that in a short
“
Relational rubbish
can only be removed
through true repentance
and unconditional
forgiveness.”
Solutions • 73