Do you ever lay in bed in the morning wishing you didn’t have to get up because you’ve got a list as long as your arm of things you need to get done? Maybe it’s as mundane as cleaning the bathroom or perhaps it’s a more meaningful task that will impact others (not that cleaning the bathroom doesn’t impact others!) Either way, something – be it apathy or dread – holds you back from swinging off the covers and facing the tasks of the day. 

If I said, “Just Do It” to you, you’d know immediately which brand that comes from. Why is it that the 32-year-old Nike slogan has had so much success? It speaks to everyone. From the richest to the poorest, the most athletically tuned individual to the couch potato. It calls us to rise up and believe that if they can do it, then ‘yes… I can do it…’ 

But sometimes ‘doing it’ requires help. It requires another to come alongside. It requires encouragement, expertise or simply knowing that you’re not facing the task alone. Sometimes you just can’t do it by yourself. Shechaniah knew that the Israelites needed both encouragement and to come alongside one another if they were going to follow through on the task of repenting and doing what was right: 

Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you; be strong and do it.
Ezra 10:4 ESV 

The beauty of this exhortation is that we have the truth of the New Testament to hold onto. Whatever task you are facing, Jesus has promised that He is with us to the very end of the age and that includes cleaning bathrooms! He has equipped us with every good thing needed for all we have to do and promises to complete the work in us that He has started. And… when we are weak, we get to be strong in Him. So what is He calling you to today? 

Rise up, know that God is with you, go forth in His strength, and just do it!