The Halfway point
"6 So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. 7 Now it happened, when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, 8 and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion."
Nehemiah 4:6-8
The people in Jerusalem had been hard at work rebuilding the walls around the city. Nehemiah records that the wall was now half complete — all the gaps had been closed, and it was built up to half its height. Halfway there. The midpoint.
It's here, at the halfway point, that the enemies of Jerusalem, led by Sanballat, step up and begin trying to discourage the Jews from finishing their project. First they mock them, trying to intimidate them by degrading their work. When that has minimal effect, they come back with threats of violence if the people don't stop. They even question whether the king of Persia knows what's happening and threaten to report it as rebellion — which would be a death sentence for them all.
It was at the halfway point that this opposition began — further along than when they started, but not yet at completion. Have you noticed that it's often the halfway point where discouragement sets in? The excitement of doing something new has worn off. You feel like, even though you've come so far, there's still too far to go. You realize it's harder than you thought. You've grown tired. Sound familiar?
We are one month past the official halfway point of 2026. So let me ask you, What happened to the goals you set for this year? Are you halfway there, or did they get lost somewhere back in January.
1. Where are you compared to where you started?
Not where your group is. Not where the ministry is. You. Pull out whatever you wrote down or prayed over in January — even if it was just a feeling, not a formal goal. Are you closer to the Lord now than you were then? Stronger? More patient with people, or less? Growth isn't always forward motion you can point to. Sometimes growth is that you didn't quit when quitting would've been easier.
2. Have you accomplished what you set out to do?
Look at it plainly — without dressing it up, and without beating yourself down. Some of it got done. Some of it didn't. Both are just information, not a referendum on your calling. Nehemiah's team didn't finish the wall by looking at how much was left; they finished it by continuing to work on what was in front of them, one section at a time.
3. What are you building for the second half?
This is the part people skip. They mourn what didn't happen in the first six months and never actually set their face toward the next six. Don't do that. Sit down this week — not "eventually" — and name one or two things. Not fifteen. One or two. What does finishing well look like for you between now and December?
The Bible says the Jews reached the halfway point because "the people had a mind to work." When you started, you had a mind to complete the task. Let me encourage you: don't let that fire go out now. Finish strong. Keep your focus to the very end.
