Picture yourself at the center of a clock. Directly ahead of you is your 12. To your right is your 3. To your left is your 9. Directly behind you is your 6.
On a battlefield your most vulnerable position is your 6. It’s your back. When someone says to you they have your 6, it means they have your back. They are looking out for you in those places you may not be that aware of, places where you are vulnerable, places you have a blind spot.
Sometimes we are not aware of our vulnerabilities and when a friend steps up to ask us some tough questions or tries to point some things out, we get ticked off. If you have a friend who is willing to ask you some tough questions thank God you have someone who cares enough about you to risk your wrath. He’s looking out for your 6.
The reality is, we all need someone looking out for our 6. We need friends in our life who have our back. Not to cover up our tracks, our deception, our sin, our pride or let us fade away into isolation. No, we need brothers in our life who will help us see our areas of vulnerability, our blind spots, and will fight for us against our spiritual enemy who wants to steal, kill and destroy us.
Everybody needs this. We all need someone who has our 6. And we need to have someone’s 6.
In Nehemiah 4 we learn about the men who worked alongside Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Their work was not unopposed. Sure they knew this was what God had called them to. Sure, they knew they were not alone in the work. Sure, they had a strong, anointed leader in Nehemiah who had a plan for the entire initiative. This entire endeavor was God’s initiative. God’s anointing was all over it.
And so was the enemy.
The objective of the enemy was to get them to stop working. Stop doing the good work God had called them to.
The tactics of the enemy are simple: intimidation, insults, threats, and inciting fear.
Sound familiar? The spiritual opposition set against you is no different – the enemy whispers into your heart and mind, and even shouts sometimes, to intimidate you, to insult and demean you, and to threaten you.
Why? To make you afraid so you lose heart and quit working.
It could be to get you to quit working on your marriage, on fathering your kids, on your relationship with Jesus, on your health, on stepping into your gifting, on serving others, on humbling yourself, on that good work God has put into your hands that seems impossible unless He works in you and through you.
The objective of the enemy is simply to get you to lose heart and stop working according to God’s purposes.
In Nehemiah 4 we learn about the tactics of the enemy to demean and insult:
“What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?…What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”
Forget it! You can’t do this! Don’t even bother trying! Give up! Sit down! Shut up!
Then they upped the opposition:
“Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.”
The Jews had to find their hope and their strength in God. And they worked within Nehemiah’s system of protection. While men worked, others stood guard with weapons. Those who were carrying materials carried a weapon. Those needing two hands to work always had a weapon at their side.
Nehemiah organized a system of sixes – you guard my back while I work, and I’ll guard your back when you work.
We need to do the same. Ask a brother to have your 6, and offer to protect his 6 as well. We need to walk in humility with each other, and fight fiercely for each other. We all need someone to have our 6.
Who has your 6, and whose 6 do you have?
Nehemiah 4:14
“After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, ‘Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.’”
Nehemiah 4:16-18
“From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked.”