Nehemiah 4:1-23. OVERCOMING OPPOSITION AND THREATS- Devotional

Nehemiah 4:1-23     Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verse: 4:18         11-29-19

“And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me.” (ESV)

Dear Lord heavenly Father, thank you for your word and your spirit that guide my steps each day. Without you where would I be? I would be forever ruminating on negative things. I can dwell in the moment, trusting in you day by day. What a gift that we have from the Gospel. You definitely give me strength to carry on each day. Help me to share this life-giving Gospel to the whole world. Help me to grow through your word today. I thank you and I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: Even A Fox Could Break Down This Wall (1-9)

Verses 1-9, “Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. 2 And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” 3 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” 4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. 5 Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders. 6 So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. 7 But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. 8 And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. 9 And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.”

Chapter 4 is the story of the battle that took place at the walls of Jerusalem. It was not a battle of arms. It was a battle of faith against the devil’s fear planting. The situation was bleak. The reality was overwhelming. What would Nehemiah and his people do in the face of this overwhelming situation?

In this passage we learn the secret of not being intimidated by the situation. The enemies of the Jews had all the human means to crush the workers and to stop the work of building the wall. But Nehemiah had an even greater weapon, his unwavering faith in God. Through faith in the Lord, he was not swayed by the human circumstances and realities, but stood by his faith in God. And now he needed to convey that faith upon the people.

When God’s people began to work hard to rebuild the wall, godless men were angry. Read verses 1-3. “Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. 2 And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” 3 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” Sanballat was the governor of Samaria. He despised Nehemiah and the work that he was engaged in. He may have wanted to rule Jerusalem and the arrival of Nehemiah by the approval of the king may have spoiled his chances. He was a foreigner whose interests in Jerusalem was certainly not spiritual.

He tried to intimidate and ridicule the Jews. Together with another foreigner, Tobiah the Ammonite, paraded the armies of Samaria outside the walls of Jerusalem in a show of power. He wanted to stop the Jews from rebuilding the walls. It was his first attempt to stop the work. And his strategy was to discourage the people. Indeed the workers were feeble and their work was an impossible work. Their hope to rebuild looked hopeless.

The strategy to discourage them and to ridicule them and the work of God is a longtime favorite tool of the devil. Most work of God in history looked similar to this work, weak and hopeless, a waste of time. Think about it…the manger of Jesus looked as weak and feeble as this work on the wall. But Jesus’ manger was mightier than the throne and empire of Roman Caesar.

I remember when I was a new Christian at the age of 22 years old. Satan tried to stop me with fear mongering and humiliation and intimidation. Family and friends tried to plant fear, “How can you survive?”. “You had better stop going to church, you can’t trust those people.” “You are weak and need a crutch.” Etc, etc. It was not an easy time. But God got me through it all and helped me to take root in Christ. I really admire Christians who gave up lucrative careers in order to be missionaries. There families may have tried to convince them how foolish it was follow Jesus, trying to plant fear of even humiliate them in an attempt to get them to stop. But Jesus kept them in his love.

Nehemiah prayed, and the people kept on working with all their heart (4-5). Their strategy to discourage the workers work did not work. Read verses 4-5. “Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. 5 Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.” Nehemiah was a man of God, who knew how to work with God. He knew the work of the devil when he saw it. He would have even expected it. He also knew that the devil is too powerful for feeble men to overcome.

So, Nehemiah did the only thing he or anyone in his situation could do. He prayed to God. His words “hear us” tell us that Nehemiah did not come to God alone. He came with all the people working on the wall. “Hear us” tells us that Nehemiah taught all the people to come to God in times of discouragement. He was a man of authority. His pride could have caused him to retaliate insult for insult, spite for spite. Yet, he was a humble man who knew how to pray and leave matters in God’s capable hands. And when they had done praying, verse 6 tells us what they did. “So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.” (6)

The peoples’ resolve, born out of their faith in God was only making the Gentile rulers even more angry. Look at verses 7-9. “But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. 8 And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. 9 And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.” These people were sure that their strategy of discouragement would work to stop the people from finishing the work on the wall. After all, intimidation and ridicule worked in the past with other people, other than the Jews. But these people were different. They were God’s people. They saw that the repairs were going along well with no sign of stopping. That angered them greatly and they moved to a different strategy. Nehemiah tells us that they began to plot together to come and fight against Jerusalem and the people who were working on the wall. To ridicule the work of God and the workers is one thing, but to plot to fight them and harm them in order to physically stop the work on the wall was a very dangerous development. Satan does not stop until he is stopped by God.

These more intense threats did not stop Nehemiah and his people. Look at verse 9 again, “And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.” Nehemiah prayed again and posted a guard. They were undaunted. They stood firm by the grace of God. It was the opposite affect that the governing bodies thought it would be. God was strengthening his people when they engaged their faith with prayer and with practical decisions of faith to stand firm. Jesus is ready and able to arm his people with weapons that the enemy cannot possibly overcome.

Part 2: Overcoming Discouragement (10-23)

     Verses 10-23, “10 In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” 11 And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” 12 At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.” 13 So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14 And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “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.” 15 When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. 16 From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, 17 who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. 18 And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. 19 And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. 20 In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.” 21 So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. 22 I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” 23 So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon at his right hand.”

The threats and the fear mongering continued. Nehemiah had prayed again (9) when he had heard of the new plot for attack. But he could not stop the people from falling into fear. Look at verses 10-12. “10 In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” 11 And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” 12 At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.” The strategy of fear was very effective. Even the people of God, who lived outside Jerusalem, who saw the armies gathering for attack were fearful. They urged their Jewish brethren to stop the work and return to them and live among them away from Jerusalem.

Fear is a worse enemy than all the armies of Samaria gathered outside Jerusalem to stop the work. Fear not only stops the work on the wall, it threatened to stop the very work God was doing to rebuild these people’s hearts and spirits and lives. Fear destroys their confidence, their hopes and dreams, and replaces them with a sense of despair that turns them away from God and back to their sins for comfort and a little bit of security in this world. Nehemiah was facing a dangerous enemy in the hearts of the people.

How could Nehemiah fight against their fears and insecurities? Read verses 13-14. “So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14 And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “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.” He did two things. First, he planted faith in their hearts. And second, he gave them some practical direction to be on the defensive. It was a remarkable strategy of Nehemiah that saw the enemies disperse, and the work on the wall completed to the end.

“Don’t be afraid of them.” These are words of wisdom for anyone who knows God and God’s love and power to sustain and to defend and to bless his people. “Remember the Lord” Nehemiah tells them— “the Lord who is great and awesome”— the Lord who routed armies and who built a people out of nothing, who gave victory to the people of God numerous times in history, who works and is working this very day and will continue to work to the end till the coming of his kingdom.

God inspired Nehemiah to make many wise decisions. Look at verses 19-20, “19 And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. 20 In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.” He could see the whole picture and he told his people their present situation. He implemented a communication system with the trumpets. He continued to encourage the people to have faith in a God that would fight from them. He armed the workers and posted a guard night and day. Neither he nor his men took off their clothes at night, and they kept their weapons in their hands, even when they went for water. Their whole defensive stance was a result of God’s wisdom and God’s strength given to them when they prayed. The task was big, and the laborers’ strength was small, but they did not abandon the work, but kept on building by the grace of God.

Our Lord Jesus had a mission far greater than Nehemiah’s or even Moses’ mission. Jesus’ mission was to die on the cross, and to rise again from the dead, and to offer forgiveness of sin and eternal life to those who would believe. Jesus was set on building his church and through the church the Gospel could spread and God’s kingdom could expand. We are God’s people and while living in this world be are working with Jesus to build up his church. He wants to send forth the Gospel through us. And yet, when we stand up as God’s servants and allow Jesus to work through us, there will be opposition. Where there is the work of God, there is the work of the devil where he uses fear mongering to stop God’s people from building up the work of God. But we need not be dismayed. We must remember how great and awesome Jesus is. Jesus will fight for us. We just need to stand in faith and follow God’s wise leading. Jesus will succeed in building up his church.

How is fear stifling my faith? I suppose fear comes on two fronts. Fear of not having money and fear of rejection. I need to step out in faith and support the church and the mission of God financially. I also need to trust God and actually go to the visit the mission field that the Lord has called me to pray for at least. This will cost money. I cannot let my fear stop me from supporting God’ work. I also need to trust God to reach out to people and not be fearful of rejection. I not only need to make friends, but I need to open my mouth and preach the Gospel to them. There are a few open doors that God has shown me, I pray that I may have faith to walk through the open doors.

Prayer: “Lord, the task is big and our strength is small and there are many enemies. Help us to keep on building. Drive fear from our hearts and replace it with faith in you so we can stand as your people.”

One Word: Keep on building with faith in our great and awesome God, Jesus Christ.