Pressing Through Life's Oppositions

 

Nehemiah 4:1-15

Nehemiah led the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem

We often encounter difficulties and disruptions from people around us in our works and ministries. Let’s look at the book of Nehemiah, and see how to stay resilient in times of oppositions, challenges and difficulties, in order to fulfil the ministry that God entrusted us.

Chapter 4 of Nehemiah records that in the process of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, Nehemiah and the Jews were attacked and opposed constantly.

Sanballat was the governor of Samaria. Samaria was located north of Judah, while Jerusalem was within the boundary of Judah. Sanballat could be aspiring to become the governor of Judah, but the return of Nehemiah had caused his plan to fail.

More than three hundred years ago before Nehemiah, northern Israel was captured by the Assyrians. Majority of the people were exiled (722 BC).

Sargon, king of the Assyrians, brought his captives from other places and resettled them in the land of Israel. Those foreign captives intermarried with the Israelites who were left behind, and they gave birth to hybrids who were then called the Samaritans.

Like Ezra and Nehemiah, some Jews returned to Jerusalem, but they never interacted with the Samaritans. Jews considered the Samaritans to be a people with impure pedigree. Subsequently, the relationship between these two peoples turned worse.

After more than four hundred years, until the time of Jesus, their enmity towards one another deepened. However, Jesus crossed over the ethnic boundary to rescue the Samaritans. Jesus told about a story of a “good Samaritan”, and challenged the xenophobic mindset of the Jews.

When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “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?” (Nehemiah 4:1-2)

Here is a series of doubting “will”. Sanballat was ridiculing the Jews for being delusional, that they were daydreaming.

In addition to this, Tobiah, the Ammonites, intensified the opposition and said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!” He deeply despised and looked down on the works of the Jews.

Nevertheless, the Jews were not bothered with the ridicules. They continued to focus on building their walls, and the walls was half built.

The project of wall rebuilding went on smoothly because, the Bible says “all the people put their efforts into it, and neither did they give up, nor did they lose their faith. They persisted and persevered in their works.”

Despite such a progress, their problems escalated. Subsequently, there appeared more and more enemies. From north of Jerusalem came Sanballat; and Tobiah, the Ammonite, came from the east; and the Arabs came from the south, while the Ashdod came from the west.

These peoples saw that the rebuilding project of the Jews went on well, and they rose and intimidated and sought to destroy their project. They conspired to invade Jerusalem, and cause confusion in the city. The Jews were encircled on all sides, and they were indeed trapped in between!

At the same time, there was a spilt among the Jews. Some Jews said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.” Also, our enemies said, “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.” (v 10-11

Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.” (v12)

Sometimes, we will face this type of predicament in our work and ministry. Stress, enemy, opposing forces, they come from all sides, could be human factor or other factors like the outbreak of pandemic. The adversities grow stronger and stronger.

Moreover, they display their anger before us, and threaten us, cheat us and ridicule us! They despise our work and ministry and think that we cannot do anything. They come to disrupt and destroy our works when we have gained some progression.

We are already weak, and we are few in number. And then we hear not from our enemies, but our co-workers who suggest that we should give up the rebuilding work. They mention not only once, but “ten times” they warn us of the coming attacks from all sides. We face stress that comes from all sides on a daily basis.

Have we become fearful when we face such difficult moments? Are we therefore giving up? Having a peace talk? Surrender? Truly there are reasons too real for us to stop the works. Nehemiah didn’t give up when he was facing such a cause!

Prayers coupled with Plan and Execution

Sanballat and Tobiah ridiculed the Jews to weaken their determination in rebuilding the walls. Nehemiah did not succumb himself to their insultation. He sought God together with the Jews, and they pleaded with God to interrupt and judge those enemies who were disrupting their sacred works (v4-5).

The prayer of Nehemiah was not to take revenge, and it did not come out from his selfishness, but it revealed God’s righteousness, and with an intention to accomplish God’s works.

So, the Jews continued to focus on their works. But their difficulties did not stop right then. They faced disruptions more and more from their enemies, one after another. Still, they prayed to God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat (Nehemiah 4:9).

Today, you don’t have to bother if someone does ridicule your faith and your thoughts, and criticize your works without reasons. You also don’t need to feel discouraged by the adverse environmental factors.

You can just tell God how you feel, and remember His promises, then you would have courage and strength to continue to move on.

Nehemiah did not yield to the circumstances even when he had to face a further problem of internal spilt. He made some defensive plans. He ordered the people to take up their swords, spears, and bows, and stationed them behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families for defense.

We notice something very important. On one hand, Nehemiah prayed to God, and on the other hand, he “posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.” (v9) He “stationed the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows.”

It doesn’t mean that we don’t need to do anything when we rely on God and pray to Him. It doesn’t mean that when we sit for examination, we don’t have to study after we have prayed to God.

Therefore, we must pray to God and at the same time, study hard by ourselves. We need to do our part and fulfill our role. Nehemiah combined his prayer, work preparation and start acting on them altogether.

Though the Jews and he trusted in God, they took actions to keep watch over the works that was entrusted to them by God.

Let’s examine ourselves. We often pray but we might not be putting effort in trying to understand God’s heart desire. We never learn and study the effective ways of solving our problems. We lack courage and commitment to implement our remedy plan.

The correct attitude would be to pray, to think through, to study and to take action and to try to solve the difficulties.

Instill Vision and Team Building

Nehemiah also encouraged the nobles and the officials, and said, “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.” (v14)

Nehemiah emphasized the power of God and that the peoples needed to rely on God for victory. Nehemiah was not a tragic hero who fought alone, but he valued very much a team ministry. In the name of Almighty God, he purposely encouraged those nobles, officials, and the rest of the people to come together to resist their enemies.

Nehemiah also gave them a long term and relevant vision or goal: to build a lasting and stable home for their families and children. Nehemiah reminded all the people to pay attention to God’s call and their work goals, and he reinstated God’s powerful protection.

Today, if you are entangled by all sorts of problems in your works, and you are depressed, frustrated, and troubled, you can remember God’s goals given to you in your lives and works, and that God shall help you move towards your goals. Press on!

Conclusion

In this new year, it is hard to predict future economic and political trends, but the only thing that can be predicted is the continual Covid-19 pandemic.

Let’s pray to God that He would help us overcome difficulties and challenges, for God is the One who puts the burden of the sacred works in our hearts, and He would surely keep it so that we could finish His works.

Let all of us contribute our efforts and be united in doing the works of God. We should work tirelessly, resolving to take action to solve the problems, God will surely help us solve our difficulties, for He is pleased with our serving and our attitude, and He loves and protects us. He is our Rock, Rescue and Security. We shall not be shaken.

In verse 15, it says, “When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it or “frustrated their intention”, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.”

When we trust in God and pray and be willing to labor with Him, He would surely work and accomplish His own works in frustrating the devil’s attack. Hence, our plans for God and their implementations will not be merely dreams, and it shall be fulfilled, and we shall actualize His goals for us. We will then experience deeply that God is true and alive, and our hearts will enjoy real peace in the process. It is indeed something very wonderful!

Ask God to grant you his faith, courage, commitment, giving spirit and genuine peace, so that we can witness and experience His wonderful acts in the year 2021. Amen!