The World, The Flesh, and The Devil (2)
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The Devotion of Nehemiah
The Devotion of Nehemiah
1 Cor 3:10 “10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.”
- In 597 bc. Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon took away the first exiles from Jerusalem
- In 586 bc. the Babylonians returned, pillaged and burned the city and its temple, and took an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 Judeans into exile
559-530 Under King Cyprus the Great. He was an enlighten statesmen. So with in a short period of time he allowed the Jewish people to return to there homeland.
So they returned from exile and now they are reconstructing there culture as Gods chosen people. And rebuild the wall is a big part of reconstruction
1 But it so happened, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews.
2 And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish—stones that are burned?”
3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.”
4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity!
5 Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.
vs 1 There was a man by the name of Sanballat he was a governor of Samaria. He did not want Nehemiah to rebuild the wall.
So He decided to start psychological warfare against Nehemiah and the Jews.
So he started mocking them in verse
vs 2 He called the Jews feeble in front of the army of Samaria
vs 3 And a man named Tobiah the Ammonite was beside them mocking the Jews, He said Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.
vs 4 Nehemiah prayed an imprecatory prayer. This is a prayer of cursing.
Have you ever prayed this way before?
Should we as believers pray this way?
Its similar to the psalmist
27 Add iniquity to their iniquity, And let them not come into Your righteousness.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
Paul shared simular curses.
9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
But how should we interpret this kind of prayer especially since Jesus Christ told us to pray for our enemies.
Matt 5:44 “44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,”
Romans 12:14 “14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.”
Romans 12:20 “20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.””
A couple things should be understood before praying a prayer like this one. You have to be very close to the scriptures in order to pray a prayer as strong as this.
Sanballet and company wasn’t just opposing the Jews they where opposing God.
God had already announced judgement on Israel’s enemies. Josh 1:5 So Nehemiah was praying according to Gods will. That God would deliver them from there enemies.
Nehemiah was praying that God would bring about what He had promised Abraham regarding those who curse His people . Gen 12:3 “3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.””
Vengeance belongs to God, not Nehemiah or other believers . Deut. 32:35 “35 Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them.’”
Romans 12:19 “19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.”
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.
After prayer Nehemiah and the Jews continued with work.
Allot of Christians after they pray they stop working but Nehemiah continued the work.
God is aways blending the divine perspective with the human.
He faced Sanballat’s opposition with both prayer and hard work.
Once He surrender the problem to God He trusted Him to help achieved the goal.
15 And it happened, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work.
16 So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaders were behind all the house of Judah.
17 Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon.
18 Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me.
God brought there plot to nothing.
Builders a sword in one hand and building with the next.
Its like us we have a sword in one hand and we are building with the next.
As believers we should have a balance in our walk with God.
We should have both sword for the enemy and building the people of God and His church.
If I just have a sword maybe I’m trained but yet I’m not building then I can become like 1 Cor 8:1 knowledge puffs up but love edifies.
But if I just build without the sword I leave my self open to false doctrine and a target for the enemy.