BYBC Nehemiah Lesson # 3

Day 3 Theme: The Big Fight!

Text: Nehemiah 2b & 4

Theme: Keep doing what God wants even when others try to stop you!

Story:

Now that Nehemiah has made the long journey to Jerusalem and has seen the walls that were destroyed, he and the other people there agreed to rebuild the walls. When those enemies; Sanballat and Tobiah heard about Nehemiah’s plan, they laughed at him and made fun of him.

Nehemiah and the people in Jerusalem began rebuilding the wall. Sanballat was “wroth” about this. Wroth means very angry. The enemy was making fun of Nehemiah and said, “Your wall will never work. Even if a tiny little fox stepped on it it would fall over.” The purpose of the wall was to keep the people safe inside the city. If it didn’t stand, the people wouldn’t be safe!

Nehemiah did not engage with the opposers. Instead, he prayed to God and asked Him for help. Then the Bible says, “So built we the wall…” Sometimes when people try to stop us from doing something for God, we don’t need to engage with them, but pray and ask God for help and keep serving Him! Nehemiah knew how important building this wall was and he knew only God could help him accomplish it.

The reason the people were able to build the wall while the enemy was making fun of them and trying to get them to stop was because “…the people had a mind to work.” When you set your mind to doing something for Jesus, you can accomplish anything with Him.

Here is where Sanballat and Tobiah stepped things up. Now they were “very wroth” and they talked to each other and said, “Let’s go fight them and stop them from building the wall!” Nehemiah and the builders once again prayed to God for help and made people watch both day and night. Nehemiah and the people had a tool in one hand and a sword in the other hand. They were watching for the enemy to attack while still working on the wall!

The people were scared, but continued to work on the wall.

Build up for the last night:

Will the enemy attack Nehemiah and the people?

Will they finish the wall?