Nehemiah: Remember the Lord

We are studying the book of Nehemiah. God used Nehemiah to restore the walls of Jerusalem, to restore hope to the people of Jerusalem, and to restore people to the Lord. How was this ordinary man used so extraordinarily by God? As we study and see how God worked through Nehemiah, we can see how can God use us ordinary people extraordinarily today in this land that needs restoration.

Today, we are in Nehemiah chapter 4. Please open your bibles to this chapter so we can study through it together.

In Nehemiah 4 we are going to see some real opposition arising as Nehemiah and the people do the work of the Lord to rebuild Jerusalem. What opposition did they face? How did they handle it?

Today, if we want to serve the Lord and be about His work like Nehemiah, we too will face opposition. I remember when there was an individual who tried to work against us doing Super Summer Slam who never said anything to us, but tried to shut us down by calling the state. God worked that out for us amazingly, and used it to make what we are doing even better!

As we serve the Lord doing His work, we will face oppostition. We need to be prepared for it. We need to learn how the opposition will come, and how to properly respond when it does.

Nehemiah 4 shows us how opposition comes, and how to handle it properly.

So, let’s dig into Nehemiah 4.

Nehemiah 4:1–3 NIV

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?” Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”

Opposition: Ridicule

Over the past couple of chapters, we have read of Sanballat. He was a leader among the Samaritans, and lorded it over the Jews. In Nehemiah 2:10, we see him being upset that Nehemiah came with letters from the king to help the Jews.

Now that the work on the walls began, Sanballat was really upset! He and his friends began to oppose the work.

The first form of opposition came in the form of what? Verse one says that he ‘ridiculed’ the Jews. Ridicule is verbally tearing someone down.

He called the Jews ‘feeble’. It is a word picture like they were all like a plant withered by the sun, having no strength. They are weak. They are puny. They could never pull off this great task.

He ridiculed their work. “Will they restore their wall?” Bullies do this. They try to make you think you could never accomplish what you are trying to do.

“Will they offer sacrifies?” Now he was ridiculing their faith. Nehemiah and the Jews believed they were doing God’s work. They were trusting the Lord to get the work done. Remember how Nehemiah had responded to Sanballat as the work was getting started?

Nehemiah 2:20 NIV

I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”

Nehemiah told them that they were trusting the Lord to make them successful. So, Sanballat ridiculed their faith in God.

He ridiculed their earnest work. Remember how the Jews went to work earnestly for the Lord. They quit everything else they were doing and went to work on the walls full-time. So, Sanballat ridiculed their efforts. “Will they finish in a day?” Why are they working so hard. They will never get it done!

Finally, he ridiculed what they were working with. “Can they bring stones back to life from those heaps of rubble — burned as they are?” The rocks from the wall were likely limestone. Though you cannot ‘burn’ a rock, limestone can become brittle when it is subjected to fire. He ridiculed their materials.

Tobiah the Ammonite ridiculed what they had already accomplished. “What they are building — even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones.” Ridiculing what was already done would be discouraging. When you do the best you can, and someone ridicules it, how does that make you feel? It is truly discouraging.

Ridicule. The expression, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” would be nice if it was true, wouldn’t it? Words are powerful. Words can hurt and wound the soul.

The first form of opposition is ridicule. Nehemiah and the Jews faced it. How did they handle it?

Nehemiah 4:4–5 NIV

Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.

Response: Prayer

Nehemiah realized that these men were ridiculing them, but their real opposition was to the Lord. That is why they ridiculed their sacrifices and working as servants of the Lord. So, instead of responding to the ridicule, he went to prayer. He gave vengeance back to the Lord.

Vengeance is something we often want to take for ourselves. However, we need to learn like Nehemiah, that when we face opposition while doing the Lord’s work, we are not being opposed as much as the Lord is being opposed. We need to see the opposition for what it truly is: against the Lord. Then, we can pray and turn this over to the Lord for Him to carry out his vengeance.

Nehemiah 4:6 NIV

So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.

Response: Work with all your Heart

The other thing that Nehemiah and the Jews did was that they continued to work—to work with all their heart!

Though we have people ridicule us, we need to remember that we are not working to please people. Who are we working to please? We are working for the Lord. What would he say about our work? What would He say about our efforts? What would He say about our materials? He is pleased when His people serve Him, to the best of their abilities, with what He supplies, for His glory.

Remember the Lord, and get to work!

So, they kept working. Ridicule did not work. So, Sanballat and his friends went on to the next form of opposition.

Nehemiah 4:7–8 NIV

But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it.

Opposition: Plots

What was the next form of opposition? Plots to physically stop the work.

Opposition starts with words. Words meant to discourage. Words meant to hurt.

If the words don’t work, the next form of opposition is plotting to physically stop the work by creating trouble for the workers.

Nehemiah 4:9 NIV

But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.

How did Nehemiah and the Jews respond?

Response: Prayer & Be Alert

Once again, they turned to the Lord. They asked the Lord for protection. And, they used wisdom, and posted a guard.

They did what they could to prepare for any trouble that would come. They kept watch. They stayed alert.

Just staying alert will discourage troublemakers, and allow you to respond if any trouble were to arise.

This was a great response, however that was not the end of the opposition.

Nehemiah 4:10 NIV

Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”

Opposition: Discouragement

Remember, Sanballat and Tobiah were just tools in the hands of the real enemy. Satan is at work to frustrate, and oppose the work of the Lord.

Though the ridicule and the plots did not work, the amount of work was daunting. Working so hard, the people working began to get tired.

When you get physically tired, Satan goes to work on the mind and the emotions. The people began to get discouraged. “There is too much to be done. We cannot do it,” became the thoughts that filled their minds.

Discouragement is the next form of opposition. The other forms were attacks from outside. Now the attack comes from within.

How did Nehemiah and the Jews handle this?

The text does not give us any response, however, from the context, we know that they kept working!

Response: Keep going in the strength of the Lord.

We know that they kept going because they faced still more opposition. Even though their thoughts troubled them, they kept going, in the strength of the Lord.

Nehemiah 4:11–12 NIV

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

Opposition: Fear

This is interesting. The enemies kept plotting, and making their plots known to some of the other Jews in the area.

Satan used these other Jews in the area to sow seeds of fear in the people working in Jerusalem. They came to them ten times over, and expression meaning they came a lot, and kept sowing these seeds of fear that there is nowhere safe. The enemy is coming to attack!

Sometimes Satan will use even friends and relatives to create fear to stop the work of the Lord.

How did Nehemiah respond to fear?

Nehemiah 4:13–14 NIV

Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. 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.”

Response: Prepare and Remember the Lord

Nehemiah used wisdom to prepare for an attack. However, his trust was not in his people being able to fight off an attack. Remember these were ordinary people. They were priests, goldsmiths, servants, government officials and perfume makers. They were not soldiers.

They used wisdom to prepare, however their real strength was in verse 14. “Remember the Lord who is great and awesome.”

He wanted the people to defend their families if they were attacked. However, the real power was in trusting the Lord! Remember the Lord was the battle cry as they went to work, wondering if today was the day they would be attacked. Instead of allowing the fear to overwhelm them and stop the work, they focused on the Lord, great and mighty! They truly found the Lord to be their strong tower into which they ran and found safety!

The account goes on...

Nehemiah 4:15–23 NIV

When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work. 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. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me. Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!” So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. At that time I also said to the people, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and as workers by day.” Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water.

I love verse 15. Look at it again.

Nehemiah 4:15 NIV

When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.

God frustrated the opposition. Because Nehemiah and the people turned to the Lord, because they chose to remember the Lord, God frustrated the opposition. The ridicule, the plots, the discouragement, the fear did not stop them from doing the Lord’s work because Nehemiah and the people remembered the Lord.

What about me?

This is a good chapter for us to study. We need to be about the Lord’s work to restore. He has made us ambassadors for Him because people need to be restored.

2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

In this day of unrest, people need the forgiveness and restoration that can only come from the Lord.

The answer to people abusing other people is the abuser finding the forgiveness and grace of the Lord, and being restored to Him.

The answer for people who feel they have been abused is not to attack and abuse others, but to find the grace and strength of the Lord! To find their worth not in what others think of them, but what the Lord thinks of them!

We need to join protests. Rather, we need to join the reconciliation team! We need to see people restored to the Lord. That is the only way people will find true peace.

However, if we go about this work of reconciliation and restoration, we will face opposition.

We have an enemy who is going to oppose us. Satan. So, we need to be aware of his schemes, the way he works to oppose those who work for the Lord.

2 Corinthians 2:11 NIV

in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

We know from Nehemiah what his schemes are:

Ridicule, Plots, Discouragement, Fear

Satan didn’t just use these schemes on Nehemiah and the Jews in Jerusalem. He used them on Jesus, and he uses them on us today!

Didn’t Jesus face ridicule? Didn’t Jesus face plots? Didn’t Jesus have to fight discouragement? Didn’t Jesus face even his own disciples raising alarm and fear?

Nehemiah and Jesus handled these schemes properly, and we need to learn to handle them properly as well.

We need to first turn to the Lord in Prayer.

Facing Ridicule - Pray

We need to recognize the real battle is a spiritual battle.

We need to go to the Lord in prayer and hand the situation over to Him to handle.

As it says in Romans 12,

Romans 12:18–21 NIV

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

We need to be like Nehemiah and allow the Lord to fight for us; to allow the Lord to bring vengeance. We should not verbally attack the attackers who ridicule. We need to turn it over to the Lord, and keep working.

Now, Nehemiah was right to hand this over to the Lord for His vengeance. However, Nehemiah was also living before Jesus came and made it more clear how we should handle our enemies. Beside turning things over to the Lord for Him to avenge, we also need to pray for our enemies.

Matthew 5:44 NIV

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

We should also pray for those who attack and ridicule us.

Then, when the plots start happening, we need to handle them by doing what Nehemiah did:

Facing Plots - Pray and be alert

In Ephesians 6, Paul also reminds us that we are truly in a spiritual battle. I like what he says in verse 18.

Ephesians 6:18 NIV

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Here we have that combination that Nehemiah knew and used. Pray and be alert.

Prayer alone is presumption. God also expects us to do our part and be alert. Watch out for the trouble so we are not caught by surprise. Head it off and avoid it by being alert.

Peter also spoke about his when he wrote,

1 Peter 5:8 NIV

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

We need to go into each day with prayer, and then being alert. We know the enemy is real and he is plotting. Pray and Be alert.

Facing Discouragement - Strength in the Lord

Then, when the work gets hard and things go wrong, what do we do?

We need to find out strength in the Lord! If we look only to ourselves, we will be discouraged. Our strength gives out. We get tired. Our minds grow weary. Things can look overwhelming.

However, is there anything too big for the Lord? Does he ever grow tired or weary? No! He will be our strength!

It reminds me of a verse in Isaiah 40.

Isaiah 40:30–31 NIV

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

We need to find our hope, our strength in the Lord. Pray and then work in the strength He gives!

Facing Fear - Remember the Lord!

When they were faced with the fear of attack, even fear being spread by their friends and family members, how did Nehemiah tell the people to respond?

Remember the Lord! Fight for your families.

Today is a day we need to fight for our families. We need to fight for them because the world wants to tear us away from the Lord.

We need to remember the Lord who also faced opposition, and overcame.

Hebrews 12:3 NIV

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Jesus was ridiculed. Jesus faced plots. Jesus faced discouragement and fear. However, Jesus overcame! That same Jesus lives within you and me to give us the strength and grace we need for each day.

Remember the Lord! Fight for your families and encourage them to know and remember the Lord. He will be the one to give us victory. He has given us victory through Jesus.

What is it that will overcome?

1 John 5:4–5 NIV

for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

We have victory over the opposition we will face. We have victory over the world! It is in Remembering our Lord! Faith in Him is victory.

I pray that we will learn to handle opposition we face the way Nehemiah did, and that we too will bring glory to the Lord through His victory.

This week, Remember the Lord!

Homework: