Are You Ready For Action
Have you ever seen an angel? John G. Paton believes he has. While he was a missionary in the New Hebrides Islands, hostile natives surrounded his mission headquarters one night, intent on burning the Patons out and killing them. Paton and his wife prayed all that night. At dawn they were amazed to see the attackers just turn and leave.
A year later the chief of that very tribe was converted to Christianity. Paton then asked him what had kept him and his men from burning down the house and killing them that night. The chief asked Paton a return question: "Who were all those men you had with you there?" Paton told him there had been no one except his wife and himself, but the chief insisted they had seen hundreds of men standing guard--big men in shining garments with drawn swords.
This story is not the only story of heard like this. There are several accounts when missionaries are doing the work of God and are on the verge of being attacked, and God intervenes. He intervenes for us continually, he protects us from accidents, He does not allow us to see certain things and this is for protection. But oftentimes he allows us to see the enemy, He shows us the schemes and calls us to fight if needed.
Today, Nehemiah is ready to fight any calls those with him to be ready to fight if needed. However, their main task is to work for God and rebuild the wall around Jerusalem.
Read Nehemiah 4:1-20
In our text we find Nehemiah is the agent in which God uses to complete His mission. There are three types of people focused on a different aspect in our passage today. Now let’s look at the types the people in their focus.
The enemy focuses on:
I. Stopping God’s Mission (1-3, 7-8, 10-11)
A. When God is Moving the Enemy is Unhappy (1)
B. The Enemy Tries to Sway People to Destroy the Work
1. By mocking them (2-3)
2. By fighting against the progress (7-8)
3. By discouragement (10-11)
Any time discouragement can come into a home, a business, and even the church the light of encouragement is not easily seen.
I read once that the Devil was having a yard sale, and all of his tools were marked with different prices. They were a fiendish lot. There was hatred, jealously, deceit, lying, pride--all at expensive prices. But over to the side of the yard on display was a tool more obviously worn than any of the other tools. It was also the most costly. The tool was labeled, DISCOURAGEMENT.
When questioned, the Devil said, "It's more useful to me than any other tool. When I can't bring down my victims with any of the rest of these tools, I use discouragement, because so few people realize that it belongs to me." John Yates, "An Attitude of Gratitude," Preaching Today, Tape No. 110.
However, we can use discouragement to our advantage:
Here's a fellow who sold insurance, and he went after a particularly difficult customer, a man that no one had been able to sell. Eventually he sold him a fifty-thousand-dollar policy. Back in 1883 when this occurred, that was a very large policy. He took out his pen and handed it to the man to sign the contract. When the man tried to write, the pen wouldn't write. He tried several times without success and finally handed the pen back with the contract and said, "I'd better think this over a little while longer." The man lost the sale.
He went home disappointed and discouraged because he had lost the sale, and he determined right then and there that he would never lose another sale because of a fountain pen that didn't work. So he sat down and invented his own fountain pen. His name was Louis Waterman, and the Waterman Fountain Pen became the premier writing instrument of America for the next fifty years. Out of discouragement, great possibility. Bruce Thielemann, "Dealing with Discouragement," Preaching Today, Tape No. 48.
Nehemiah focuses on:
II. Continuing God’s Mission (4-5)
A. The Number One Defense Is Prayer
B. Seeking God to Fulfill His Promises
- Often times we only think of the promises of God as promises as it relates to the positive thoughts we have. Such as, he cleanses us from all sin, he forgives are iniquities and heals are diseases, and you are saved by grace. These are positive promises to the believer. But what we have seen here today in these two verses, is that God promises to take care of the wicked and the unrighteous. In asking God to fulfill his promises about the wicked, Nehemiah is not seeking vengeance as much as he is seeking protection and asking God to allow the mission of rebuilding the wall to continue.
God’s servants focus on:
III. Readiness in God’s Mission (6, 9, 12-20)
A. The People were Determined to Work Together (6)
B. They Recognized the Seriousness of the Enemy (9)
C. They were Kept Informed of the Enemy’s Schemes (12-15)
D. They were on Guard Against the Enemy While Completing the Task (16-20)
After their long and weary exile in Babylon the people of Israel were set free to return to their own land. Spurred on by Nehemiah, they began to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. This aroused the hostility of the pagans around them, who threatened to undo their work. The people of Israel took two essential steps: they prayed to God, and they posted a guard day and night. Even as they prayed for God's protection and help, they did what they could. They knew that prayer is not a way to avoid responsibility, it is not a shortcut to success without effort. Ron Klug, Bible Readings on Prayer. Christianity Today, Vol. 30, no. 6.
- In as we have seen here today Nehemiah was not going to stand back and do nothing. He had a task to do and he prepared the workers to be on guard while the task was being completed. Just because they had swords in their hands while they were working on the wall does not mean that they did not trust in God. What it means is that they were ready to fight when God called them to fight. God is in control, He doesn’t need our help, but He allows us to help to build trust and confidence in Him. In other words, He allows us to help so that we may build our faith in Him.