Have you ever faced an obstacle that seemed to be
insurmountable? When I think about what
my future holds, on the surface it can be depressing. The reality of the amount of damage done is
very overwhelming to face.
This past
weekend, I mentioned to someone on the phone during my morning phone calls that
I was hoping to find something during my daily Bible reading to write
about. Writing helps me to focus on my
goals and gives me purpose.
This person
told me that they would pray that I would be able to come across something that
would inspire me as to what to write about that morning. They must have prayed immediately, and God
answered that prayer. Right after I made
my last phone call, I began my daily reading, in the book of Nehemiah. This story jumped out at me right away 😊.
Nehemiah was
a member of the court of the Persian King Artaxerxes 1 in what is now the modern Iran.
He served as the king’s cup-bearer, (
Nehemiah 1:11), which would have put him in a close position to the king.
In the book
of Nehemiah we find that the people who are in Jerusalem are in “great
affliction and reproach” (
verse 1:3). The verse continues on to say, “the wall
of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.”
This
news broke Nehemiah’s heart so much that he wept when he heard of the broken
wall and burned gates. Receiving the bad news became a call for
Nehemiah, a challenge to bring change that would glorify God. Greatly distressed, Nehemiah sought God's will through fasting and prayer to determine what steps he should take to help rectify the terrible conditions of his countrymen. His prayer is an example of humility and genuine faith in the mercy and power of God to intervene on his behalf. (
verses 1:3-11).
Nehemiah
realized the urgency of the situation and prayerfully requested, “Give your
servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man” (
1:11). Still, it was four months before he was presented
with an opportunity to make his request to the king (
2:1). No specific
reasons are given for this delay. Sometimes there may be an interval of time
before God answers our prayers, and we have to learn to patiently wait until He
does. Patience or long-suffering is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (
Galatians 5:22), and there are rewards for those willing to put this character trait into
practice.
When the
king noticed his depressed countenance and asked Nehemiah what made him look sad, Nehemiah said a quick prayer before
responding (
2:4). He told the
king the reason for his great sadness and asked for the king to send him into
Judah to rebuild the wall and the gates.
The king agreed to send Nehemiah, along with a letter authorizing him to
get timber from the forest and with soldiers for protection.
Nehemiah
shows us how to pray to God and listen for his answers. In chapter one he spent
a long time in prayer from the heart with fasting.
He glorified God with
listing the Lord’s attributes, he confessed sins of the people, he trusted
God’s promises to Moses to restore the people, and he asked for success before King
Artaxerxes.
A remnant of the Israelites had returned to Jerusalem 70 years earlier and
rebuilt the temple, but without walls, the city remained vulnerable to attack. People living in a city without a solid wall remained defenseless and
humiliated. Rebuilding the walls signaled that God once again blessed His people. A
good wall also gave the people a sense of security and community.
The trip to
Jerusalem must have been torture and full of anxiety for Nehemiah. He didn’t yet know the full extent of the
damage, how many people he could get to help him, or what kind of enemy he would
face. Plus, the distance traveled would have been close to a thousand miles!
But he did know that this mission
was God ordained and he knew that he needed to do it.
The first
thing that we see once Nehemiah crosses the Jordan river is that the enemy
already knows that Nehemiah is headed to Jerusalem and they know what his
mission is.
In
2:10, the Bible tells us
that it “grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare
of the children of Israel”.
Nehemiah
took three nights to take a tour of the destroyed wall and burned down gates,
not telling any of the rulers of Jerusalem that he was there. He secretly
inspected the damage at night. He
understood that without a proper defense that a wall gives a city, then
undoubtedly the enemy was already in the city. His plan included teamwork, persistence, and
cooperation, plus trust in God. He shows how we
should take time to make careful plans and listen to God’s guidance.
In verses
17 and 18 of Chapter 2, Nehemiah goes to the rulers and the people of Jerusalem
and tells them that God has sent him there to rebuild the wall.
I love the phrase that verse 18 ends with: “So
they strengthened their hands for this good work.”
Nehemiah spoke
to all the people and inspired them to work. He shared the favor the king gave
and how God’s hand had been with him, and that motivated the people. They
responded by going to work immediately. Nehemiah broke them into teams of
families to work on the various sections of the wall. He was also prayerfully
prepared when outside opposition began.
Just as
rebuilding this wall for Jerusalem is “good work”, so is building the defenses
in our lives to keep out our enemy.
Our
spiritual enemy is Satan. Satan, or
Lucifer, is a beautiful angel. The Bible
describes him as an angel of light and music.
Satan is not a scary red, horned, pitchfork carrying, pointy tailed
monster. He’s a subtle angel of evil and
destruction. He does his best work when
you don’t see his presence. When you
think that he’s left you alone is when he’s closer to you than ever.
We are no
match for Satan, but he is no match for our God!
His tricks
are lust, greed, pride, hate, selfishness, and any pleasure that has corruption
or causes destruction. He works in chaos
and lives to cause disorder in this world.
Our only defense is God’s order in our life, and to stay close to God’s
side.
Immediately
after verse 18, we already see the enemy show up. These guys named Sanballat, Tobiah, and
Geshem arrive on the scene to mock and accuse the people of rebelling against
the King.
Nehemiah’s
response is exactly what it should be, “The God of heaven, he will prosper us;
therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor
right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem”.
This should
be our response to our enemy when he tries to stop us from doing God’s
work. One of my biggest battles right
now is depression and negativity. It is
hard to not focus on the destruction of the wall or the damage to my life and
my family’s life that I’ve caused. That
is my enemy right now, the overwhelming thought of trying to piece things back
together. Yet, I know it’s good work
because it’s the new job that God has given to me.
At first
glance, Nehemiah
chapter 3 looks very repetitive and boring, but when you take
a closer look you will see some great truths.
We see that
Nehemiah has gathered up a bunch of people to split up the work.
Anyone from the rulers of cities to
goldsmiths to just regular, everyday people showed up and helped with a portion
of the wall.
Notice in
verse 5 though
that Nehemiah points out that some of the nobles “put not their necks to the
work of the Lord”.
It might seem strange
that some of the leaders of the city weren’t found building the wall back up,
but we find out the reason later on.
As the work
is being done to repair the breaches in the wall of Jerusalem, we see the enemies pop back up in
chapter 4.
Now they’re
saying that there is no way that this group of people could ever take this pile
of destroyed wall and put it back together.
Do these people really think that they’ll ever be able to get this job
done?
“That’s the enemy talking!”
Those words go through my head a lot when I
get discouraged.
The wall that I am
rebuilding right now with the help of others seems too hard to repair.
But with God’s help and with the help of my
support people, I know it will get done.
Look at
Nehemiah’s great response to the enemies this time in chapter
4:4-5.
He prays to God!
He prays a great prayer too.
He asks God to turn their reproach of the
people in Jerusalem back onto their own head.
He asks God to not overlook their sin but to look at how they’re making
God angry.
Then he and the people get right back to
the repair job.
Ha, that’s awesome!
Now the
enemies are really mad, and they ramp up their attack in
4:7-8. Again, the response of Nehemiah and the
people is to pray and to work.
But this
time we see the people go to work armed with more than tools in verses
13 and in
16-18.
In verse 17, he says that the
workers worked with one hand and held a weapon with their other hand.
If you are
going to build your wall, you’re going to make your enemy angry. He wants your city; he wants to control your
life with all of his favorite tools and to create chaos. When you build your wall on the precepts and
order of God, our enemy knows that he won’t be able to break through, so he’s
going to ramp up his efforts to stop you.
So, you better be ready to battle while you build.
In verses
19-23 of chapter 4, Nehemiah ramps up his efforts as well.
In the end of this chapter he enlists anyone
else in the city who would be willing to take a stand.
He gathers them together and tells the people
that there are big gaps between each person and groups of people.
The man who had the trumpet would be standing
next to Nehemiah while he worked.
And
when Nehemiah gave the word, he would sound the trumpet.
This would be the call to the people to come
fill in the gap and to be ready to defend Jerusalem and God’s work to rebuild.
This morning
I was talking to my mom on the phone. I
was telling her that I’m looking around and seeing so many men who are facing
the hardest battle of their life, but they don’t have the support system to
help them or back them up like I do. I
told her how when all of this started that I knew I would have three or four people
to help me through this. I am a blessed
man, and I’m here to tell you that it’s turned out that there’s an amazing
amount of people who showed up for me as soon as they heard that I needed
help. I am so grateful for my “support
system”. It’s always growing too 😊 and they are always there when I need
them. I am spoiled compared to what I
see around me. If I know who you are and
you want to be a part of this amazing group, just let us know. This support system isn’t just about building my
wall – we build each other up.
Before I
move onto chapter 6, look at the last verse of
chapter 4, verse 23.
Nehemiah tells us that they worked hard and
long; they didn’t quit until the work was done.
They didn’t give up and nothing was going to stop the progress.
Rebuilding a
destroyed wall, life, or relationship takes a lot of hard work. You need to be tenacious to get the job done. It can be monotonous work that will get old
fast. It’s not work for the slothful, or
for the weak of heart. It is for those
of character or those who desire to build character while doing the work of
God.
I am an
active person. I love to be busy working
on something all the time. So, being in
a jail is very nerve wracking. They give
us three meals a day, a bathroom, and bed, a tiny book cart, sometimes a TV and
access to a phone. For my first 3-1/2 months
I was almost always in a tank with other inmates, so I was able to at least
interact with others, watch some TV, and trade books. But then being stuck in 8 X 12 cell 24 hours
a day made it harder to find things to do, and it took a lot of work. I found ways to fill most of my day with
activities that helped me put my wall back up.
There was no TV, no people to talk to, no easy access to a phone. But, I had a constant flow of good books from
my group of people, my Bible, notebooks, Bible study books, letters to read and
write, a “how to draw” book along with drawing paper and colored pencils. I had my radio and enough floor space to do
some workouts.
I also was
able to do my own laundry in my sink.
The laundry service in the jail puts more dirt into our clothes than
they take out. I would give them my
uniform and when I got it back it smelled like burned dirt. I would rinse it out in the shower and at
first, the water that came from my clothes was brown. So, the ability to wash my own clothes was
huge and kept me busy for a whole day too.
I think that what Nehemiah is telling us is that building a wall from
rubble while the enemy is attacking is not for sissies!
Now, in
chapter 6 the enemy is back and is taking a new angle.
This is the chapter where we find out why
some of the leaders of the city weren’t very eager to sign up to be on the wall
rebuilding crew.
Immediately
in verse 1 we see that the enemy shows back up and observes that there is no
breach left in the wall. The only work
left to be done at this time was to hang the gates. I guess they were waiting on the permit, lol.
Oh man, you
know the enemy was irate at this point.
None of their regular tactics had worked.
But just as I stated earlier, our enemy is
subtle and tricky.
Ephesians 6:11 tells
us that putting on the armor of God allows us to stand against the “wiles of
the devil” who is always working behind the scenes and behind our backs.
The first
trick is easy to spot; in
verses 2 and 4 they try four times to get Nehemiah to
leave the safety of the walled city.
He’s
not that dumb.
Next, they
try a new one in
verses 5-8; they brought him a letter saying that they were
going to the king with news that Nehemiah was setting himself up as the king in
Jerusalem, and that he should come out and talk to them about it.
That didn’t work either. Check out Nehemiah’s
response in
verse 9.
After the enemy
says, “Their hands shall be weakened from the work”, he says, “O God,
strengthen my hands”.
Those are five
powerful words in a time like that.
I
tell you though, when you ask God to give your hands strength, you better be
ready to work.
Now, the last
trick that the enemies have for Nehemiah is one that they’ve been working on
before he even arrived at Jerusalem.
In
verse 10, Nehemiah is at the house of a “friend” named Shemaiah.
And this friend has an idea that could save
Nehemiah’s life – hey, let’s go over to the house of God and you can hide out
there so that when they come at night to kill you, they won’t be able to get to
you.
Again, Nehemiah’s response is
godly.
In
verse 11 he says, “Should such
a man as I flee?...I will not go in”.
He
wasn’t about to hide out in the house of God when the work of God needed to get
done!
In
verse 12
we’re going to see that Nehemiah is man of
understanding.
To get a feel of what this means, look in
Proverbs chapter 8 where
we find that Wisdom is crying at the gates of the city - she makes her call in the most public of places, by the gates, at the entry of the city - to come to her. Wisdom, with nothing to hide is available to everyone. Wisdom is not hidden, it cries out to all who will listen. Just as Christianity is for all, so is wisdom, knowledge, and understanding which are attributes of God.
In
verse 14 she calls herself
understanding.
Then in
Proverbs 17:24,
Solomon says this: “Wisdom is before him that hath understanding.”
When you have understanding, you have access
to wisdom.
Nehemiah was
given the option to go and hide from his enemy in the house of God.
But he understood the situation, and
something seemed fishy to him.
He says in
verse 12 that he “perceived” that this was not of God but that this friend was
hired and doing a job for the enemy.
I want to
skip ahead to verses
17-19 Chapter 6 before looking at 15-16.
Nehemiah writes that many of the leaders were
connected to the enemy.
This was the
reason that we saw some of the leaders not putting their “neck to the work of
the Lord” in chapter 3.
The enemy
controlled those men, so there was no way they were going to lift a finger to
help Nehemiah rebuild the wall.
Our enemy is
always at work around us to get us to quit building up our wall of protection. This was the enemy’s best attempt to get Nehemiah
to quit the work; not the direct attacks or the mocking, not even the attempt
to get Nehemiah to leave, but to have
people already in the city to try to bring the effort to stop progress from the
inside, including even plans to kill him.
The enemy
knows me well and knows my weaknesses.
He almost got me to quit before I even got started. A few times already I’ve been pretty
discouraged, but I am determined, with God's help, to not quit this work.
I am determined to continue to work despite
the enemy’s efforts to discourage me and get me to quit. Our only defense against this attack is to do
what Nehemiah does…get to doing God’s work. He will give us the wisdom and understanding to accomplish this!
So, back to
Chapter 6, verses 15-16. The workers
finished building this wall in 52 days!
Look at how the enemy responds in verse 16: “…when all our enemies heard
thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were
much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought
of our God”.
They knew they were defeated
because this work was of God and the people of God kept their focus on God.
If you read
through the rest of Nehemiah, which is a total of 13 chapters, you’ll see that
they dedicate the wall and they celebrate its completion.
But they don’t stop working, now it’s onto
cleaning up the town. It also documents another of
Nehemiah’s accomplishments which was to make a record and genealogy of all the
nobles, officials and people who were then living in Judah.
One last
thing: In chapter
13 verses 7-8, years later Nehemiah has found that Eliashib, a high
priest, gave the enemy, Tobiah, (remember him from chapter 2) a great room in
the courts of the house of God.
Nehemiah
simply gathers all of Tobiah’s stuff and takes it to the curb, lol.
I hope you
get as much as I did from this story. I
hope that you can apply these truths to your life and to the building of your
wall.
Nehemiah believed that God would use
him to get the wall rebuilt. He never
tried to attack his enemies, but trusted God would deal with them.
He recognized God’s blessings and favor and
shared the news with the people to give them hope and motivate them.
Nehemiah was
not a spiritual leader or prophet. His fasting and praying triggered changes.
Through his process of rebuilding and
dedicating the wall
we can learn many lessons from Nehemiah on prayer,
leadership, overcoming enemies, restoring hearts, and integrity.
I truly
appreciate everyone who has taken the time to read this. Please let me know what you get from this
story.
