Nehemiah 4:14-20King James Version (KJV)
14 And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.
15 And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work.
16 And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.
17 They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.
18 For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.
19 And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another.
20 In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us.
Well mon peuple it is that time of the month again. The I AM GOD!! People I am wondering about the wisdom of this Blog. I know it is the will of God for my life but every month as I start to research the whole hosts of hell lets loose. Now do you see what has happened my telephone has been stolen I mean the third telephone suppose I was a woman of gab I would be devastated. Fortunately for me the omniscient God the One who is all knowing knew what would be happening so He had me mine the important numbers. So, if you are important to me I still have your number.
Canada is good for me it has made me realized that I was a babe in the woods. I thought I was rapture ready. You know not that you don’t know until you realize that you don’t know. Get the logics people. Every day, I read this Bible I am saying 'wow' was that always there.
REFLECTIONS
Mon peuple, as I have already said I am wondering what I have been doing all these years when I was reading the Bible. I said to myself Raphleta, this is a very good book for you to learn in your present circumstances and immediately the title for the blog came "Building in the Midst of Opposition". It is very easy to do things when there is peace on all sides. In fact, when one is at ease in Zion that is usually the time that one gets into sin look to King David (that is my next Blog II Samuel 12) and King Solomon he had peace all around and he did all kinds of abominations the children of Israel are still repenting for all the things that he did.
CRITICAL DEFINITIONS
Nehemiah – Means "comforted by YAHWEH" in Hebrew. One Pastor I listened to liken his work to that of the Holy Spirit - The comforter. According to the Book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament he was a leader of the Jews who was responsible for the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the return from the Babylonian captivity.
WHO WAS NEHEMIAH?
Nehemiah was a Godly Jew who lived during the 5th century B.C. in Susa, the capital of the Persian empire. He was the cup bearer to the Persian king, Artaxerxes I. Nehemiah's major responsibility was ensuring that the king's drink was not poisoned. This meant that he was the king's right-hand man because in the ancient world this was a very important and prestigious position. One of the easiest ways for an assassin to remove a monarch was through poisoning his drink. Even in his very comfortable position Nehemiah was mindful of the happenings in his homeland.
Nehemiah got wind of what was taking place back home in Jerusalem through travelers from Judah via the 'Star of David Newspaper'. The walls of Jerusalem were in ruins. The walls had been destroyed by the Babylonians about a century and a half before, when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem and took the Jews into captivity. The Jewish people who had returned to Jerusalem from Babylon following the seventy-year exile had completed the rebuilding of their temple, but the walls of the Holy city remained as piles of rubble.
After Nehemiah heard the bad news and did the weeping thing (nothing wrong with a good bout of weeping people, it cleanses the soul). His concern for his people lead him to fast and pray and seek the Lord for an answer Nehemiah 4 verses 1 - 11 . Please take note of all these prayers. These people prayed from a position of covenant. Daniel prayed in a similar manner in Daniel 9 verse 4. After prayer Nehemiah had favour with the king who provided all that he needed THE I AM THAT I AM GOD, you need to rebuild a wall I have a king Artaxerxes 1. Only a monarch would have that sort of resources. Mon peuple we are under a new and better covenant you don’t need to be running all over the place to do the work of God. Hebrews 8 verse 6. Jesus has already been crucified.
THE PROCESS OF BUILDING AND REBUILDING
There were a number of things that took place during this process and will take place in our lives and in our physical building projects. Mon peuple, if you are not facing any opposition in your life it means the devil already has you or you are not building anything. The evil dignitary opposed the son of God himself, who are you? The words of the Bible:
- If it was not for the elect sake... St. Matthew 24 verse 22
We will look at the types of oppositions that came at Nehemiah and the leadership strategies that he used to nullify them. The book of Nehemiah is a great book on Biblical leadership like that of one of my favourite guys in the Bible, Daniel. People I keep saying the church is asleep.
TYPES OF OPPOSITIONS
- Scorn
Nehemiah 2 verse 19 even in the project scoping phase before the rebuilding process had begun Nehemiah's rivals scorned him. Hence, the importance of not revealing your ideas and dreams before they have manifested people will scorn you especially if you pose a threat to them, as Nehemiah was to these guys. Sanballat was the Governor of Samaria, Tobiah in charge of the Ammonites to the east and Geshem the Arabs to the south. Before Nehemiah came along these guys had things 'sown up' as the saying goes. A Jerusalem without wall favoured the economics of their country.
- Anger and Antagonism Against You
The scorn and laughter having not worked in the evaluation stage of the project, the enemy up the ante. Nehemiah 4 verses 1 - 7 Sanballat was wroth and filled with indignation. You can't get any angrier than that. The Hebrew word used means 'hot'. To say the fellow got hot under the collar is an understatement.
Verse 7 in anger over what Nehemiah was doing he and his brethren the Ammonite Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the Philistines all came together, threatening to stop the work by violence if necessary. The rebuilding of the wall threatened their lifestyle, so they got angry. The life of a politician. What is in it for me? There is nothing new under the sun.
Reminds me of an incident in 2011 when I lived in Nazi/Mafia land Mississauga. I was in the Dundas/Winston Churchill Area, I was walking home and noticed a white SUV with a Caucasian gentleman who looked like a cross between Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise (very handsome) following me. I paid him no mind. As it was then, so it is now. A bundle of people following me especially the Region of Peel police. They had those guys like a yo-yo. To cut a long story short the movie star looking fellow attempted to ride the side walk to run me over. I was most shock and wondered what I could have done to engender such anger from a stranger. I just looked at him and went on my way. Those that are with me are more than those who are against me.
- Mockery and Sarcasm
Well people the devices of the enemy have not changed. It is the same strategy from the garden of Eden. He will speak to the very core of who you are and your relationship with God. Just keep focus and remember who you are in God.
Nehemiah 4 verse 2 – Sanballat and his buddies decided to ask a couple of questions. Be very careful of who are asking you questions. What are these feeble Jews doing?
The answer – I can do all things through Christ.….Philippians 4 verse 13
Will they be fortifying themselves?
The answer – Like the mountains are around Jerusalem....Psalm 125 verse 2
Will they sacrifice? The devil is always afraid of true God centred worship.
Will they make an end in a day? Meaning are they capable of completing the work. Just keep focus and continue building.
Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?
God who is the pro in the vision had already provided building materials. Nehemiah 2 verse 8 He had letter to get building material from the king's forest for the wall.
Then Tobiah the sidekick threw in his sarcastic barb; 'If a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.'
The answer: My strength is made perfect in times of weakness... 2 Corinthians 2 verse 19
Satan frequently uses ridicule against those who take a stand for the Lord. If you decide to live for the kingdom you will be challenged not only by unbelievers but by persons who say they are Christians but are living a double life. You are always under a microscope. That is why cameras were placed in my apartment illegally to see if I was the real deal. I keep falling on my knees and thanking God for His protection over the years.
- Threats and Intimidation
If anger and ridicule don't work, the enemy gets more aggressive. In my own life it started with eavesdropping on my conversation physically, then it moved to reading my journals on a daily basis, then my emails, then ended up bugging my telephone and it continues.
In Nehemiah 4 verse 8, 11 – Sanballat and Tobiah threatened to use violence, which they circulated among the Jews living near enemy territory. The Commission was from King Artaxerxes so the attack could not have been overt or they would be fighting directly against the Persian Empire. But small bands of terrorists could sneak in and pick off a few of the people working on the wall. Sanballat would just advise the king that it was a renegade band that he did not have control over. Fast forward to today, like the militant Muslims, the threat of terrorist activity put the Jews under immense psychological pressure. In World War II the French resistance was a nightmare to the Germans.
Satan still uses subtle or overt threats and intimidation to oppose Christians. If you don’t keep quiet about the boss's corruption, you'll get fired. I did not so I was fired. 'If you discipline your children as scripture directs, the authorities will take them away from you.' If you write a paper in defense of the Christian faith, the Professor will fail you. If you pray and fast on a regular basis you are called a fanatic or mad.
I love this example given in the article by Pastor Steven Cole. The example emphasizes the point that church should not be run by boards but by the Biblical order. The author states that: "Years ago an evangelical Church in phoenix had a powerful attorney on the elder board who was having an affair. When they confronted him, and told him to step down from the board, he threatened them with a law suit that would bankrupt the church with legal fees, even if they won. He finally agreed to step down if all the elders resigned along with him. Sadly, the church capitulated to his threats! I had to read St. Luke 11 verses 46 - 52 - Jesus' woe to the lawyers. Most of them pervert more laws than they uphold.
- Discouragement and Exhaustion
Nehemiah 4 verse 10- The people seem to be getting discouraged. The strength of the people was fading and they were thinking that the pile of rubbish was not decreasing doubt had started to creep in. They had lost their earlier heart for the work that had resulted in the wall rapidly being built to the half way mark Nehemiah 4 verse 6.
Any venture that one embarks on in life will require commitment, focus and enthusiasm to see it through. In our Christian life the same thing is true. That is why the Bible says we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling Philippians 2 verse 12. When we just became saved everything is new and fresh but as we walk out the Christian journey we will have to be able to develop strategies to get over the bumps. Jesus had to pray himself through in the Garden of Gethsemane.
- Negativism
There are internal as well as external enemies. The internal enemies can be two-fold your inner voice, self-doubt regarding your abilities or correct calling. Then there are also the internal enemies such as persons who are close to you friends, family and relatives. The external opposition is challenging but the internal one is deadly. The anger, criticism and mockery in Nehemiah 4 verses 2 - 3 came from the external enemies. The negativism came from the Jews who lived in close proximity to the enemy Nehemiah 4 verse 12.
These people were not involved in the work of rebuilding the wall. That is significant! They lived near the enemy and thus were constantly being bombarded by the negative attacks on the work. They were not involved personally in the work. They were hearing negative reports and threats and they didn't know first-hand what God was doing in Jerusalem. They came repeatedly ('ten times' is an Hebrew expression meaning 'over and over') to warn Nehemiah and those working on the wall.
Invariably, negativism in the Church comes from professing Christians who lives closer to the enemy rather than God. They are not kingdom builders. They are also not interested in the truth about what is taking place. Such negativism is the enemy of faith.
In the book of Numbers 13 verses 28-29, 31 - 33The two spies confessed 'There are giants in the land.' There is a proper place for realism Nehemiah didn't ignore the very real danger that existed. However, if he had listened to these prophets of doom, he would not have finished the wall.
- Fear
Numbers 4 verse 14 Fear is the cumulative effect of all the above factors. The people had been exposed to the enemy's anger and had heard their mockery and threats. They were wearing down through exhaustion. Then they repeatedly heard doom and gloom from their fellow Jews who lived in enemy territory. Nehemiah saw their fear and exhorted them not to be afraid.
Fear is one of the major weapons of Satan against the people of God. The Bible states "God has not given us a spirit of fear'. Unfortunately, when God says only be courageous as with Joshua you know the process is not going to be easy.
- Division Amongst the People
Based on my training with Lady Marva Kerr in the area of Team Building, this would be the Storming Stage. When everyone is getting to know each other the intermingling of the different personality types, and becoming familiar with their different roles on the team. The stages of Team Building are outside the scope of this Blog you will have to do that research on your own. There were some fantastic CDs at Mississauga Central Library on leadership.
Just to make you aware of the fact that when we started Church in Jamaica we were high class in a classroom which was around 14' by 8'. We had a cable channel and people referred to us as the rich Church. We had our regular leadership training with Lady Marva Kerr, lovely woman of God never heard her say 'boo' to anyone.
Moving right along let us look at some of the things that were being done by the people.
Nehemiah 5 – Usury
Verse 5 - Have to use their children to repay their debts. Some were not in a position to redeem their children who were already servants because of their financial situation.
There will always be people who are willing to exploit people in challenging times.
Verse 7 - Thank God for Godly leadership like that of Nehemiah's. He rebuked those in charge. The Bible states that 'When the righteous are in authority the people rejoice.'.
Verse 15 - Nehemiah mentioned the exploitative and selfish behaviour of previous Governors versus the way he operated. A parallel to this would be the Apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 8 when he advised that he did not seek gain for himself from the churches that he oversaw but worked with his own hands.
- Conspiracy
Nehemiah 6 verse 1 - 14 His arch enemies sought to get him off his game by luring him into a secret meeting behind closed doors in order to kill him. Of course, one of the people they used were the prophets. People be careful of those prophets out there most of them have not been sent as Prophet Jeremiah has said. This speaks to the length to which your enemy will go to try and destroy you. With Satan murder is always an option St. John 10 verse 10
GODLY LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH OPPOSITION
Opposition will come and like all things in life there are many ways to overcome these challenges.
- You can flee like the Prophet Elijah
- You can try and dodge it or go around it like Jonah.
- You can work out a compromise like King Solomon and marry many women.
- You can meet it head on and work through it. Apostles Paul and Peter controversy in the Church at Galatia. Jesus Christ the cross.
The last approach is usually the only Biblical way. We will not go through the Sermon on the Mount again. Please remember to get your monthly Sermon on the Mount check. Nehemiah's leadership characteristics came to the fore. He used four leadership strategies to mitigate against opposition. They are:
- Prayer
- Unity
- Vigilance
- Focus
Prayer
Having heard the news about the destruction of Jerusalem. Nehemiah did not run ahead of himself and make plans. He sought God in prayer and fasting (an outdated terminology in North America). This is the hall mark of Nehemiah's life. When the opposition to the Jewish rebuilding project started the first thing he did was prayed especially when the numerical and brutish advantages are not on your side. Examples of this in the Bible would be David and Goliath I Samuel 17 and Jehoshaphat and the Children of Israel in II Chronicles 20. Prayer puts things in perspective it lets us remember that God is sovereign even against the Goliaths in our lives. Tests and trials are for a purpose, all a part of the process of character formation.
In terms of Nehemiah's prayer in Nehemiah 4 verses 4 -5. It is certainly not a gentle Jesus prayer. People, God is a God of mercy but He is also a God of judgment. Two sides of the same coin. The Children of Israel walked on dry land through the Red Sea but the same sea drowned Pharaoh and his army.
- This is not a prayer for personal vengeance, but rather a prayer that God would judge the sinners.
- This was not a project conceived by man but directly by God. You oppose God's work you oppose God Proverbs 11 verse 31.
- To pray for God's kingdom to come is a command of the Lord's Prayer. In addition, Revelation 11 verse 15 'The kingdom of this world shall become the kingdom of our God and His Christ and He shall reign forever.' We should always be mindful of the importance of as soul (Christ died for all of us) and pray for the conversion of sinners but forever Oh Lord is thy word settled in heaven.
If our hearts are right, we can pray that God would subdue the enemies of the cross, either by conversion, or by His justice Isaiah 37 verse 29. Prayer should always be our first response in the situations of life.
Unity
Nehemiah 4 verse 6 – The people had a heart to work. They didn't allow the enemy's threat to get their focus unto other issues. They kept building the wall, and pretty soon the enemy was outside looking up, instead of looking straight across at them over the wall. Keep looking up people. Psalm 121 look to the hills where your help comes from. Being aware of the devices of the enemy one has to have the ability to shut out distractions.
They Were Vigilant
Nehemiah 4 verses 16 - 23 - People if anything bears out the scripture 'Faith without works is dead.' This strategy more than all does. Nehemiah prayed first then he set up a guard. I love this 'Trust God and keep your powder dry!' By Pastor Steven. It is also of note that Nehemiah's prayer did not make the enemy go away. Instead the enemy increased the level of intimidation. One has to understand that there has to be a level of perseverance in prayer when you realize that you are in God's will. Jesus prayed all night. The Prophet Elijah prayed seven times before there was a cloud the size of a fist. As Dr. Moses Aransiola would say there is a prophetic number. Even though you have prayed you have to be mindful of the enemy's threats. You can't pretend they don’t exist. Nehemiah was vigilant to arm the workers and post guards around the clock. He put in place a warning system, so that whenever the trumpet was blown, the workers would quickly rally there to defend their families and the city. The workers didn't take off their clothes at night being prepared at all times to defend the city. Vigilance!!
Likewise, as Christians we have to be vigilant where our spiritual lives are concerned. You have to filter what you hear, see and say based on the word of God. Have a daily devotional and associate with people who can enhance your spiritual walk.
Keep Focus
Nehemiah 4 verse 14 – The people were discouraged because they had gotten their focus unto the enemy's threat, the piles of rubble, and all the work left to do. Nehemiah rightly directed their focus back to the Lord who is great and awesome and to the things that were at stake if they yielded to the enemy, mainly, their families. The intention of opposition is to get your focus off the Lord and unto your challenges Colossians 3 verse 2.
CONCLUSION
In concluding, this topic was chosen several months ago the first thing that happened when I started my research was my Google went, then my phone was stolen, the government held on to my money, then I had to flee Canada for my life. I started writing on the 6th and completed on the 8th November. I won't be using anymore videos. I will be using images I have to go through and insert some images.
I don’t know about you people but I enjoy writing these Blogs immensely. The Bible contains a wealth of knowledge. So,
If they scorn you............................................................... Keep building
If they mock you............................................................... Keep building
If they ridicule you............................................................ Keep building
If they lie about you.......................................................... Keep building
If they prophesy falsely..................................................... Keep building
If they try to take you off your assignment....................... Keep building
If they gossip about you.................................................... Keep building
If they try to intimidate you.............................................. Keep building
If they get jealous and hate you........................................ Keep building
If they conspire against you.............................................. Keep building
No weapons formed against you shall prosper and every tongue that rises against you, you shall condemn. Isaiah 54 verse 17
Once again, this is me Lillene’s baby girl coming to you from up here in the true south of the true north.
À bientôt!
REFERENCES
