More lessons from Nehemiah

Every good story has a protagonist (the hero) and an antagonist (the bad guy).  Sometimes, there are several "bad guys," many different groups of people that come against the hero or heroine.  

As we read on in Nehemiah, we don't have to read too far into it to come upon Nehemiah's opposition.  

Chapter three lists all of the workers and their various jobs in simply repairing the wall.  They haven't even started the rebuilding process yet.

Then, in chapter four, the fun begins!  We read about all the ways the Jews' enemies try to thwart their work.  

4:2 The opposition belittled the Jews' work.
4:3 They were sarcastic toward them.
4:5 They demoralized them.

But then, after Nehemiah cried out to the Lord to save them from their enemies, for the Lord to bring them down instead of letting their enemies bring them down, we see...

4:6 The Jews continued their work and started rebuilding the wall, after repairing it.
4:6  This angered their enemies because their vicious attacks did not stop the Jews from their work.

Nehemiah took his hurt and anger to God, as we all would be wise to do.  He let God deal with the naysayers and haters and trusted Him to take care of it as he moved forward with the task that God gave him to do.  

How often do we let negativity stop us in our tracks?  Are we easily discouraged?  Do we really know God?  Or are we more focused on everything that is going wrong, or trying to get us off track?  

I'm sure you've already heard that once we set our mind to follow Jesus and do His work that we can expect opposition.  I think knowing that is half the battle.  Though it is always a pain to experience, we mustn't forget the next part of the battle.  We need to keep working anyway. 

The "powers that be" never like to see the underdog "getting ahead."  The Jews were the minority.  They were usually outnumbered by many other forces, armies.  

But when you have God on your side, as He always was and still is with His chosen ones, then the victory is yours.  It doesn't matter if you are outnumbered in the natural. That is nothing to God.  

The trick is to keep our eyes on our omnipotent God and not let our focus move to our enemies.

We see Nehemiah facing opposition, threats to the work God gave him to do.  But we always see him turning to God in prayer about the situation.  His faith empowers him to keep on.  

When you know that God is for you, no opposition can bring you down.

Then, once encouraged by God, we see Nehemiah passing it forward to his people in verse 14.  "Do not be afraid!" Nehemiah tells them.  He reminds them that God is on their side.  This renews their courage and strength.

So what do they do?  They continue their work, but now working with one hand on the task, and the other holding a weapon!  (4:17)  

To me, this means that we are both on the offense and the defense when we work for Jesus.  We do the actual work while fighting the spiritual battles - with the devil on our backs, so to speak!

They also worked night and day.  They didn't give up when they were tired.  Their schedules belonged to God now.

What about our schedules?  Are they fully surrendered to God?  There are times when we may need to put in more effort than other times.  God strengthens us accordingly.  Our schedule may look nothing like our neighbor's, and that's okay.  

We need to be open to what God is calling us to do.  We need to expect opposition.  We need to take our worries, concerns, and pain to the Lord.  We need to believe that no matter how strong or numerous our opposition that God is on our side, is for us, and He will bring it to fruition if we simply keep on doing the work He has for us.  Eyes on Jesus, not the naysayers.

When we work together, we truly can do anything.  It's when the infighting happens that is the real tragedy.  

We need to know our part, our role, in the endeavor.  Though it is a much overused expression, we need to "stay in our lane."  Remember who the real enemy is.  Be humble enough to accept whatever role God has asked you to play, because every role is crucial in His economy.  

Stay tuned for more on Nehemiah.  I have a feeling it gets even better!