Tonight I want to start by just jumping right into the text for this evening. Grab your Bible and open to Nehemiah 4:7-23. Instead of just reading through the whole text at once, keep your Bibles open as we will be walking through it piece by piece.
If you can remember where we left off last week in verse 6, we read that the Israelites, despite being verbally attacked by these two guys named Sanballat and Tobiah, had completed building half of the wall. Verse 6 tells us that it was because “the people had worked with enthusiasm.” They were able to ignore the harmful words from their enemies, take their feelings to God and were persistent in their work. This was a great accomplishment for the Israelites and one would think that the rest of the wall would not prove too difficult. I can imagine the cries from the city that may have been yelled out. “We are half way there!” “We can surely do it!” “We have the foundation set.” “We just need to add on to it.”
As this may have been the case as they finished the first half of the wall, our text will show that it didn’t last long at all. As we begin in verse 7 we will quickly see that more opposition was on the way and unlike the harmful words they faced earlier, they would be unable to ignore it and instead be pushed to the brink of giving up.
In verse 7 we read, “But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall were being repaired, they became furious.” Even though they had prayed and asked God for help with handling the opposition from Sanballat and Tobiah, God apparently had a different way of dealing with it than what one would assume.
Most of us have this idea that when we pray to God for help, He should fix it right away. But, that is not always the case as sometimes God allows things to get worse before they get better. As a reminder from a few weeks back, He does this not to be mean or a jerk, but to build our character, maturity, and our relationship with Him. This is definitely what happened with the Israelites.
Not only did they still have to worry about Sanballat the Samaritan and Tobiah the Ammonite, but now they had to deal with two other cities, the Arabs and the Ashdodites. What was even worse than the fact that there were two new cities was the fact of where all four of the cities were located. As I briefly mentioned last week, Sanballat and the Samaritans were located just north of Jerusalem. Tobiah and the Ammonites were located to the east. The Arabs were to the south and the Ashdodites were to the west. The Israelite people were completely surrounded by opposition.
The situation became even worse though as the form of opposition changed from harmful words to plots and threats of physical attack. In verses 8 and 9 we read, “They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and to bring about confusion there. But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves.” And then in verse 11, “Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, ‘Before they know what’s happening, we will swoop down on them and kill them and end their work.’”
Dealing with hurtful words is difficult enough, but now the people were looking death in the face! These changes in the situation, the fact that God didn’t answer the way they wanted, the fact that more surrounding cities joined in, and the threat now of a physical war proved too much for a lot of the Israelite people. In verse 10, we read that, “the people of Judah began to complain, ‘The workers are getting tired and there is so much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the walls by ourselves.’” Furthermore, the people were terrified of the threat on their homes, families, and selves. Verse 12 tells us that, “The Jews who lived near the enemy came and told us again and again, ‘They will come from all directions and attack us!’” In other words, “We are going to die!!!” Discouragement was setting in and the people were ready to give up.
Everyone here in this room has been in a similar place before whether it has been trying to make a difference in the world around you as a Christian, whether it has been trying to figure out who you are, or simply just dealing with a difficult situation at school, at home, or somewhere else. Opposition is building and getting more difficult instead of going away. We feel like God isn’t paying attention to us. We feel surrounded and alone and we feel that at any minute we will be attacked so badly that it will be the end of us. All we want to do is give up!
Throughout the rest of this passage in Nehemiah, I want to look at four things that will help us when we find ourselves discouraged, overwhelmed, and facing an increase of opposition. Let’s quickly read through the rest of the text starting in verse 13 and ending in verse 23.
***Read Nehemiah 4:13-23***
One of the first things Nehemiah and the Israelites did as things around them got worse, was they took a step back from their situation. In verse 15, it tells us that the people returned to work when the threat of an attack diminished, so therefore, at some point they had to stop working. Doing this allowed them to look at the situation and put it in perspective. It also allowed them to appropriately prepare for a potential attack.
I think a lot of times when we are in tough situations and facing a lot of discouragement and opposition, we can sometimes make it worse than it really is. We tend to respond to our surroundings out of emotion and we don’t really think through an entire situation. When we take time to step back, we can gather ourselves, sort through our emotions, and then look at the whole situation we are facing in a better light and perspective.
I have to do this fairly regularly on Monday’s as I write my messages for Breakaway. After I have been in my office for a while, I tend to get frustrated if ideas aren’t coming to me and I just feel bogged down. It isn’t until I take a break and clear my mind for a moment that I can start writing again.
The second thing that is important to point out is found in verse 14. Nehemiah tells the people, “Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious.” I know this is somewhat redundant to what we have talked about in other weeks and I know it sounds like the quick fix, Sunday School answer. But it is nevertheless very true, so important, and can’t be stressed enough. As we pointed out a few weeks ago with the tug-o’-war analogy, even when it seems that God is not with you, He is. Sometimes He is in front of us helping pull on the rope of life, other times He is right next to us, and other times He is in back of us and we just can’t see Him. Nehemiah takes it further in verse 20 expressing that “God will fight for us!”
The third thing that will help us in a discouraging time when things are tough is to surround ourselves with supportive people. In verse 13, Nehemiah stations the people by family, thus surrounding them with people who were important to them. And in verses 16 and 21 we see that the people work together as half of them do work on the wall while the other half protect the workers and stand guard. The people worked together to continue work and to make it through the tough situations. Without each others support and encouragement, the walls would never have been finished.
There is nothing worse in life than going through tough times alone, especially if they are getting worse and worse. It is so important to surround yourself with a good support group that will help you through the tough times in life. Most of you already have a good group whether it be your parents, friends at school, leaders here, or people from somewhere else. If there is anyone though who feels like they don’t have a good group, know that we leaders are here on Mondays to support you guys. We are hear to listen, pray, and love you guys as best as we can.
The fourth thing you can do is connected to having a support group and that is to use it! Just like in verses 19 and 20 where the Israelites set up an alarm system with the trumpets so they could quickly help one another, we need to not be afraid to do the same with our support groups. Often times, our pride gets the best of us and we want to try to fix an issue by ourselves, which is ok sometimes, but bluntly, what good is a support group if we never use it! Unless we take the risk of being honest and open with others we can’t ever get the support and encouragement that we need most.
We will all find ourselves in tough situations in life. We will all find ourselves backed against a wall feeling trapped and ready to give up. Many of us have all experienced these times in our lives, some multiple times. Some of us here tonight may feel like this right now. Take the time to step back and look at the situation in perspective. Take it to God! He is listening and wants to be there for you. God will fight for you! Surround yourself with friends, family, and mentors to help you and make sure you don’t neglect to go to them for help. Let us remember in these times of struggle and darkness that there is light on the other side.
