Wednesday, July 16

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Wednesday

So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.  But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.  And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.  In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.”  And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.”  At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.”  So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows.  And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”         - Nehemiah 4:6-14

In this part of the story of Nehemiah, the work was half finished. It was an exciting, but dangerous time; much had been done, but much was left to do. Fatigue and discouragement were ready to set in, if given an opportunity.  

It was also about this time that the opposition is getting organized. Instead of just a couple of critics shouting insults we have the beginnings of a conspiracy.  Sanballat has gathered all the disgruntled parties to resist the rebuilding of the wall. 

Sanballat and the Samaritans were in the North, the Arabs were in the south, Tobiah and the Ammonites were in the east, the men of Ashdod were in the west. The Jews were surrounded by these people who were conspiring against them. Have you noticed that negative people tend to gravitate to each other?  The purpose was to fight and stir up trouble. These folks are all around. Some people, their whole purpose in life, seems to be against stuff. 

On the one hand, this was serious: the wall was built to protect against the attacks of violence, and now it seemed that the very building of the wall may prompt an attack to come. It would have been easy for the people to fear and to think perhaps all their work would be made useless.

On the other hand, this wasn’t serious at all. We notice that they didn’t attack - they just talked about it. Sanballat and Tobiah were hoping that the threat of attack would be enough. Satan uses the same strategy of fear against us, and if we are paralyzed by a threat the threat has worked - even when nothing actually happens against us.

Let me ask you an important question: When is discouragement most likely to occur?  Notice that in verse 6 it says,  "So we rebuilt the wall until all of it reached half of its height."  Discouragement comes most often at or near the half way point.  When you start a project you are excited and motivated, you’ve got grand plans and you can’t wait to get going.  At the end of a project, you are motivated because you can see the finish line and you are excited to get it over with.  But, how many of you have half finished projects around your house, and how long have those projects been half finished?  Even as I write this, I’ve got an inside and an outside project that have been sitting around about half-done for several weeks.

This passage from Nehemiah shows us 3 major causes of discouragement:

1. Fatigue -  "the strength of the laborers is giving out" Vince Lombardi once said, "Fatigue makes cowards of all of us.”

2. Frustration - "there was so much rubble" Frustration is usually a matter of perception. Actually the piles are getting smaller.  The people are so discouraged by the conditions that they say, "we cannot rebuild the wall." 

3. Fear - "the enemies will attack us" The opposition always has two goals. One of them is to hinder God's word and one is to stop God's work. 

Perhaps nobody in history (outside of the Bible) has put this better than Winston Churchill.  Against incredible odds, he led a nation to victory in World War 2. I love what he said to a group of young men at Harrow School,October 29, 1941:  "Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." 

This is not at all unlike what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

Jeff Frazier