Will to Build
(Nehemiah's Wall)
I was exploring various scriptures looking for something to show us the many ways we can be thwarted in our pursuit of God�s work. I kept looking at exciting passages where the action was fast paced or truly miraculous. I just kept skipping over Nehemiah thinking that all he did that was even remotely interesting was to build the wall around the city. Throughout the week, I noticed several bible studies from Nehemiah. On Television, and then the radio, even a friend of mine�s personal study was coming from the same book, and not one of them even mentioned the building of the wall, which got me to thinking about it and why no one had discussed it, or at least hit the high points. I thought to myself �it ain�t parting the Red Sea or anything, but it is important�. The whole project demonstrated commitment through adversity. Eventually I got the hint. I gave it a read and once reading, I realized it was a very exciting undertaking, fraught with danger and intrigue, seeing how Satan used the people; circumstances and political climate to attempt to bring an end to Nehemiah�s dedication in making a refuge� a home for the remnant of his people. There right in the book I had been consciously ignoring were some of the insidious ways Satan will use to prevent us from accomplishing our task for God. I am going to concentrate on the period of construction of the wall around Jerusalem. But let me give you a little recap up to this point. Nehemiah was a trusted servant of Artaxaxeres (Art a Zerk sees) and when Nehemiah heard of the plight of his people. They were in need of help; the fortified wall that had surrounded the city was in disarray they were unorganized, had no stable form of government, and lacked the skills to remedy either of these. Leaving them at the mercy of all of their enemies. Nehemiah felt called to help, he was in a unique position as cupbearer for one of the great Persian kings to ask for permission to go to Jerusalem. When the opportunity arose, he asked to be permitted to go to Jerusalem. It was a risk if he displeased the king with his request he could be risking not only his status but his life as well. Nehemiah knew his mission, and even though he was fearful of the kings reaction he didn�t stop with simply asking to go to Jerusalem he risked even more by asking for resources and manpower to aid him his task. Artaxaxeres (Art a Zerk sees) trusts Nehemiah and gives him an appointment as something similar to a prefect or governor to go to Jerusalem to organize the people, and to get the civil system and the fortifications in place so that they might thrive as a people and in so be a productive part of the Persian Empire. When he arrived in Jerusalem the first thing he did was to go out alone to see exactly how large a task lay ahead of them and even though it was a great undertaking he knew that if God were on their side it would be completed. After this nocturnal assessment of the situation, he rallied the people and reconstruction began. Almost everyone pitched in and soon the wall was well under way. Ridicule and distain (making fun of) Almost as soon as the project was underway Sanballant and Tobiah laughed and mocked them throughout the provinces they hoped to make the plan seem foolish to the people who were pouring their hearts into the project. 4:1 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. 4:2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? 4:3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. Anytime you hear that kind of hateful ridicule you can rest assured that fear lies underneath it (its like whistling past the graveyard). They thought the people so weak that they could plant the idea of failure and stand back and watch as their confidence faded. I am sure that all of us have been mocked because of some work God has placed on us, and it can weaken us in our purpose. Especially, people who are immature or weak in their faith whose growth as a child of God could be stunted right there can be, just by making fun of their idea. Nehemiah�s reaction to this was to pray� to turn to God Nehemiah 4:4 Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity: 4:5 And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. And, after this prayer construction continued with renewed strength, but there is always a but� Then the breakdown of attitude comes. If you read closely, you see that because of a perceived sense of entitlement some of the residents were not pulling their load. Which threw more work on the rest of the workers, and you can only carry someone for so long before it becomes overwhelming. Plus, the sheer scale of the project must have seemed overwhelming. They had lost the single mindedness required for a project of such enormity. They could not concentrate on just doing it one piece at a time they were stunned by the big picture. 4:10 And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall. They had become weary in the work every one gets weary of work, but to become weary in the work of God is heartbreaking. They felt that they could not possibly continue there was too much to do and they were exhausted physically, which can be overcome we have all for one reason or another pushed ourselves beyond our physical limits; they had become weak in spirit. Not totally understanding that this was God�s work not their own nor that of any man. And that their enemies were pleased to see them viewing this as a burden not a blessing, and even now we sometimes see our blessing as burdens when we should be seeing our burdens as blessings. Nehemiah had to encourage them to continue just as we sometimes need reassured in our own work, for the kingdom of God. Violence Then they were threatened violence and 4:7 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, (these Guy�s were politicians who in no way wanted this project to take off since it could weaken their own position of power) and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, (where do you think these people heard of this in Strongs it seems to indicate that it was Sanballat and Tobiah who spread the word around the provinces) and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, 4:8 And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it. 4:11 And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease. 4:12 And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times, From all places whence ye shall return unto us they will be upon you. Not put aside so easily Nehemiah got prepared and took action to protect this great work and those who worked on it. He set a guard and prepared the people to fight for what they believed. 4:13 Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 4:14 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. 4:15 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. THIS IS IMPORTANT NOW SO LISTEN!!! Notice that once Nehemiah� charges were prepared for the confrontation the bullies lost heart for the prospect of a fight. Bullies have always been the same stand up to them and they fold. 4:16 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. 4:17 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. 4:18 For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. Check that out a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. This shows us that we must sometimes prepare for the worst and yet still depend on God that His will, shall be done no matter what may arise in the course of His calling on us. If you pursue God�s, will. Satan will notice Satan will being everything he can to bear down on you�..Whatever he has to do to stop you is exactly what Satan will do no matter how horrible or deceptive. He will attack you body and mind, cut at your heart, take loved ones from you and throw boulders and distractions in your path�. Listen up now cause this is important�IF that is what it takes to stop you then that is exactly what The Evil One will do, he will do it to break your heart to disrupt your mind to cause you to distrust the Lord God. Just so that he might steal your blessing and spoil God�s plan for you. Two years ago this month a Missionary Nun in Northern Africa was shot three times in the back. Simply, because she represented Christ�s work on earth she had provoked no one her only concern was the care and feeding of children left behind in the conflicts of civil war. These so called soldiers chose to use this to demonstrate how being a Christian would not save her from an assassin�s bullet. Nothing is beyond Satan in his need to prevent you from walking in Christ�s Light. Back to the wall�. Depletion, Discord, Strife among the ranks The whole land had been in a state of famine due to a drought it had been 75yrs since it had been easy to raise food, therefore even more effort was necessary to raise even a subsistence crop, and given the time, spent working on the wall food was particularly scarce. Many of the people had borrowed in order to stay alive some had even sold their children into slavery to gentiles It was just tough going for every one just getting by but now there is the wall�How do we deal with that �one more thing�. Nehemiah had to stop work and hold a meeting. He was in shock that people were taking advantage of their own people. The lenders had charged outrageous interest rates making it impossible for anyone to even make payments much less pay off the loans while consumed with rebuilding the city walls. And selling a Jew into slavery to gentile was absolutely not permitted, it was common practice to bond ones self to a fellow Jew to pay a debt because no debt could be held over for more than seven years, but to outright sell your family to gentiles was a sin Distraction (Luring him away) 6:1 Now it came to pass when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though at that timeI had not set up the doors upon the gates;) 6:2 That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. 6:3 And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you? 6:4 Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner. These people did not want to talk they wanted draw him away maybe because Ono was located on a vast plain and would be perfect for and ambush or if nothing else to at the very least delay the project to buy time to plan. Every delay was one more dangerous day for the city to be unprotected. Sanballat and Tobiah we actually fearful of what These Jews were capable of if given a stronghold to call home. Kind of sounds like what is going on in Israel even as we speak, their enemies are willing to blow themselves up killing innocent people to prevent the Jews from keeping their promised homeland. Slander 6:5 Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand; ( now and open letter was for any and all to hear it was a proclamation against Nehemiah) 6:6 Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words. 6:7 And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together. 6:8 Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart. Nehemiah is being accused of treason a very serious accusation but Nehemiah refused to even lend them credibility He just tells them in essence �You are lying� and proceeds to finish the wall and its gates refusing to be deterred from his task. This applies to today as well any time you see the motives of a true man of God being questioned you can bet that He is on the right track, but that�s not to say that everyone who claims to be one is but if we test these people we can discern their true motives. Let�s see where we stand right now the people have a threat to attack Jerusalem and now Sanballant and Tobiah have fabricated a reason to deliver on the threat. The people had already been through so much, and now to cast doubt on their leader even they began to be fearful that if this was told to the Kings and governors its truth did not matter without question they would be crushed under the weight of massive armies of the surrounding provinces Nehemiah had never taken even the taxes due him in any of his positions first off, he let his God supply his needs and second the people he had charge of could not afford to pay the taxes and tributes that were normally expected of them. So, Nehemiah took it to the Lord. 6:9 For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. Notice the first thing Nehemiah does in every situation is cry out to the Lord. So far nothing has prevented the wall from being restored Now Old Satan rolls out his favorite weapon� Deception 6:10 Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee. 6:11 And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. 6:12 And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 6:13 Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me. Nehemiah was a layman, and he knew that any real prophet of God would not make such a request of him. Since it was a sin for a layman to go into the inner part of the temple as Shemaiah was telling him to do he knew the Mosaic law. He read his scripture, and a person that stays in the Word will not be easily fooled, not only because he remembers what he has read. Because staying in God�s Word is in effect staying in communication with God. In the New Testament Paul�tells us that this is an ever-present situation for those who intend to live for God. The Devil and his cohorts will pretend that what they say is from the Father Himself and are not afraid to present themselves as such in hope that we may be fooled into doing his will and be deterred from our appointed work. 2 cor 11:12: But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. 13: For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14: And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Now here comes my favorite part chapter 6: verse15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days. Working almost nonstop start to finish against the powers of Satan himself 52 days and I�d say unlike civil projects of today he probably came in under budget as well. So, What can we take from this, I think that we see that when every thing conspires against us, with all our endurance gone, when our spirit is thoroughly crushed, keep moving forward. We might be crushed and broken, down hearted and miserable, fumbling in the darkness of despair. Even feeling a little like Job� completely pulled down not one worthwhile thing left to hold onto. When we feel pushed down� Keep moving on God�s word. You might feel crushed under everything the Devil can throw at you. Pushed down so hard it is all you can do to struggle to your feet on your own. LET ME SAY THAT AGAIN It is all you can do to struggle to your feet on your own. If God has allowed you to be brought down low maybe it ain�t your feet he wants you to gain, but your knees. Sometimes we have to be pressed to our breaking point, completely destroyed. So, that like this wall we can be restored complete and better than before. Sometimes we have to be brought down low before we can reach for the higher places. A drowning man never reaches for the bottom of the pool but for the surface, he heads for the top. Like those who built the wall expect problems when you set about to do God�s work, but remember depend on the Lord and you will be lifted up. You will have the success He has planned. Because � To make wine Grapes have to be crushed. � To make a disciple the old man must die. Let us leave this place and build; all the while, we will be standing on the promises of God.
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