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SERVICE AMIDST OPPOSITION (III)
MONDAY, JANUARY 19
Nehemiah 4:1-6

Ezra 4

 

“…if this city be builded again,

and the walls thereof set up…”

 

SERVICE AMIDST OPPOSITION (III)
 
Sanballat and his friends were against the work and its progress. They gathered to ensure the work stopped. The workers had been rallied and inspired to service by Nehemiah through his speech in Nehemiah 2. Sanballat and his friends, on the other hand, set out to discourage them and to shake their faith and resolve. As the people had been encouraged to work by words of faith, the enemies sought, by the use of words and questions of doubt, to discourage them. The progress of the work relied not only on the physical strength of the workers, but on their spiritual faith and resolve; and this was the target of the enemies in their speech.
 
Will they fortify themselves? (Neh 4:2). The second question was about the political intent of the Jews. This was a question with historical precedence. The threat of political rebellion was the tool used to get the king to stop the building of the Temple in Ezra 4. Here, Sanballat sought to use it to discourage the Jews from rebuilding and repairing the walls. They had trumped up false charges against the Jews to the king, and they again brought the same false charges. Is not the work they were doing a flagrant rebellion against the king’s decree and was there not a law in the king’s annals against this very endeavour? This question being asked in the presence of “his brethren and the army of Samaria” (Neh 4:2) would, apart from fuelling doubt among the builders, instil fear in them. The people had been motivated to work not by political intent, but because they had seen the conditions in which they lived “how Jerusalem lieth waste” (Neh 2:17) and had heard the testimony of God’s providence in their favour (Neh 2:18). They had also received news of the king’s goodwill (Neh 2:18). They rose to work as the servants of God trusting in God’s help (Neh 2:20). It was not a political endeavour or a planned revolt. This was God’s doing and work. Neither the threats and false charges nor the slow progress and their inexperience in construction work could deter them because God would help them! People may misjudge and misunderstand us, but as long as God receives and accepts us, we must serve.
 
THOUGHT: (Meditate on the lyrics of “Standing on the Promises.”)
PRAYER: O, Father, grant me stedfast faith and enable me to trust in Thy grace amidst the trials and difficulties of life.

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