4:1 Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. 2 And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” 3 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” 4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. 5 Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.
6 So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.
7 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. 8 And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. 9 And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
When Sanballat heard that the project to rebuild the wall was going ahead, he was angry and began to tease and mock the Jews. He gathered with his friends and the army of Samaria and started to make fun of them. He called them feeble and questioned whether they would be able to finish the job themselves. “Will they sacrifice?” was a question of whether they would be able to offer up sacrifices of thanks for a job completed. He mocked their timeline and their ability to complete the job with the resources they had available. Tobiah joined in and ridiculed their work as a poor job that wouldn’t even hold up the weight of a small animal like a fox.
Nehemiah’s response was to turn to God in prayer. He recognised that their opposition was not against him or Israel, but against God. It wasn’t his job to deal with the opposition, that was God’s prerogative. As Christians, we are called to pray for our enemies (Matt 5:44; Rom 12:14). Because of Jesus, we need to take a slightly different approach to Nehemiah. Our prayer should also that God deals with those who oppose our work for Him, but it should be that God deals with them the same way He has dealt with us, by changing us through belief in His Son—Jesus. We must love our enemies and pray for them, but that doesn’t mean we let them derail our task for God. Nehemiah didn’t just sit down and pray, he continued with the work at hand. They continued building and go the wall to half its height. Nehemiah committed the situation to the Lord in prayer and then got on with the work.
Sanballat, Tobiah and their gang were angry that the construction of the wall was going ahead. So they escalated from jeering to threatening to come and fight against Jerusalem. Again Nehemiah led them in prayer and then posted a guard to protect them as they continued the work.
Who or what is trying to derail you from working effectively for God? Satan uses many tactics to prevent us from being effective in service. Perhaps you’ve been derailed from even getting going in the first place or maybe you feel down and dejected and weary to continue. Pray for God’s strength and protection and then get up in faith that He will help you achieve your goal.