“In the Face of Trial”

Scripture Text: Nehemiah 4:10-15

Last week, we saw how the people of Judah had started to return to their homeland after 70 years of exile, and had begun to rebuild the temple. But as usually happens, there were many around them who didn’t want it to happen, and worked covertly and intently to frustrate them in their attempt. And we saw how the people were undaunted and continued to rebuild their place of holy worship.

This week, we see that the opposition never actually quit in their efforts to disrupt the construction – but now it is the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem that they are trying to interrupt. First, opposition to the completion of the people’s worship center, and now toward their means of protection. What next?

Read Nehemiah 4:10-12

A farmer purchased an old, run-down, abandoned farm with plans to turn it into a thriving enterprise. The fields were grown over with weeds, the farmhouse was falling apart, and the fences were collapsing all around the place.
During his first day of work, the town preacher stops by to bless the man’s work, saying, “May you and God work together to make this the farm of your dreams!”
A few months later, the preacher stops by again to call on the farmer. Lo and behold, it’s like a completely different place — the farmhouse is completely rebuilt and in excellent condition, there are plenty of cattle and other livestock happily munching on feed in well-fenced pens, and the fields are filled with crops planted in neat rows. “Amazing!” the preacher says. “Look what God and you have accomplished together!”
“Yes, Pastor,” says the farmer, “but remember what the farm was like when God was working it alone!”
- from Homeletics Online

The farmer was seeking recognition for his sweat and toil, so we might offer for his benefit “Consider what it would have been like if you had tried to work it alone!”

The people of Judah had set out on an overwhelming task – to rebuild a large city that had been totally destroyed - and they had come up against a couple of seemingly insurmountable obstacles - the amount of rubble that still remained from the original walls made the rebuilding nearly impossible, and the threat of attack from their foes made them fear for their lives. The workers were frustrated and tired, they weren’t sure of what their next step should be, and what if they did came under attack? How would they ever be able to defend themselves?

Even their own friends and neighbors kept the rumors flying – “No matter what you do, no matter how you prepare, they are going to get you.” You can almost sense the fear in these words of warning. So what do you do about it? You do whatever it takes.

Read Nehemiah 4:13-14

Nehemiah realized that as long as the people were worried to a point of distraction over the impending attacks, they could never regain the strength to resume the building of the city’s walls, and that without the walls, they would be subjected to more and more threats from their neighbors – it would be a vicious cycle of “going from bad to worse.
So he did 2 things. First, he set up defensive positions to protect the workers and families in the city, and second, he reminded them of the source of their power and strength – the Lord God Almigthy Himself.
Remember the farmer – he knew that it nearly always requires a team of God and people to accomplish anything worthwhile. The Lord seldom does anything alone, and we can’t do it alone. And while both Nehemiah and the farmer may never have understood why the repairs needed to take place, they both knew that it must. The farmer may have thought that it made good business sense, and Nehemiah may have just wanted to restore the capital city to its former glory, but God always seems to have a different idea in mind.

Many years ago a little church on the coast of England was ruined in a hurricane. The congregation wanted to rebuild, but thought themselves incapable of the task.
Then one day a representative of the British Admiralty came to the pastor to ask if they intended to reconstruct the church. The clergyman explained why they were unable to do it. “Well,” said the navy’s representative, “if you don’t rebuild the church, we will. That spire is on all our charts and maps. It is the landmark by which the ships of the seven seas steer their course.”
- from Homeletics Online

The pastor and his congregation thought that rebuilding the church was all about them and only for them, and they couldn’t imagine how they would ever do it. But there was a greater purpose, and that purpose was not only to be a place of worship for the people, but also to serve as a guide to many ships and their crews, to show them the way into a safe harbor.

Since the farmer’s story was just that – a story – there doesn’t appear to be a higher calling for his effort to rebuild, but Jerusalem is a totally different situation. The city had to be restored because in just 450 years, Jesus’ ministry would revolve around the city, and it was to have a critically important role in God’s plan of salvation.

Read Nehemiah 4:15

The verse doesn’t say that the enemy ended their efforts to stop the rebuilding, and they didn’t! It simply says that when the preparations for defense were revealed to them and their efforts were shown to be useless, the people returned to the project of restoring the walls that were so vital to their safe existence.

All too often, the people of Christ’s Church become so focused on the efforts of the enemy, and so caught up in fear of what the foe may do to them, that they forget that they have a totally different purpose in life. Our job isn’t to guarantee the defeat Satan – God has already done that!! The church’s job is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ – nothing more and nothing less. And the truth is that Satan loves to see us become so engrossed with him that we completely loose our focus on the Lord! Satan doesn’t care if we love him, or even that we hate him – he simply wants us to look away from God.
Have you ever gotten caught up in the battle to the point that you forget that the outcome has already been decided? It’s draining, it’s exhausting, it’s crippling!
And our real work is forgotten, just like the people of Judah lost their vision and energy in their work to rebuild Jerusalem. God would use the people in a minor way for defense of the city, but it was His frustration of the enemy that allowed them to regain their energy and to get back to their primary task.

It’s time for the church to get back to its primary task – to make disciples for Jesus Christ. The Lord has provided us with all the armor we will ever need, all the offensive weapons that we will need, all the tactics and strategies that we will ever use, and he has already assured the outcome of the war – He wins! Hallelujah!! And there’s almost nothing left for us to do in the battle!!
Oh, we may have a minor role in the conflict, but our main job is to share His Good News with the people of our world. We do that every time that we set aside our fear to speak His name in public, every time we place our trust in Him, and stop looking to the world for the answers to our questions and problems, every time we begin to gain that renewed confidence to tell others what God has done for us, and every time we offer an invitation to a friend to join us in worship on the very next Sunday morning.

Satan sends trials our way, not to destroy us, not to maim us, but to confuse and disorient us. That is exactly what was happening to the people of Judah, and if Nehemiah had failed to remind them that it is their “Lord who is great and awesome”, they might have continued to think that it was the enemy who was great and awesome, and they would never have finished their work.
Set aside the fear that rises up every time that a conflict presents its ugly face and just stay focused on the glorious and beautiful face of Jesus Christ. Nothing more. Nothing less.