Scripture: Nehemiah 6:1-14; Matthew 10:21-23
Aggression can arise in many different forms. It can come as a physical attack against our
homes, our families, and our own well-being; it can appear as emotional
disputes against our passions and desires; it can denounce us through
anti-spiritualism in an attempt to convince others that our faith is far less
than we have verbally professed; and it can even appear simply as lies
regarding our thoughts, our attitudes, our intentions, and even our
activities.
During the past year or so, we have been subjected
to the spreading of falsehoods regarding the validity of those who decide to
separate from our present denomination. Those
comments and accusations have, of course, totally missed the truth of the
entire situation. But that doesn’t mean
that they haven’t struck home and caused injury to those who have been actively
involved in the process.
For Nehemiah and the people of Israel, for those who
had been following their Lord’s call, and had given so much of themselves in
the rebuilding of their city and nation, there most assuredly had been at least
some hesitancy within their spirits, when verbally attacked by the occupation’s
leaders.
Today, we consider what the Israelites were
experiencing as opposition to their work, as well as what those evil efforts
were intended to accomplish.
Read Nehemiah 6:1-4
The suggested request that the three men sent to
Nehemiah may have seemed fairly innocent on the surface, and it may even sound
encouraging. But the Israelite leader
sees through their scheme, and recognizes the suggestion for what it is – an
attempt to bring the work on the wall to a halt before the gates have been set in
place and secured. But after their
failure in the first attempt, did Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem give up? Did they decide to try another tact to
interrupt the work? Not on your life. They tried the same thing at least 3 more
times.
That’s a favorite tactic that the enemy employs –
after a while, repetition can, at the very least, wear us down, and many times
can even take on the mantle of truth if the recipients aren’t careful. And the entire plan was to separate the
effective and respected leader from the very people who are trusting and
following him. Does the phrase “divide
and conquer” begin to ring true here?
Those men had lost their influence and authority in
Judah, and they weren’t about to let it fall away from them without starting a
fight to take it back.
Read Nehemiah 6:5-8
After four times, they try a different approach
through the unsealed letter, which made it a public accusation that the
ordinary Jews would have heard about, and would have had to consider the
possible consequences that could come from the charges. And what was the accusation? It was specifically directed toward Nehemiah
himself – that he was planning a revolt against the established authority of
Persia!
But Sanballat doesn’t leave it as a simple insinuation
against the lives of the Jews – he adds that since the letter was unsealed and
open for anyone to read, that the news of the allegation would soon get back to
the king, that one of the Jews he had trusted and appointed as Governor, was
about to declare himself king of Judah.
And what does Nehemiah send in response? He reminds Sanballat that he knows very well
that the source of the allegation is nothing more than his very active
imagination, and that it holds no truth whatsoever. Some pretty strong words from a captive of
Persia, but then, at the same time, he was also a man of faith who had absolute
trust in his Jehovah God who had brought Him and the people to this place, and in
this time, to complete a plan that had come from within the divine heart of God.
Read Nehemiah 6:9-14
We have already seen the prayer life that Nehemiah
exhibited, and in the face of the lies and maneuvering that the enemies were
conducting, his connection and love of God never slipped, never lessened, and never
failed. Intimidation didn’t seem to be
working, as fear never seemed to get a foothold in the Jewish community – at
least as far as we are told! But prayers
for strength and resolve continued, and were heard, and were answered.
Shemaiah had been chosen as a prophet of Israel, and
Nehemiah had gone to him for some unknown reason, but quickly realizes that
Shemaiah had apparently been turned by the enemy, and who now also takes up the
attempt to get Nehemiah to separate himself from the workforce. “Let’s hide in the temple and close up the
doors as protection against those who are out to harm you!”
Nehemiah saw through the lie, and then knew that the
prophet had been bought by Sanballat, which rendered his authority moot as far
as Israel was concerned. But even with
all of the intrigue and misdirection that had been created, the work on the
wall and the gates would still be completed in only 52 days. (Nehemiah 6:15-16)
Could this incredible task have gone so well if God had not been on
their side? Absolutely not! It was the Lord’s desire, the Lord’s plan,
the Lord’s preparation, and the Lord’s empowering that made it all come
together so quickly and so safely for Israel.
Read Matthew10:21-23
In this reading from Matthew’s gospel, the Lord is
warning his disciples that when they venture out into the world to proclaim the
name of Jesus, they will soon find that even the people who they should have
been able to trust and rely upon will turn against them. But this, in no way, should ever discourage
them in the ministry that had been laid upon them.
For them in their day, as well as us in ours, it should
come as no surprise that family, as well as church denominational family,
should “hate us because of our love and faith in Jesus”. Antagonism will come to Christ’s people
regardless of the day or year or locale or means, but the Lord tells us that it
will be our faith that will see us through it all. And Jesus also says that “when we are
persecuted in one place, that we are to flee to another.” And he puts this in a slightly different way
in Mark 6:11 – “11 And if any place will not
welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your
feet as a testimony against them.”
We
should consider Nehemiah’s example and Jesus’ instruction through Matthew, that
when others come against us because we choose to follow in the way of the Lord,
just stay strong and firm in faith, give it all over to the Lord, and let Him
straighten out all of the mess that hatred has created.
And
the Lord will be praised and honored in the end.
