Faith, Prayer, and Grit

I love the way Nehemiah responds to trouble. Throughout the project of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem he encountered opposition, ridicule, threats, plans to attack the city, and even plans to kill him. He responded to each circumstance with faith, prayer, and grit.

Check out the intimidation, mocking and threats he faced and how he responded to them.

Nehemiah 2:10-16
Neighboring leaders were "very displeased that someone was seeking the welfare of Israel."

Not to be intimidated, Nehemiah went on to inspect the walls. He took care to do so under cover of night and not yet reveal his intentions to the people. He'd had a plan and moved forward with it.


Nehemiah 2:19-20
Sanballot, Tobiah, and Geshem "mocked and despised" them. "What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?" It seems they wanted to intimidate Nehemiah and suggest that they'd tell the king all about his plans. They didn't know Nehemiah had the full blessing of the king.

Nehemiah's response? He got in their faces, so to speak. He told them: "The God of heaven will give us success, therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem."

I love that response! "HEY! You have no place in this matter. You have no right to even speak to it, so just back off!"  This makes me think of my fear. Christ bought my freedom and healing, has called me out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9), and has given me everything pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). I do not have to give in to fear, obeying it's commands. Nehemiah's example reminds me that fear has no portion or right to me.


Nehemiah 4:1-6
Sanballot became furious and mocked Israel. Tobiah joined in the mocking saying, "Even what they are building - if a fox should  jump on it, he would break down their stone wall."

Nehemiah's response: He prayed. "Hear, O our God, how we are despised? Return their reproach on their own heads."

Then what did Nehemiah do?

"So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height for the people had a mind to work." They just kept on going, not letting the enemy thwart their purpose and their drive to finish the work.

I love the casual way it's stated, like it's not big deal. I picture the telling of a captivating tale.
"Really? They said that? Oh my gosh! What did you do?"

"Oh, we built the wall."


Nehemiah 4:7-10
Enemies heard the work went on and that breaches began to be closed, and they became very angry. They conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem.

When Nehemiah got wind of it, his response was to pray and take action.  "But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night."

They partnered with God in thwarting the enemy's plans to disrupt the work. They prayed and they employed wisdom. They carried on the work; they didn't sit down and quit, or even wait for things to settle down. They proactively set up a guard against the enemy and carried on.


(More tomorrow.)