Hanging on a wall in an office was a sign that read: “A PRAYER TO BE SAID WHEN THE WORLD HAS GOTTEN YOU DOWN AND YOU FEEL ROTTEN AND YOU'RE TOO DOGGONE TIRED TO PRAY AND YOU'RE IN A BIG HURRY AND BESIDES. YOU'RE MAD AT EVERYBODY... help!” Today, in our study of Nehemiah we encounter a group of people whom the world has gotten down, who feel rotten, who were probably too doggone tired to pray, and were probably plenty mad. It is Nehemiah's ragtag band of Israelites who had taken on the huge task of rebuilding the city wall. They have successfully resisted opposition enough to get the wall to half its necessary height. But discouragement sets in. This episode shows how Nehemiah overcame the discouragement of his people. The narrative in the fourth chapter of Nehemiah continues:
In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.” So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”
So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon at his right hand (vs 10-23).
Why Life is Full of Pain and Difficulty
Let's review why it is that life is so full of pain, trials, and opposition. We face conflict on three different battlefields:
- We struggle with our own sinful nature.
- We struggle with the world that opposes Christ
- We struggle with Satan and the powers of darkness.
Let’s dig a little deeper. This struggle with our sinful nature alone would be enough to discourage and exhaust anybody. That sinful nature has invaded our mind, emotions, and will. Ephesians 4:17-18 says we must struggle and fight just to think correctly. “So I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord that you must no longer live as the gentiles do in the futility of their thinking they are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.” That's just our thinking.
Our feelings get all wrapped up in the wrong things too. “Do not love the world or anything in the world” writes John. Our lives can only be healthy and whole when we delight in the Lord—when he is the center of our affections. God designed life to work only when our loves are ordered correctly and for the affections of our heart to be focused on him and not spill over that channel into destructive alluring cesspools.
Our sinful nature also waits at the door to take captive our will the moment we give it a chance. James says “but each one is tempted when by his own evil desire he is dragged away and enticed.” Then after desire has conceived it gives birth to sin. So, we must battle a sinful nature that invades our whole being.
We also must battle the world. Jesus tells his followers, “If the world hates you keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you” (Jn 15:18-19). The “world” is not God's material creation; it is the ungodly world system that opposes God. I know a teacher who recently instinctively slapped the hand of a boy who was refusing to obey her and about to cause damage in the middle of a music classroom full of kids. She was worried afterward about getting in trouble for this instinctive action, which the child deserved. Proverbs 13:24 says, “He who spares the rod hates his son but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." That truth runs contrary to the world's system that sees any kind of safe physical punishment like slapping the hand or spanking a child as abuse. It is not. It is inflicting temporary pain on a safe part of a child’s body to teach a child to self-regulate so the child will not be much more seriously harm later in life. In summary, we struggle with the world because its ways are opposite to God’s ways.
We also struggle with life in this world because of the effect sin has had on the world as I mentioned last week. In Genesis 3:16-19, to the woman God said, “I will greatly increase your pain in childbearing with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Painful conflict in the family and in marriage happens. A wife has an instinctive resistance to her husband, and he is instinctively prone to use his leadership position selfishly. To Adam God said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree…cursed is the ground because of you. Through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you…by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food. That is the biblical basis, by the way, for Murphy's Law.
We struggle with our sinful nature, we struggle with the world, and we also struggle because Satan is our adversary. In fact, that's what the word “Satan” means, adversary. Peter warns, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking for someone to devour.” The Bible is clear about the fact that followers of Christ faced enormous opposition on almost every front.
However, Scripture is equally clear in promising us the resources we need to overcome such opposition.
- Concerning our thoughts, Paul wrote, “The weapons we fight with have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor 1-:4).
- Concerning our affections, Paul prayed that the Ephesians, “would be able to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know for themselves that love so far beyond our comprehension” (Eph 3:17-19).
- Concerning our wills, Paul said, “Sin shall not have dominion over you (Rom 6:14).
- Concerning the world, Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33).
- Concerning Satan, John promised, “He that is in you (meaning the Holy Spirit) is greater than he who is in the world” (1 Jn 4:4).
So, the question arises, “If we have all the resources we need to overcome opposition why is it that the opposition so often overcomes us?” One reason is that we are so easily discouraged. We lose our will to fight. We lose our motivation to press on towards our goal because it is so hard. That was the experience of the group of Israelites attempting to rebuild the wall. They had all the resources they needed but they were severely discouraged and were ready to quit.
4 Causes of Discouragement Vs. 10-12
1. Weariness. “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing.” The first cause of discouragement is physical exhaustion. Being tired takes the wind out of our sales. It pours a bucket of water over our passion. When we are physically or emotionally exhausted, we must beware that we are vulnerable to discouragement. A great example of this truth is Elijah. You may remember his victorious confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel over who was the true God, Yahweh or Baal. God sent the fire. The entire nation turned back to Yahweh. Elijah had prayed that the drought would happen because it was part of the covenant curse for worshipping false God’s. So, when Israel repented, he prayed seven times for the rain to return. The deluge hit. Eljah ran down the mountain. Spiritually, emotionally, and physically spent, he then got a message from Queen Jezebel, who had already slaughtered numerous prophets saying, “You will be captured and executed within 24 hours.” Elijah fled for his life and when he got to safety, he was so depressed that he told God he wanted to die. From the heights of spiritual elation to the depths of suicidal despair. Exhaustion causes discouragement.
2. Losing perspective. Verse 10 continues “and there is so much rubble.” Discouragement happens when your focus shifts from your goal to the obstacles to reaching it. The old saying, tough times don't last but tough people do is true. But here's the secret of tough people. They choose where to put their focus. The Israelites could have set their focus on one of three places: the wall as it would look when it was built, the portion of the wall they had completed in just three weeks, or the rubble remaining to be moved to complete the wall. Choosing your focus is an act of the will. If it is set on how tough the task is, the result may be a victim mentality. If it is set on what has already been done with God’s help, the result is motivation.
Returning to the story we mentioned last week, when Moses sent 12 spies to spy out the land. 10 returned with their focus on the obstacles to taking the land. Their words, “We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are. The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw giants there.” But there were two in that party who set their focus somewhere else. We read, “Joshua son of Nun and Caleb, son of Jephunneh who were among those who had explored the land tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into the land a land flowing with milk and honey and will give it to us.” Discouragement happens when you lose perspective.
3. Walking by sight and not by faith. Verse ten says, By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall. Jesus taught that a wise man plans ahead to determine how much a project will cost. Discerning reality is a good thing. Biblical faith is not blind to the facts. But God’s supernatural hand had been apparent in bringing this project so far. It was more logical to trust that God would continue to empower them to complete it than that he would abandon them. Faith is trust in God’s character.
4. Real enemy threats. Now in verses 11 we read, And our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.” At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.” This was no idle threat or rumor. Their discouragement mounts when they hear credible threats to their safety.
Nehemiah’s Cure for Discouragement
A. He responded to their need for security. Vs 13. So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. The people needed physical protection. Nehemiah might have been frustrated with the situation. But it would have been foolhardy to ignore such a well-documented threat. Nehemiah could not be so consumed with achieving his goal that he ignored his people’s safety. He had to divert energy from the building project to make sure the people were adequately protected.
B. Nehemiah helped them recover their perspective by directing their attention to the Lord. Vs. 14 says, And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome. Notice that in some way, Nehemiah prioritizes the influencers—the nobles and the officials. They had been looking at the rubbish; they needed their focus to be set upon the Lord. Practically speaking, what does it mean to remember the Lord, i.e. to direct attention to him when I'm discouraged. A writer named Andrew Murray answers:
- He brought me here. It is his will that I am in this difficult place. In that I will rest.
- He will keep me here in his love and give me grace in this trial to behave as his child.
- He will make the trial a blessing teaching me the lessons he intends me to learn and working in me the grace he means to bestow.
- In his good time, he can bring me out again…. how and when he knows.
So, I am here by HIS appointment, in HIS keeping, under HIS training, for HIS time.
C. Nehemiah intentionally sets their focus back on their original vision—a secure, flourishing city in which to live with their wives and raise their children. Verse 14 continues. “Fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.” A vision is a picture of the future you want to see that provides motivation for the present. John F Kennedy had a vision to put a man on the moon by 1970. David Hewlett told his engineers he wanted a calculator he could put in his pocket. Jesus gave Peter a vision to be the fisher of men. Throughout the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics taking place the last few weeks, we have heard athlete after athlete say that they had pictured that day—the day of winning the gold medal—throughout their career, driving their relentless motivation. A positive mental picture of what you are trying to achieve has great power to motivate, especially if achieving it protects your wife, kids, and home.
D. Nehemiah led his people to persevere. Verses 16 to the end of the chapter explain the various ways, Nehemiah led them to achieve the double task of building the wall but also protecting the city. They were trusting God when they started to build. Then, in this chapter, their task became twice as hard. Instead of complaining and blaming God because he let this happen, they redoubled their commitment not to be dissuaded. The truth is that perseverance in a task God wants done is highly valuable to him. When you think about it, a diamond is a piece of coal that stayed on the job. They persevered.
The intelligence they received that their enemies were plotting to attack them before they could get the wall completed may have leveled many of them in discouragement. But they got back up and into the fight. As Teddy Roosevelt observed so long ago:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strongman stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who was actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually try to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm the great devotion and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,
Far better it is to dare mighty things to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory door defeat.
Whatever the race is that you are running for God, however many times you have been knocked down, the challenge hers is get back up. Be among those who refuse to accept defeat.
For Further Prayerful Thought:
- How would you explain to a new believer why life is so hard?
- We noted 4 sources of discouragement: weariness, losing perspective, walking by sight, and real opposition. In your life, which one or ones cause the most discouragement?
- God allowed Nehemiah and his band of Jerusalem inhabitants to be opposed by enemies, intent upon murdering them. Such opposition doubled their work because it necessitated posting guards everywhere. How do you think Nehemiah kept this from disheartening his team?
