In the most biographical of all his writings, 2 Corinthians, Paul says, “We have been given the great privilege of stewarding the gospel. God has chosen to put that gospel in us—but God recognizes that humans are as frail as jars of clay. He writes,
We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. (vs 7-10).
There is no power or strength in a clay pot. Tt is fragile and ugly. It often leaks. The passing of time only makes the vessel weaker. Paul was saying that any manifestation of power comes not from the pot but rather from what the pot contains. Paul then describes the life of a pot. I love the JB Phillips description, as 2 Corinthians 4 continues. “We are handicapped on all sides, but we are never frustrated. We are puzzled but never in despair. We are persecuted but we never have to stand it alone. We may be knocked down but we are never knocked out. Every day we experience something of the death of the Lord Jesus, so that we may also know the power of the life of Jesus in these bodies of ours.” Perhaps the key word in this description is every day. Opposition is relentless. It is inevitable, especially when you are seeking to accomplish God’s mission.
Nehemiah 4 describes opposition to Nehemiah’s mission. You'll remember that when this book began Nehemiah, though he was a Jew, was in Sousa, the capital of Persia. The year was about 430 BC. The reason Nehemiah was in Persia was because his people had seriously rebelled against God and his law. In judgment, God permitted Nebuchadnezzar to capture Jerusalem and Judah, deporting its inhabitants to Persia and utterly destroying the city of Jerusalem, its temple, and its walls. But after 70 years in captivity the people had repented and the Persian kings, Cyrus and Artaxerxes, had granted permission to the Jews to return to their homeland. Nehemiah's formidable mission is to rebuild the two-mile wall around the city. In chapter 3, we saw Nehemiah's brilliant strategy to organize and motivate the people. As chapter 4 opens opposition rises to rebuilding the wall.
Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. 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?” 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!” 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. 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.
So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. 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. And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night (4:1-9).
Three Reasons for the Opposition We Face
A. We live in a fallen world. The world is not the way it is supposed to be. Our first parents’ sin brought devastation upon creation, as God cursed the ground that Adam worked, and the family relationships that Eve was the center of. Accomplishment is hard, resisting our efforts until we sweat. Life will always be tough in this world so long as it remains under the curse of sin. WE made it that way through our rebellion against God. When God regenerates us and calls us to himself, he does not put us in a bubble that protects us from the curse he put upon the earth—as much as we would like him to.
Furthermore, in a fallen world everyone looks out for number one. Nehemiah’s success rebuilding the Jerusalem wall was a threat to Sanballat and Tobiah. Sanballat was the governor of Samaria, and he lived in Beth Haran, a fortified city with walls about 8 miles northwest of Jerusalem. Tobia was governor of Amnon, across the Jordan to the east of Jerusalem. In those days several lucrative trade routes went through Judea connecting Egypt, Persia, Arabia, and Asia Minor. Sanballat and Tobiah were getting rich from that trade and knew that if Jerusalem were rebuilt, much of this valuable trade would return to it. In a fallen, overly competitive world, our success may be a threat to someone else.
B. Our mission from the Lord faces extreme spiritual opposition. We know that God was the one behind the mission to rebuild the wall around his city. He had worked miraculously to provide Nehemiah permission from King Artaxerxes to take an extended period of leave to accomplish the task, even providing timber for the project from the king’s own forest. Nehemiah saw the opposition of Sanballat and Tobiah to be spiritual in nature, which is why he took the matter to God in prayer and prayed as he did.
When we consider the mission that Jesus assigned us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, it is worth pondering, what action Jesus envisioned by using the word, “seek.” Listen to the intentionality behind Webster’s dictionary definition of this word. “Seek” means, “to go to, to go in search of, to look for, to try to discover, to ask for, to request, to try to acquire or gain, to aim at, to make an attempt at.” Every one of these descriptions requires making an intentional effort. Our mission is: to be intentionally preoccupied with spreading Christ’s kingdom of righteousness and wholeness into every corner of our heart and over every inch of planet earth where we have influence. If you are living out that mission, you will face opposition from three enemies, the fallen world system, your own sinful nature and that of others, and Satan. As C.S. Lewis stated, “this world is occupied territory.” Opposition, wherever we are seeking to implement Christ’s agenda of righteousness, is always to be expected, and usually means we are on the right track.
C. God uses opposition to build our character. This opposition was part of God's plan. He ordained it. Don't brush past that truth too quickly. The hardship, difficulty, pain, wounds experienced at the hands of others—suffering and stress that life brings, painful though it is, has a good purpose. We all remember the promise, “All things work together for good for those who love God for those who are pursuing God's plan.” What is that plan? The next verse tells us: building our character, becoming like Christ. I'm told that in the ancient world shipbuilders had a very precise way of selecting the wood for their masts. They would locate a tree on the top of a mountain or hill where it was exposed to violent winds and fierce storms. Shipbuilders knew that such trees would grow strong because the adverse conditions forced them to put their roots deep down, enlarging their roots and strengthening the inner composition of the tree. Only the toughest of trees would be fit for being the mast of a great ship. In the same way the blows we take, the difficulties and pain, are intended by God to force us to put our roots down deep into Jesus the Vine. The more we do that the stronger becomes our character and the greater becomes our usefulness to our master.
Sanballat & Tobiah Employ the Weapon of Ridicule
To “jeer at” or “ridicule” someone is to mock, belittle or make fun of someone. Ridicule wounds a person's self-esteem. It hurts another by attacking his self-image. Ridicule reaches into the tenderest part of the human soul and wounds a person's dignity destroying his confidence. Of course, confidence is what was needed for the Jerusalem residents to keep rebuilding the wall. Part of what makes ridicule painful is that it has some elements of truth. Sanballat’s 5 rhetorical questions and then later Tobiah’s taunt struck at a legitimate sense of weakness that Nehemiah and the others must have felt.
- What are these feeble Jews doing? They were weak and feeble. How could any group so weak complete a task left undone for 90 years?
- Will they restore it for themselves? It had been originally built by ancestors much stronger than they.
- Will they sacrifice? Sanballat says, “Do you think that your acts of religious fanaticism will cause this wall to just spring up, magically?”
- Will they finish up in a day? Sanballat says, “Are you so stupid as to think this can be done in a day?”
- Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” Sanballat is saying, “Do you have some magic wand you are going to wave and make stones jump back into place?”
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!” Maybe this ridicule landed hardest. The truth was that the quality of the wall they were rebuilding was nowhere near the original quality of the wall.
I want to stop and think about this weapon of attacking the people’s confidence because it is a powerful weapon of Satan. It takes humans out of the fight, not only because they question their strength for the battle, but they recoil so far into themselves that they doubt that they have any value at all.
Some years ago, an exceptionally beautiful, 35-year-old woman was sitting in the associate pastor's office at a church in Cincinnati. Through the counseling session she began to reveal the difficult problems in her marriage that were being caused by her depression and deep sense of inadequacy. She had almost driven her husband away because nothing he could do made her feel loved and valuable. He felt like giving up. The pastor wondered how in the world this could be. He knew her husband was an unusually caring man and deeply loved his wife. Why couldn’t she believe she was adorable to him. Why was her depression ruining her life?
As the pastor probed, he discovered that as a girl this woman’s body had developed very early and with it, complexion problems. After explaining this, she began to sob uncontrollably as she retold how one day she was walking across the field when she saw Mr. Popularity, the captain of the football team, also standing on the field. As she walked by she heard a whistle and the words, “Great body!” Then she heard another guy say, “Yeah. All she needs is a bag over her head and she'd be great and then laughter.” Of course, her complexion cleared up, and she became a strikingly beautiful woman. But twenty years later she was convinced that all she needed to be accepted by others was a bag to wear over her head.
The old adage, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me” is a myth. Decades after bruises on the physical body heal, wounds to a person’s self-esteem can be alive and well, paralyzing their relationships. Perhaps that is why Jesus’ teaching was so severe about verbal abuse and angry words.
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire,” (Matt 5:21-22).
Let’s consider three applications of this severe teaching from Jesus
- As the spiritual leader of your home, you must guard your tongue especially when you are angry. If your angry, thoughtless words wound another, Jesus explained what to do. “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift,” (Matt 5:24).
- When administering correction, be careful to correct behavior (a one-time action); not attack character. For example, “You are losing screen time because you were disrespectful to your mother,” Not, “You are always disrespectful to your mother,” or “You never speak respectfully to her.”
- Be on the lookout for damage done to your wife or children’s self-esteem. One evening a busy but smart dad prayed with his five-year-old daughter, and tucked her in bed with a kiss on her forehead. She looked up at him and asked, “Daddy, do you think I’m pretty.” Many dads would have said, “Of course you are, honey,” turned off the light and headed for their next task. This dad was wiser. He realized his daughter had just lifted the window shade of her soul, letting him see inside. He wisely said, “Of course you are honey. What makes you ask? His daughter burst into tears and said, “One of the boys in my class told me I was ugly.” This wise dad was able to apply the salve of a father’s love and protection to his little girl’s tender self-image.
Nehemiah’s Response
Now let's examine Nehemiah's response to these attacks. More importantly, let's examine how you and I should respond when someone deeply wounds us
A. Notice what Nehemiah doesn't do. He doesn't answer back. Nehemiah had the self-control to say nothing. He didn't get defensive. He didn't counterattack. He didn't send out a nasty tweet on X. There are many instinctive things we want to do when we're attacked. But Nehemiah shows us the best. Keep silent. That kind of self-control was one of the things that made him a great leader.
B. His keeping silent before Sanballat and Tobiah doesn't mean he ignored what they said. Nehemiah took this opposition to God. Verse 4: “Hear us O our God for we are despised. It is human nature to do just about anything with frustration except take it to the one who can help us push through it with the right attitude.
C. He’s leaves dealing with Sanballat and Tobiah to God. You may have found the rest of verses 4 through 5 a bit disturbing but let's look at them; Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. 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
These words sound a bit like David's words about his enemies and what are called the imprecatory psalms. There are two reasons why this prayer is proper:
- Because they are not merely Nehemiah's enemies; they are God's enemies. Nehemiah was commissioned by God to do this job for God's people—building a wall around God's city, Zion. To some degree to love God is to hate God's enemies. James appeals to this line of reasoning when he says “Don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” (Jms 4:4).
- This prayer is proper is because it is Nehemiah’s way of leaving it to God to balance the scales of justice. Nehemiah is putting into practice a principle that would later be taught by Paul, “Do not take revenge my friends but leave room for God's wrath. For it is written, It is mine to avenge. I will repay,’ says the Lord.” Many people don't understand the importance of this principle for forgiving others. Forgiveness never requires us to lay aside our sense of justice. It never requires us to say that the offense was OK when we know it wasn't OK it was wrong! The one who genuinely forgives is is the one who says, “I don't have to try to hurt him back; I'm asking God to settle the score.”
D. Nehemiah refuses to let opposition deter him. So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. This is great but continuing on in Nehemiah revels that he did not succeed with this project by overcoming Sanballat and Tobiah’s opposition once. That’s not how you achieve any meaningful goal. Verse 7 continues, 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. And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night (4:1-9). A second time, we read that Nehemiah refuses to let opposition deter him. He renews his commitment to the goal and redoubles his efforts, posting a guard. The difference between success and failure often boils down to the willingness to stay at it and persevere.
President Calvin Coolidge said,
Press on. Nothing can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are overwhelmingly powerful.
They were the keys to Nehemiah’s success.
For Further Prayerful Thought:
- What is wrong with the idea that if God loved me, he would not allow my life to be so hard?
- What stood out to you about using the weapon of ridicule to demotivate another. What are the implications of Jesus’ teaching about the impact of words for those of us who are spiritual leaders?
- How can the example of Nehemiah inspire and strengthen you to persevere through whatever opposition you are facing?
