Working through Opposition

 

    There comes a time when opposition gets to you.  The negativity, the hurt, the discouragement can't be pushed aside by sheer willpower.  It has to be faced or it will cripple you.  There is some opposition that is strictly spiritual and you have to turn to God to work through it.  Some things in life you can't face alone.  

    Nehemiah had become governor of the Jews to accomplish the goal in which he had been sent to Jerusalem, build the wall.  He did not stop until there were no gaps and it was ready to protect Jerusalem again.  It took 52 days.  However, the city still did not have doors.   The walls were protection and a discouragement for thieves or raiders, but without doors anyone could come and go as they pleased.  

    Sanballet, Tobiah, and Gesham really did not like Nehemiah, so they made plans to cause him harm and using the lack of doors to do so.  They decided after the city counsel meeting they would lead him out of town and attack.  However, Nehemiah did not trust them, so he refused to stop working to meet them.  

    They attempted five times to get Nehemiah away from people and to stop him permanently.  They had convinced themselves that he was going to cause a revolt and this was how they would heroically stop him.  If he would not meet them, then they would report to the king that he was planning a revolt.  

    Nehemiah had no way to stop them, so he prayed.  His friend, Shemaiah, suggested that he hide away in the temple so that no one could get to him (so he could not be assassinated).  However, Nehemiah refused.  His people needed to see him working and not afraid.  

    Nehemiah really must have felt betrayed once he found out that Shemaiah had been paid to intimidate him.  If he had hidden away, it would have been a sin against God because it would have been abandoning God's work.  It would have discredited all the work he had done.  Working through opposition requires faith and prayer.

    

Nehemiah 6