Episode 166: Half the Wall Built...and the Opposition Gets Loud (Neh. 4)

We explore how opposition often shows up when the work is halfway done and how Nehemiah models a blend of prayer, courage, and wise action. We share practical ways to discern helpful critique from harmful pushback and how to keep building with the armor of God.

• welcoming honest leadership that accepts disagreement
• Nehemiah 4 as a guide to resilience under pressure
• prayer as first response, not last resort
• discerning constructive criticism from opposition
• setting guards at exposed gaps and sharing the load
• leading through fear, fatigue, and real threats
• practical readiness paired with deep trust in God
• the armor of God for steady minds and firm steps
• taking one more faithful step when you want to quit

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Transcript

Welcome And Purpose

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hi friends, I'm Betsy and I want to welcome you to Moments to Ponder. If you're interested in learning more from your Bible but sometimes struggle to know how it connects to everyday life, you've come to the right place. This podcast is designed to help you spend a few moments in God's Word and take away something to ponder. I pray this time together will be an encouragement for you. This is Episode 166. Pushback. Opposition. I can remember being in the midst of a really hefty conflict at work. I mean, it was a doozy, and I felt like I was continually coming up against opposition, and I really wasn't sure what to do. I mean, it was my call, I was the leader, but I also wanted to make a decision that everyone liked or at least approved of. It was one of those I can't win moments. During that time, I can remember sitting in a room with a fellow youth pastor sharing this major wall I was coming up against, and he let me vent, and then he said, Well, he said something I've never forgotten. Betsy, welcome to leadership. As a leader, opposition comes with a territory. Not everyone will like you. Not everyone's gonna agree with you. And the more you come to terms with this, the freer you are. I've learned that for some people, opposition is just their first response to anything new or different. Whether from fear, power, or just pessimism, there are so many that just have to be that one no vote or the one devil's advocate in the room that pushes back on the idea, the dream, the project, or a sermon. It takes some discernment to know which words are opposition and which are actually constructive criticism, but neither should be based on who likes you. Constructive criticism is actually for you. It's usually coming from a source that wants to help and is usually trustworthy. But oppositional words are never for you. They don't necessarily want to help you, they usually just want to call you out. And honestly, they may even come from people who don't even know you. Thus, they're not trustworthy. For Nehemiah, I'm sure there were lots of ideas on how to go about this giant project and maybe even some constructive criticism along the way. But he also faced opposition. And the higher the wall goes, the stronger the opposition he faces. Let's start with chapter four, verse one. Sam Blat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews, saying in front of his friends and the Sumerian army officers, What is this bunch of poor feeble Jews think they're doing? Do they think they can build a wall in a single date by just offering a few sacrifices? Do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap? And the charred ones at that. Tobiah, the Ammonite, who was standing beside him, remarked, That stone wall would collapse if even a fox walked along top of it. Then I prayed. May their scoffing fall back on their own heads, and may they themselves become captives in a foreign land. Do not ignore their guilt, do not blot out their sins, for they have provoked you to anger here in front of the builders. At last the wall was completed to half its height around the entire city, for the people had worked with enthusiasm. It's interesting how Nehemiah blends this all together as he's writing in his journal. He talks about Sambalat being very angry and questioning their work and making fun of them, which honestly is par for the course when you're facing opposition. And then, of course, Tobias saying, it would fall over. It's not very strong. And you can hear the bullishness in this, right? They're afraid. They're afraid of what the Jews are pulling off. The wall is half done. The people are making it happen. And Nehemiah here, he he goes straight to prayer. Hear us, O God, for we are being mocked. And then he kind of lays it out. Do not ignore their guilt, for they have provoked you here, and may they become captives in a foreign land, which we don't know if that happened or not. But what we do see is that he doesn't go up against the bullies, he goes to God. And in that process, the people have actually gotten this entire wall halfway done. What an incredible accomplishment to this point. Like this is huge. It goes on in verse 7. But when Sanbalat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired, they were furious. They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion. But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves. They were furious. This is really a pretty big reaction. It makes me wonder why. Why are they so upset that the walls of Jerusalem are being repaired? And it goes back to wondering if they had some maybe underhanded dealings within the city that they knew were gonna end because they wouldn't be able to go in and out as they please. Or maybe it threatened their power in the area that they actually ruled some of the neighborhoods and they were gonna lose that. I don't know. But they wouldn't be able to boss the Jews around anymore. So they make plans to come and fight them. Yet the people pray and guard the city day and night. It takes two wings, right? Prayer and guarding. But this is gonna take a toll. Not only are the people building a large wall out of stone all day long, now they are defending the city at night. Now remember, these are volunteers, they're not builders, and now they're being asked to be an army, and it becomes overwhelming. Verse 10. Then the people of Judah began to complain. The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves. When people come up against opposition, it can cause them to step back and wonder if they're even doing things right, especially if there's fear involved. I mean, this is hard work, and the people are hearing about the fierce opposition they face, and they start to falter in fear of their enemy. Can we actually build this? Like they said, can we make it strong enough to stand? Are we even safe? Are our families safe? Verse 11. Meanwhile, our enemies were saying, before they know what's happening, we'll swoop down on them and kill them and end their work. The Jews who live near the enemy came and told us again and again, they will come from all directions and attack us. It started with just some undermining doubts and mocking, and it's gone to threatening their lives. This is getting serious. It's not just dismissing the taunts of sandblatt. Now, lives are at stake, and the people are rightly afraid. So verse 13. So I placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas. I stationed the people to stand guard by families, armed with swords, spears, and bows. Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, Don't be afraid of the enemy. Remember the Lord who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes. When our enemies heard that we knew of their plans and that God had frustrated them, we all returned to our work on the wall. As with a lot of bullies, as soon as they see the people standing up for themselves and protecting themselves, they pull back. They realize their plan has been discovered. I can just see Nehemiah standing at the top of a lower wall, raising his arms, saying, Fight for your brothers and your sons and your daughters. Don't be afraid. But this is a big deal. As he's calling them to not only build, but to fight. Yet he has listened and he has discerned next steps, and he's not reacting with fear. He's proactively stepping up. He calls together his leaders and he reminds them who God is. And as I said earlier, it's the two wings at work, right? He's praying, pointing to the Lord, and he sets up guards. Nehemiah gives glory to God for informing them and for frustrating their enemies. And then he simply says they got back to work. Okay, so let's stop for a minute and take this in. I think we see a lesson here. Opposition will come, but the work must continue. In our lives, we're going to face hard things, right? Whether through people or situations, we're going to have trouble. Jesus says so. But rather than be defeated or fearful, we can take heart and continue to move forward, even if it's just one small step, one stone lifted and placed in the wall. It's letting the enemy know he didn't win. Sam Blat and his cronies could see that the people were protected and it stopped them. It didn't make the work any easier. In fact, it probably made it harder to work and also keep your eye open for enemies. But the work did continue. And it just reminds me that we are protected as well. But it doesn't mean life will be easier. Yet it is a reassurance that we can stand up against the enemy and continue to move forward one step at a time. Verse 16. From then on, meaning from this moment of threat on, only half my men worked, while the other half stood guard with spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. The leaders stationed themselves behind the people of Judah who were building the wall. The laborers carried on their work with one hand supporting their load and one hand holding a weapon. All the builders had a sword belted to their side. The trumpeters stayed with me to sound the alarm. I explained to the nobles and officials and all the people, the work is very spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. When you hear the blast of the trumpet, rush to wherever it is sounding. Then our God will fight for us. We worked early and late, from sunrise to sunset, and half the men were always on guard. I also told everyone living outside the walls to stay in Jerusalem. That way they and their servants could help with guard duty at night and work during the day. During this time, none of us, not I, nor my relatives, nor my servants, nor the guards who are with me, ever took off our clothes. We carried our weapons with us at all times, even when we went for water. There's a shift here. Do you feel it? There's an urgency and a tension now in the story. The wall is half done, but they have this active, forceful enemy out there, and so now they are continually on. Even those living outside the city have come to stay in the city, partially for protection and partially to help with the night duty and day work. We can see that Nehemia has taken this threat really seriously, and that for himself and his family and servants, they are on high alert. They never took off their clothes, meaning they never really went to bed. They stayed clothed even when they were sleeping, so that they were on the alert and they always were prepared with their weapons. This might sound silly, but I love this image. The people are working, but they have this contingent of men behind them with spears and bows and coats of mail, and all the people were armed as well. In this image I see God's army with us. He is a Lord of heaven's armies who has stationed with us protection. And he has also given us spiritual armor that also has a weapon to protect us while we do his work. We will face opposition to his work in our lives and the work that we do for him with our lives. This shouldn't surprise us. In fact, we should expect it. Yet God has given us armor for protection, and a part of that armor are the shoes of peace. Nehemiah wouldn't have had Paul's words from Ephesians, but he had Isaiah's. In Isaiah 59 it says this He put on righteousness as his body armor, and placed the helmet of salvation on his head. He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion. In the west people will respect the name of the Lord. In the east they will glorify him, for he will come like a raging flood tide driven by the breath of the Lord. Isaiah is describing God here, his armor, the salvation and divine passion within him, and these are most likely the foundation of Paul's words in Ephesians 6. In Ephesians 6, Paul lays out the armor of God. So from head to toe we have the helmet of salvation which protects our mind with the truth of what he has done for us, and the breastplate of righteousness which protects our core, our heart, the belt of truth which holds everything together, shoes of peace because we know who Jesus is and we can stand solidly in him, a shield of faith for protection from arrows of the enemy, and a sword of the spirit, which is the word of God which cuts through all lies. Dear one, any work we do for the Lord will face opposition of some kind. We have an enemy that will try to mock us, threaten us, or tempt us to walk away from the work God has given us to do. Yet, like Nehemiah, we know our God fights for us. He has also given us his protection and armor, so that when we face our enemy, we can stand. Paul says it this way: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then, after the battle, you will still be standing firm. Where are you facing opposition right now? Is there a place where fear or discouragement or even just exhaustion has tempted you to step back from the work God has given you? Let me encourage you: opposition does not mean you are alone, and it doesn't mean God has stepped away. He is with you, he fights for you, and he has equipped you. So today, don't quit. Lift one stone, take one step. Put on the armor God has given you and stand firm. Dear one, the God of heaven's armies is with you. Amen.