Nehemiah 4-6: Sorry, I can't be distracted right now...

Go deeper with our new book, The Rubble and the Wall: Sharing God's Heart to Restore What's Broken, available on Amazon or outloudbible.com

We read Nehemiah 4–6 and track how opposition escalates when God’s people make real progress. We learn how prayer, wise action, and steady focus help us keep rebuilding what’s broken without coming down from the good work. 

• why Nehemiah connects to modern burdens and brokenness 
• how opposition starts with mockery and grows into threats 
• praying first while also posting guards and staying unified 
• working with one hand building and one hand ready 
• confronting injustice inside the community and restoring what was taken 
• resisting distraction with “I’m engaged in an important work and I’m unable to come down” 
• finishing strong so others can see what God has done 

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Transcript

Welcome And Why Nehemiah Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:12

This is the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast, and this is Mike. We're reading through the book of Nehemiah together. A great book of great vision and community and accomplishing great kingdom work to shine God's reputation out into the world and restore what's been broken. A fantastic book that applies to anything that we may feel like our heart breaks for when we see that, oh, the world is not supposed to be this way. This is not supposed to be the way it is. And of course, we can't fix everything in the world. That's above our pay grade. But sometimes God puts things on our hearts, allows us to see just a portion of something the way he does. And we find ourselves looking at that and being like, ah, that's just not the way it should be. I but I can do something about that. I want to do something about that. Now you may not feel qualified. You may have plenty of excuses about why it's not the right time or how you're not qualified to be able to do this. But Nehemiah is a great example of when you bathe this whole process in prayer, then you can just watch God grant favor and open doors and bring about victories that you never thought possible. Doesn't mean it's easy, however. Today we're going to be taking a look at some of the opposition that comes up. Because Nehemiah and his friends have gotten a great start on rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. But Satan does not like progress toward things that glorify God to go smoothly. He wants to kill it, he wants to stop it in the early stages, because it's always easier to stop something early. And well, Satan is using some opposition that already was on a radar earlier in the story in the first three chapters. Sanbalat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite were some of the local governors, some of the local leaders in the area who were not happy that the Jews were making progress on this and they wanted to get in the way. So be prepared to recognize your own oppositions as you go about your life and your kingdom work. You can expect it. The discussion of these chapters is actually uh one of my favorite parts of our new book that is available today, actually. As a matter of fact, if you're listening on the day of this episode release, March 18th, this is the release of our book, The Rubble and the Wall, which is actually the third in a series of books that we're releasing all at once. So if you find yourself really resonating with some of the oppositions that we talk about here and the process of feeling like you're trying to fix what's broken in your life and in the the lives of those around you, and you find it a hard and difficult road, check out the rubble and the wall. And uh and of course, it's drenched in scripture. So uh what a great opportunity to just find these parallels with the Bible and go deeper in these conversations than we can really have in this episode. So check out The Rubble and the Wall, and that's a great companion guide or great to work with a group as you study the book of Nehemiah as well and read it on your own. So that said, let's check out Nehemiah chapter four, and we'll read through chapter six here today in the New English translation. Now when Sanbalat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was quite upset. He derided the Jews, and in the presence of his colleagues and the army of Samaria, he said, What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? Will they again offer sacrifice? Will they finish it this in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones to life again from piles of dust? Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was close by, said, Yeah, even if a even if a fox were to climb up on what they're building, it would break down their wall of stones. Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Return their reproach on their own head, reduce them to plunder in a land of exile. Do not cover their iniquity, and do not wipe out their sin from your sight, for they have bitterly offended the builders. So we rebuilt the wall, and the entire wall was joined up together to half its height, and the people were enthusiastic in their work. When Sanbalat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the people of Ashdod heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem had moved ahead, and that the breaches had begun to be closed, they were very angry, and all of them conspired together to move with armed forces against Jerusalem, and to create a disturbance in it. So we prayed to our God and stationed a guard to protect against them both day and night. And then those in Judah said, The strength of the laborers has failed. The debris is so great that we're unable to rebuild the wall. Our adversaries also boasted, before they're aware or anticipate anything, we'll come in among them and kill them, and we'll bring this work to a halt. So it happened that the Jews who were living near them came and warned us repeatedly about all the schemes they were plotting against us. So I stationed people at the lower places behind the wall in the exposed places. And I stationed the people by families with their swords, spears, and bows. When I made an inspection, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, Don't be afraid of them. Remember the great and awesome Lord and fight on behalf of your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your families. And it so happened that when our adversaries heard that we were aware of these matters, God frustrated their intentions. Then all of us returned to the wall, each to his own work. From that day forward, half of my men were doing the work, and half of them were taking up spears, shields, and bows and body armor. Now the officers were behind all the people of Judah who were rebuilding the wall. Those who were carrying loads did so by keeping one hand on the work and the other on their weapon. The builders, to a man, had their swords strapped to their sides while they were building, but the trumpeter remained with me, and I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, The work is demanding and extensive, and we're spread out on the wall, far removed from one another. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, gather there with us. Our God will fight for us. So we worked with half holding spears from dawn till dusk. At that time I instructed the people, let every man and his co-workers spend the night in Jerusalem, and let them be guards for us by night and workers by day. We did not change clothes, not I, nor my relatives, nor my workers, nor the watchmen who were with me. Each had his weapon, even when getting a drink of water. Well then there was an outcry from among the people and their wives against the fellow Jews. There were those who said, With our sons and daughters we're many, we must obtain grain in order to eat and stay alive. There were others who said, We're putting up our fields, our vineyards, and our houses as collateral in order to obtain grain during the famine. Then there were those who said, We've borrowed money to pay our taxes to the king on our fields and our vineyards, and now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen and our children are just like their children, still we found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery while we're powerless to help, since our fields and vineyards now belong to the other people. I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these complaints, and I considered these things carefully and then registered a complaint with the wealthy and the officials. I said to them, Each one of you is seizing the collateral from your own countrymen. Because of them I called for a great public assembly, and I said to them, To the extent possible, we have bought back our fellow Jews who have been sold to the Gentiles, but now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen so that then we can buy them back? They were utterly silent, and couldn't find nothing to say. Well then I said, The thing that you are doing is wrong. Should you not conduct yourselves in the fear of our God in order to avoid the reproach of the Gentiles who are our enemies? Even I and my relatives and my associates are lending the money and grain, but let us abandon this practice of seizing collateral. This very day return to them their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees, and their houses, along with the interest that you're exacting from them on the money, the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil. They replied, We'll return these things, and and we'll no longer demand anything from them, we'll we'll do just as you say. Then I called the priests and made the wealthy and the officials swear to do what had been promised. I also shook out my garment, and I said, In this way may God shake out from his house and his property every person who does not carry out this matter. In this way may he be shaken out and emptied. All the assembly replied, So be it, and they praised the Lord, and then the people did just as they had promised. From the day that I was appointed governor in the land of Judah, that is, from the twentieth year until the thirty second year of King Artaxerxes, twelve in all, neither I nor my relatives ate the food allotted to the governor. But the former governors who preceded me had burdened the people and had taken food and wine from them, in addition to forty shekels of silver. Their associates were also domineering over the people. But I did not behave in this way, due to the fear of my god. I gave myself to the work on this wall, without even purchasing a field. All my associates were gathered there for the work. There were one hundred and fifty Jews and officials who dined with me routinely, in addition to those who came to us from the nations all around us. Every day one ox, six select sheep, and some birds were prepared for me, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. But despite all this, I did not require the food allotted to the governor, for the work was demanding on this people. Please remember me for good, oh my God, for all that I've done for this people. Well, when Sanbalat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and no breach remained in it, even though up to that time I had not positioned doors in the gates, Sanbalat and Geshem sent word to me, saying, Come on, let's set up a time to meet together at Keferim in the plain of Ono. Now, they intended to do me harm. So I sent messengers to them saying, I'm engaged in an important work and I'm unable to come down. Why should the work come to a halt when I leave it to come down to you? They contacted me four times in this way, and I responded the same way each time. The fifth time that Sandbalat sent his assistant to me in this way, he had an open letter in his hand, and written in it were the following words Among the nations it's rumored, and Geshem has substantiated this, that you and the Jews have intentions of revolting, and for this reason you're building the wall. Furthermore, according to these rumors you're going to become their king. You have also established prophets to announce in Jerusalem on your behalf we have a king in Judah. Now the king is going to hear about these rumors, so come on, let's talk about this. Well, I sent word back to him we're not engaged in these activities you're describing. All of this is a figment of your imagination. All of them were wanting to scare us, supposing oh their hands will grow slack from the work and they won't get it done. So now strengthen my hands. Well then I went to the house of Shemea, son of Delea, the son of Mehetabel, and he was confined to his home, and he said, Let's set up a time to meet in the house of God within the temple. Let's close the doors of the temple, for they're coming to kill you. It'll surely be at night that they'll come to kill you. But I replied, Should a man like me run away? Would someone like me flee to the temple in order to save his life? Nah, I won't go. I recognized the fact that God had not sent him, for he had spoken the prophecy against me as a hired agent of Tobiah and Sanbalat. He had been hired to scare me so that I would do this and thereby sin. They would thus bring reproach on me and I would be discredited. Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanbalat in light of these actions of theirs. Also Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets who've been trying to scare me. So the wall was completed on the twenty fifth day of Alul, in just fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard, and all the nations who were around us saw this, they were greatly disheartened. They knew that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. In those days the aristocrats of Judah repeatedly sent letters to Tobiah, and responses from Tobiah were repeatedly coming to them, for many in Judah had sworn allegiance to him because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah, son of Erah. His son Jonathan had married the daughter of Meshulam, son of Barekiah, and they were telling me about his good deeds and then taking back to him the things I said. Tobiah, on the other hand, sent letters in order to scare me. Do you see the progression of the opposition against you as you do the work? First of all, it's just mean discouragements. And then they try to cause doubts and fear, and then they try to distract you, and then finally try to directly attack you and kill you. That is Satan's playbook. He'll get you anywhere along the process if he can. How do we defend ourselves against that? Well, it does depend on what type of attack you're facing. If it's distractions and how many of us can relate to feeling distracted. How about this? How about Nehemiah's response? Wait, I'm doing a good work and I can't come down. I actually wrote that on a post-it note and posted it onto my computer to keep me from being distracted going to other things that aren't what I'm supposed to be working on. Wait, I'm doing a good work. I can't come down. Listen, Satan will try to discourage you, and maybe you aren't discouraged. Maybe that doesn't work. Well he can certainly try to distract you. Make sure that you focus on the good work that you're doing and not being distracted by other good things. That's the biggest threat to your best work, is just other good things that you can rationalize as well, they're not bad, that's a good thing to do too. Satan doesn't have to lure you away with sin when he can just present something that's also a decent use of your time. We're going to talk more about some of these oppositions that we face on our Living Out Loud episode at the end of the week, and we go even more in depth through the book, The Rubble and the Wall, as we talk about how to deal with each of these phases of distractions and discouragements and doubts and direct attacks as you go about your kingdom work and trying to share God's heart to restore what's broken. It's not an easy road, it's not a fast one, but it's possible, it's doable, and at the end, everyone will be able to see what God has done just like they saw the wall being completed and say, wow, God did it. That's an encouraging thing for the people of God, and it's an absolutely terrifying thing for the enemies of God. Keep doing the good work. You're doing a great thing. Don't come down. Don't come down off that wall. Well, join me next time as we continue the story of Nehemiah, and you can check out The Rubble and the Wall and the whole Heart Work series available on Amazon today. We'll see you next time.