Overcome Opposition
Nehemiah Helps Us Know How To Overcome Opposition
The first three chapters of Nehemiah tell a very positive story. Chapter one tells us about how Nehemiah’s calling develops. In chapter two we get to see King Artaxerxes help the project. And chapter three is a beautiful story of people coming together to accomplish a goal. So far so good for Nehemiah!
If we don’t keep reading we’d be tempted to think that Nehemiah fulfilled his calling without any trouble at all. The reality is, it’s easy for us to believe that everything will be “up and to the right” when we are chasing after a God-given goal or fulfilling a God-given calling. We hope that a graph of our calling would look like this:
We hope living out our calling looks like this graph.
The reality, however, is that living out our calling or reaching a goal looks more like this.
In reality, living out our calling looks more like this graph.
Nehemiah chapter four gives us some hints on how to overcome opposition. These are not steps to overcome opposition. Rather, they are principles that I hope will resonate with you as you seek to overcome opposition you may be facing.
When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, 2 and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?” -Nehemiah 4:1–2 (NIV)
The first opposition that Nehemiah faced was ridicule. The purpose of ridicule is to dismiss your efforts. Ridicule seeks to render you and your work worthless. The questions Sanballat poses are rhetorical, but meant to make the Jews feel like they have bitten off more han they can chew. I’d be willing to bet all of us have faced ridicule for something we are trying to accomplish.
Look what Nehemiah does in the face of ridicule:
Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. 5 Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders. 6 So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart. -Nehemiah 4:4–6 (NIV)
Nehemiah is frustrated and angry because of the ridicule, but he doesn’t take out his frustration on those who ridiculed him. Instead, he prays an honest prayer regarding his offenders and gives his anger and frustration to God. It’s very freeing to realize that God isn’t intimidated by your honesty! After his prayer, we find out what he did, “so we rebuilt the wall to half it’s height, and we worked with all our heart.”
To overcome opposition, connect to your purpose!
Remember that ridicule tries to make your work worthless. To overcome ridicule, Nehemiah re-connects the people to the purpose of the task at hand. We are building this wall!
The second kind of opposition Nehemiah faced was threats.
But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. 8 They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. -Nehemiah 4:7–8 (NIV)
A threat is the intent to inflict damage. Ridicule is an attempt to write you off, while a threat is intent to do damage. Listen, no one would threaten you if they felt like your work didn’t count. That means that if your work is being threatened, you’re on the right road and doing the right thing! It means your work matters and the Enemy has taken notice. Threats usually only come after some success! For Nehemiah, the opposition has moved from just trying to discredit the work of rebuilding to threatening the work of rebuilding! Here is how Nehemiah responds:
But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. -Nehemiah 4:9 (NIV)
Nehemiah prayed first. For him, prayer was a first response, not a last resort! Whatever action he takes is preceded with prayer and covered with prayer. Then he set up protection. We prayed, AND we posted guards day and night to protect against the threat.
In the face of threat, they prayed and set up protection. Threats come in all shapes and sizes. Whether it be ending your work by violence or a lie you believe that derails your calling. The truth is, the Enemy would love to threaten you to the point you give up.
Nehemiah knew that to overcome opposition, you have to pray and set up protection. In fact, look at how intentional the Jews were as they built the wall. The threat was real, so they were intentional about protection.
The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah 17 who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, 18 and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. -Nehemiah 4:16b–18 (NIV)
Working with weapons. To overcome opposition you may be facing, you need to keep working, but set up intentional protection against threats as well. For example, if your goal is to lose weight there is a looming threat calling cupcakes. In the face of such a threat it would be a good idea to have the workout app (or gym membership) in one hand and the skinny jeans you bought for inspiration in the other other. The skinny jeans are a weapon against the threat because you know you ain’t never getting into those jeans if you eat the cupcake.
The third opposition Nehemiah faces is discouragement.
Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.” -Nehemiah 4:10 (NIV)
“The people in Judah” is important because Judah is part of God’s people! The ridicule and threats came from outside, but discouragement is happening among the people of God. Discouragement is the loss of confidence or enthusiasm. When discouragement comes, Nehemiah calls the people to a new perspective…
After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” -Nehemiah 4:14 (NIV)
He calls them to remember the LORD, who is great and awesome! Put yourself in their shoes: You have had your work ridiculed, but you kept working with all your heart. Then, you were threatened so you set up protection against the threat. That is a tough place to be! And for the people of God, it led to discouragement. It led to a loss of enthusiasm for what they were doing. Nehemiah’s words in verse 14 are a call to new perspective. Focus on the LORD who has called us to this work, not on the opposition!
To overcome opposition, you must learn to shift your perspective.
Back to verse six, “So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.” Nehemiah wanted to beat discouragement by showing the progress they had made. The wall was halfway done, but halfway is hard!
This summer my wife and I remodeled our kitchen during a week that our girls were with grandma in Iowa. We scrubbed, sanded, cleaned, primed, and then sprayed our cabinets. We had to build a room with plastic to spray the cabinets, and live in total chaos for several days. At first it was exciting! We were starting a project we had planned for months and the progress was fast. A few days later, however, we realized how much work we had gotten ourselves into and were halfway done. The hardest point was halfway. The mess was at it’s peak and there was a ton of work to be done. We had done a lot, but nothing was done. Maybe you’ve been there.
At halfway, if you’ll lose heart if you focus on what isn’t done! You’ve got to pause and look at what has been done. That’s a shift in perspective. To overcome opposition you have to shift your perspective to what God has done and how far he’s taken you.
When going through a trial, stay connected to your purpose, pray and set up protection, and seek to gain God’s perspective. And you’ll be able to make it through whatever you are facing!
For more about how to overcome opposition, click on these resources from Emmaus Road Church, a church in Fort Collins.
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Listen to the other sermons in our Nehemiah series: