Nehemiah 4:10-23 · 2 Timothy 2:8 · Romans 15:4 — Nehemiah
Dealing with Inside Opposition
When discouragement strikes during God's work, believers overcome by remembering God's greatness and remaining active in service, trusting His faithfulness despite obstacles.
Introduction
Discouragement is a heavy word, often spoken with a sigh. It coexists with frustration and upset—nondescript words that speak volumes about times when something anticipated doesn’t unfold as planned. A missed promotion, a rejected relationship, an unexpected financial crisis—these episodes bring real discouragement. Few of us escape life without experiencing it, and even when we are trying to do the right thing, discouragement finds us.
Such is the case in Nehemiah. The walls around Jerusalem are being rebuilt. Nehemiah’s planning and praying have led the people to believe in the project and trust God to provide. There is plenty of opposition—enemies from without want the work to stop and are willing to do whatever it takes. Nehemiah prays and posts guards, taking measures to allow the people to finish the task. The walls are halfway done, with much work and sweat invested. But something happens. Look at Nehemiah 4:10.
Two things are confessed in that verse. First, the people are tired. All this work has left sore, aching bodies. What started with such enthusiasm has given way to the reality that this won’t be a quick fix. Second, the rubble is getting in the way. Without bulldozers to clear the land, everything must be done by hand. Build as much as they might, there seems to be more trash than progress—more stuff to get rid of than material to use for building. The job appears overwhelming, and the people are discouraged. Add the threats of violence and death, and the people are ready to quit. Verse 12 is striking—ten times Nehemiah is told about the threats.
The people have gone from saying in 2:20, “the God of heaven will give us success,” to saying in 4:12, “we aren’t going to finish. There’s too much work; too much trash; too much opposition.” The word for the day is discouragement. How do we handle discouragement? When we are tired and worn out, the job looks too big to finish, and others tell us repeatedly that we just can’t do it, what do we do? How do we finish? How do we overcome discouragement?
Nehemiah’s Solution
Not everything is a spiritual high. In spite of the promising start, this was a huge task and there was a sinking of the heart visible in the words spreading among the workers in verse 10: “we cannot rebuild the wall”—or, as the words might be translated, “we shall never be able to rebuild the wall by ourselves.” We can feel their discouragement in the words right before this in verse 10: “the strength of the laborers is giving out.” For some of you, it may sound like your situation. Your strength is giving out. You think, if one more thing goes wrong, I’ve had it.
The pressure begins to affect the workers. How much pressure can we take before anxiety, sleeplessness, and worry set in? This is where they recognize that the strength of the laborers is giving out. People are beginning to say, “we shall never be able to rebuild the wall by ourselves.” It is understandable that people get discouraged. What did Nehemiah do to fight this discouragement? The first order of business was to demonstrate that they were not giving up. He stationed armed guards at the lowest parts of the wall, proving to the enemy that they were ready and able to defend themselves, but also proving to the workers that protection was available.
In other words, as we have seen throughout Nehemiah, he doesn’t sit back and wait to see what will happen. The rebuilding of the walls is too important to be sidetracked by the threats of others. But the second thing that Nehemiah does is to remind the people of what the Lord has done and is doing. In verse 14 he tells them to remember the Lord who is great and awesome. What do you think he meant by that call to remember the Lord? The truth is that when discouragement comes we tend to forget what God has done for us.
Nehemiah is calling on the people to remember what God has done in the past—to remember his greatness and to remember his power. Nehemiah is encouraging the people. He is addressing their discouragement by reminding them that there is one who is greater than their discouragement. God, great and awesome, wants them to rebuild the walls. Nehemiah gives them a purpose for continuing the work. He deals with their discouragement head on. New work assignments were given. Work on the wall slowed, but it continued. New tools came into use. In one hand was a trowel and in the other hand was a weapon. The rebuilding was not going to stop.
Application
So what resources are available for us when we are discouraged? First, we need to be reminded of God who is great and awesome. Even in the New Testament there is a call to remember God. In 2 Timothy 2:8, Paul tells Timothy to “remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David.” Why would Paul need to tell Timothy to remember Jesus? Why does Nehemiah need to tell the people to remember God? Because in the middle of tensions and discouragement we forget what God is like. We need to be reminded that God helps us in our weakness. When we are discouraged we need to remember God and his promises and to remind ourselves of the evidence of his work in our lives prior to this time of discouragement.
The best place to remember God is through the Bible. We need to immerse ourselves in the scriptures. This is where we are reminded of God’s faithfulness and his unfailing love and care. Paul says in Romans 15:4, “For everything that was written in the past—meaning in the Scriptures—was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Spending time with scriptures will help to dissolve our discouragement. Reading the scriptures will bring hope—a confident assurance that God will act on our behalf. Immersing ourselves in the Bible will lead to courage and strength.
Second, when we are discouraged we need to get active. We live at a time when we expect churches to meet our needs. We expect to be entertained. We want to make sure that someone is doing something, but we may not be inclined to lend help. “Satisfy me and I’ll put a little something in the collection plate.” But notice Nehemiah 4:16 and following. Half worked on the wall; the other half served as protection. They had a system for calling the troops together in case of an attack. And they sacrificed tremendously for the cause. According to verse 23 they never got undressed. They remained prepared for work and attack for days. They smelled a bit, but the wall was too important to get distracted. Even going for a drink of water, no one laid down his sword.
When we are discouraged we have a tendency to withdraw. Discouragement can leave us feeling lifeless or feeling like there isn’t much incentive to work. But we must not give in to the discouragement. When John Calvin was writing the Institutes as a young man and preaching seven and eight times a week, he suffered attacks of quartan fever, tuberculosis, renal colic, chest infections, gout, and nephritis. John Bunyan—the author of Pilgrim’s Progress—said once, “there is no man that goeth to heaven but he must go by the cross; the cross is the standing way mark by which all they that go to glory must pass by.”
God in the garden faced discouragement, but he went to the cross anyway. We, too, will have times of discouragement, but let’s remain active anyway. Remember what God has done for you through Jesus. The discouragement of the cross gave way to the victory of the tomb.
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