Nehemiah 6:1-19

Now it came to pass when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;) ² That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. ³ And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you? ⁴ Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner. ⁵ Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand; ⁶ Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words. ⁷ And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together. ⁸ Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart. ⁹ For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. ¹⁰ Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee. ¹¹ And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. ¹² And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. ¹³ Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me. ¹⁴ My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear. ¹⁵ So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days. ¹⁶ And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God. ¹⁷ Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them. ¹⁸ For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son in law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. ¹⁹ Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.

In this fallen world, any work worth engaging in for the cause of Christ will inevitably face opposition. This opposition comes from both inside and outside the people of God involved in the work. Nehemiah faced three opponents who consistently tried to cause problems for him and the people of Israel as they engaged in rebuilding the walls of the city of Jerusalem. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem were angry that someone came to “seek the welfare of the children of Israel” (Nehemiah 2:10). They tried to criticize the attempt in chapter 2. In chapter 4, they began to mock, threaten, and discourage the people from pressing on in the work. Now, in chapter 6, the wall is nearly complete. All that remained was hanging the doors on the gates of the wall and these three enemies came against Nehemiah and the people once again with three more attacks. This time the attacks were directed primarily at Nehemiah, not just the people. With these attacks came a test of character and diligence for Nehemiah. How did he respond? How should we respond when we face certain opposition in our service to God? Nehemiah 6 reveals to us three things about responding to the “tests of opposition.”

Last week, we began learning about two types of tests that opposition can bring and how we are to respond to them. The first of these was the test of compromise. The proper response to compromise is discernment. Discernment is about applying God’s Word to every circumstance or situation in a faithful and accurate way. In Nehemiah’s case, Sanballat and Geshem sent letters to him to draw him away from the work in Jerusalem into the plain of Ono. They do this just before the gates of the wall were complete. Nehemiah recognized that Ono was hostile territory and that they wanted to do harm to him. He also recognized that to go would be to divert from the work that God had called him to do. God had not called him to make alliances with Sanballat and Geshem or make peace with the enemies that surrounded Jerusalem. Instead, God had called him to lead Jerusalem in rebuilding the wall. He could not leave the “great work” that God had given him. He knew what God had called him to do, rebuilding the wall, and he knew where God had called him to do it, in Jerusalem. We learned from this that if we know what God’s Word says and what His will for us in service to Him is, then we must have discernment to recognize and not allow anything in our lives that draws us away from that obedience to Him. Compromise is when we allow anything to dictate or guide our actions other than God’s Word and will. When opposition tempts us to compromise, we must respond with discernment.

The second test that comes from opposition is falsehood. Lies have a way of manipulating us into acting in ways that are contrary to what God would have us to do. Directness is the only response. We must stand on what we know to be true. After four attempts at pleading with Nehemiah to join them in the plain of Ono, Sanballat and Geshem sent a fifth letter that threatened Nehemiah with false accusations about the work he was doing. They threatened to inform the king, based on rumors that were circulating, that Nehemiah was leading Jerusalem in rebellion against the king of Persia in order to make Nehemiah king in Jerusalem. Slander and falsehood are always tactics of the enemies of God. Satan himself is the great “father of” lies (John 8:44). Our Lord was even falsely accused by the Sanhedrin of blasphemy (Mark 14:64) and then falsely accused before Pilate for starting an insurrection against Rome (Luke 23:2). When compromise does not work, we can rest assured that the next step the enemy will use to manipulate us to deviate from God’s will is lying. Nehemiah’s response was to call the lie for what it was, pray to God for strength, and continue in the work. He obeyed and left everything else to God. There is a certain peace that comes when we rest in what is true and we know that the truth is on our side. If we do not have that confidence, then our motives and actions must be carefully weighed against what claims are made against us. Nehemiah’s integrity would speak for itself. The work he was doing was done before the public for examination and would speak for itself. He took the matter to God in prayer and knew that God was more than capable of handling his enemies. We can never allow slander or lies to manipulate us into disobedience. Instead, we must respond with directness and continue on in obedience to God.

The final test that opposition can bring is that of intimidation. Fear can be a powerful motivator and a powerful manipulator. Our lives are not to be driven by unhealthy fear of people or circumstances, but a healthy fear of God. Fear of God never drives us to hasty actions. It drives us to obedient, Word-centered actions. Nehemiah was approached by a false prophet named Shemaiah that had been hired by his enemies. Shemaiah told Nehemiah that his life was in danger and that he needed to run and hide in the temple. There were two problems with this. First, the threat simply wasn’t true. Nehemiah’s life was no more in danger then than it had previously been throughout his time of leading the work of building the wall. Secondly, for Nehemiah to go into the temple would actually be a violation of the law of God because only the priests were allowed to do so to perform their duties. There are many times in our lives when people will give us advice, threaten us, or try to get us to make hasty decisions. When we act in hsate, our decisions are not filtered through the Word of God. Those decisions will lead to sin and disaster. Isaiah 8:20 says, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” That passage is about false prophets who misled God’s people with enticing speech. The real test is not how articulate someone speaks, but whether they speak “the oracles [Word] of God.” Nehemiah was not only determined to build the wall, he was determined to be obedient to God in all areas of his life. Despite all of the opposition and even the reality that some of the workers in Jerusalem had compromised relationships with relatives of the enemies (Nehemiah 6:17-18), the work of the wall was finished in just 52 days (6:15). Once again, Nehemiah simply took the matter to God in prayer (6:14). If we are going to pass the tests of opposition in doing God’s work in our church, in our families, in our communities, and in the world, we must learn that intimidation and fear cannot drive our actions. We must be determined to do what God has called us to do and to do so in obedience to His Word.

When we set out to serve God as Christians, we will inevitably encounter opposition from this world system and people in this world. We know that we are on the “strait” and “narrow” road that is “difficult” and that “few” find (Matthew 6:13-14). All that will come against us is not meant to destroy us in God’s plan, but is meant to test and strengthen us as we walk by faith (James 1:2-4). Those tests include compromise, manipulation from falsehoods, intimidation, and fear. We learned that we are to respond with discernment, directness, and determination. All three are based upon the truth of God’s Word. Discernment comes from knowing and walking in obedience to God’s Word. Directness comes from confidence in the truth and knowing that we are striving to follow it. Determination comes from a settled commitment to obey God at all costs. Are you facing major decisions in life? Do you feel pulled to compromise or give up? Faith is about a settled trust and commitment to obey God’s Word. It is in those times mentioned that we must “walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).