May 12, 2025, Nehemiah 4:1-14
4 Now
when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and
greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. 2 And
he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What
are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will
they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out
of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” 3 Tobiah
the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox
goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” 4 Hear,
O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads
and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. 5 Do
not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight,
for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.
6 So we
built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for
the people had a mind to work.
7 But
when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the
Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward
and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. 8 And
they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause
confusion in it. 9 And we prayed to our God and set
a guard as a protection against them day and night.
10 In Judah
it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There
is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the
wall.” 11 And our enemies said, “They will not know
or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.” 12 At
that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us
ten times, “You must return to us.” 13 So in the
lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the
people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14 And
I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest
of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is
great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters,
your wives, and your homes.”
How often do you find
opposition to something you felt God had led you to do? I know that is when I will find my biggest
opposition. The enemy doesn’t like it
when we are about God’s work. That
doesn’t mean that God doesn’t oppose us when we do something wrong and He is
trying to get us back on track, but as we saw in the book of Job, the enemy
loves to oppose us just to distract us from God and His work.
How can you know if your
opposition is God’s correction or the enemy?
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