1 – 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 associatesand 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?”
3 – Tobiahthe Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”
4 – “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 guiltor 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.
7 – 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.
9 – But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.
10 – Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborersis giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”
11 – Also our enemies said, ‘Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.’
12 – Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, ‘Wherever you turn, they will attack us.’”
13 – Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows.
14 – After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraidof them. Rememberthe Lord, Who is great and awesome,and fightfor your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
15 – When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it,we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.
16 – From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. 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 weaponin the other,
18 – and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpetstayed with me.
19 – Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall.
20 – Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet,join us there. Our God will fightfor us!”
21 – So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out.
22 – At that time I also said to the people, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and as workers by day.”
23 – Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water.
I’m sure you’re all familiar with MURPHY’S LAW. There are lots of “Murphy’s laws” out there but the first version of this pessimistic law said: “If anything CAN go wrong, it WILL.” It originated at Edwards Air Force Base in 1949 and was attributed to this man, Capt. Edward A. Murphy, who was an engineer working on Air Force Project MX981—a project designed to see how much sudden deceleration a person can stand in a crash. One day, after finding that a transducer was wired wrong, Captain Murphy cursed the technician responsible and said, “If there is any way to do it wrong, he’ll find it.” Shortly afterwards, the Air Force doctor, John Paul Stapp who rode a sled on the deceleration track to a stop—pulling 40 G’s and making the cover of TIME for that achievement—Dr. Stapp gave a press conference. He said that their good safety record on the project was due to a firm belief in Murphy’s Law and in the necessity to try and circumvent it.
Aerospace manufacturers picked it up and used it widely in their ads during the next few months, and soon it was being quoted in many news and magazine articles. Murphy’s Law was born. Here are some other laws blamed on Captain Murphy:
- Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
- Matter will be damaged in direct proportion to its value.
- It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
- You will never find a lost article until you replace it.
- Everything goes wrong all at once.
Well, as we come to Nehemiah 4, it seems as if Murphy is having a hay day because everything DOES seem to be going wrong all at once. Last week we rejoiced at how the people of Jerusalem and the surrounding areas were wholeheartedly tackling this great project of rebuilding the walls—in what surely must be a Guinness book world record for team work. Some like the Takoans and Baruch were even doing more than their fair share. So things looked good in chapter 3! But when we come to chapter 4 we read that things started to get more complicated for Nehemiah. In essence, “Murphy” showed up and reminded Nehemiah that when everything seems to be going well, you’ve obviously overlooked something.
This reminds me of a true story Swindoll mentions in his book on Nehemiah—something that took place not far from here in Darlington, Maryland. Edith, a mother of eight, came home one Saturday afternoon from her neighbor’s house only to discover five of her youngest children huddled together in the living room—intensely concentrating on something. As she slipped in behind them to see what they were doing, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Smack dab in the middle of her kids were several baby skunks. She screamed at the top of her voice, “Children, run!” And they did. Each kid grabbed as skunk and ran into a different room of the house. Well, that sort of thing happened in Jerusalem. In a real sense “skunks” were everywhere in Jerusalem—but this skunk was named “discouragement.”
Now—all great leaders know to take this kind of thing seriously. Discouragement is not something you ignore. No—it is a potent problem for several reasons. First, it is universal. None of us are immune. Everyone you have ever known has been discouraged at one time or another. Second, it is recurring. Being discouraged once does not give you an immunity to the malady. It’s not like the measles. But then again it IS like the measles because third, it is highly contagious. Discouragement spreads with even casual contact. Other people can become discouraged because you are discouraged. You can be bummed out because others are. And as I said—chapter four tells us that the workers on the wall were stricken by an epidemic of it.
This should serve as a reminder that committing ourselves to God’s will does not prevent us from the problems of life. This is a fallen world—which is why we all see truth in the pessimistic perspective of Murphy’s law. Bad is a part of every life—even the Christian life. Committing our lives to God does not remove us from the reality of problems. Trouble is still on the daily diet of every Christian. Brian Harbour writes, “The lesson of the history of the church is that there is no commitment without conflict, no opportunity without opposition, no triumph without trouble.” And he’s right. When you get busy for God, opposition will always rear its ugly head.
But the inevitability of opposition should not cause US to be discouraged because our God is sovereign—even over the hardship that always comes our way. God is able to use even the attacks of our adversary for our benefit. As Paul put it in Romans 8:28, “God works in all things for our good.” So—Murphy’s law does not apply to Christians—for sometimes the best thing that can happen to us—is a bad thing—even a series of bad things that hit us at the same time.
Psychologist Jonathan Height suggests we imagine we have a child and just before he is born we are handed a script of his life. We have 5 minutes to edit their story.
- We might see that reading will be hard for him. Well we could erase that hardship.
- Or we see that your son will have a best friend in High School who dies of cancer. We could erase that.
- We see that a couple years later our son has a car accident that causes him to go into a deep depression. We could erase that.
- We see he gets a good job after college but loses it in the economic downturn.
We see all this as we stand over our new born and have five minutes to make our edits. What would we erase if anything? Most of us would instinctively—franticly erase all the hardships. We would want them to live a life without Murphy’s law difficulties—but is that really best?
- What if we erase the one thing that’s going to make them compassionate?
- What if we erase the hardship that is going to show them how to be joyful in all circumstances?
- What if we erase the pain that makes them turn to faith in Jesus?
I’m saying discouraging times can be ENCOURAGING times because they can help us learn to trust God’s sovereignty and love and power. By the way studies show that the number one contributor to spiritual growth is not listening to a sermon or reading good Christian books. No—it’s pain—it’s challenges—it’s discouraging setbacks. Tough times like the Hebrews face in chapter 4 are the best opportunity for us to grow and for God to be glorified. With God’s help difficulties help us to mature into people like Paul who said, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not despairing, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.” (2nd Cor. 4:8-10)
Okay—What CAUSED the Hebrews’ discouragement? This is a good question for us to answer because the same things tend to cause discouragement to take root in our hearts.
(1) First there was RIDICULE.
Thomas Carlyle called ridicule, “the language of the devil.” Shakespeare called it “paper bullets to the brain” but those bullets have done just as much damage as real ones. I mean some people can stand bravely when SHOT at but collapse when they are LAUGHED at. And for this reason it is not unusual for our adversary to use this weapon—fire these bullets.
- Think of it. Goliath ridiculed David.
- Jesus was mocked by the soldiers during His trial and while hanging on the cross.
- Hebrews 11 tells us that many of the great heroes of the faith endured mockery.
Well Sanballat and his friends had begun to ridicule the Jews even before the work on the wall was begun. Back in Nehemiah 2:19 it says, “They laughed us to scorn and despised us.” And now in Chapter 4 as the wall goes up they fire their bullets of ridicule again. Understand Sanballat and the other opposition surrounded the city with their mighty armies as they did this.
Sanballat and the Samaritans were on the north, Ashdod and his troops on the west, Tobiah and the Ammonites on the east, and Geshem and the Arabs to the south. So no matter where they worked on the wall, the workers were “hit” with these words of ridicule. As they laid every brick they could see they were surrounded. They must have planned ahead what to say because it seems to me the same ridicule was heard by workers on all parts of the wall.
First they called them “feeble Jews.” The word “feeble” means “withered, miserable.” And I’m sure those taunts made the Jews feel that way. This ridicule magnified both their weariness and the size of the blocks of stone they were trying to wrestle into place. When we are ridiculed like this by the adversary we must remember that God delights in using feeble, weary, weak instruments like you and me to do great things. The world glories in its wealth and power as seen in armies like Sanballat and the others had at their disposal but God’s people glory in their poverty and weakness. As Paul puts it, “When we are weak—when we know our only hope is relying on God—then we are strong.” (2nd Cor 12:10)
Next Sanballat went from ridiculing the workers to ridiculing THE WORK ITSELF by asking three taunting questions. First he asked, “Will they fortify themselves?” I’m sure this caused a lot of laughter in the Samaritan army. I mean how could a miserable tiny remnant of Jews hope to build a wall four feet thick, twenty feet high and 2.5 miles long!?
Then Sanballat fired question #2: “Will they sacrifice?” implying it would take more than prayer and sacrifice to rebuild the city. Now this “bullet” was blasphemy against God Himself for Sanballat was saying God was too weak to help His people.
Finally, Sanballat asked, “Will they finish in a day?” suggesting that the Jews didn’t understand how hard this job was—how long it would take—and that they would soon quit.
Sanballat also ridiculed the MATERIALS they were using saying, “Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?” (vs 2) Now ridicule is always based on deceit and this is a great example because the stones of the original wall were not broken or burned. The wall had not crumbled. It had just tumbled. It was like a jigsaw puzzle. It just had to be put back together. Only the gates had been consumed with fire and thanks to Artaxerxes’ generosity they had wood to rebuild them. Nevertheless, I’m sure this had a negative effect on the Jewish workers.
And then finally, Tobiah the Ammonites ridiculed the FINISHED PRODUCT in verse 3 saying a fox could knock it down—-trying to make the sweaty, weary workers doubt the strength of their efforts thus far—making them think, “What’s the use!? This mortar won’t hold. This wall won’t last. This is a waste of time!”
I don’t know about you but these “bullets of ridicule” sound familiar to me. I’ve been the target of the same kind of criticism by the adversary. “Mark, you’re too weak for this job. You can’t be a pastor!” or “Mark, don’t pray—you’re too busy. Besides, it’s a waste of your time. Prayer won’t help this crisis you are facing.” Or “You’re not making any progress—a fox could knock down what you have done.” How about the rest of you? Any of you have bullet wounds from this kind of ridicule? Then keep listening! God inspired Nehemiah to write these words to help you and me with this kind of thing.
NOW—WHY ALL THIS RIDICULE? Why would this wall upset Tobiah and Sanballat and Geshem? I mean, did they suffer from “wall-a-phobia” or something? No—probably the main reason was that they knew that in its glory days several great trade routes went through Jerusalem on the way to Egypt, Persia, Arabia, or Asia Minor. Sanballat was the governor of Samaria and Tobiah the governor of Ammon—and they rightly perceived that if Jerusalem were rebuilt, much of this valuable trade would return to it and their provinces would no longer get the benefit. A rebuild Jerusalem with its new temple and wall would look better to traders. It would make Sanballat’s cities look bad by comparison.
We experience the same kind of thing in our life. When we decide to rebuild our lives—when we decide to change and serve God—it makes our friends look bad—so they criticize us. Our rebuilding is an indictment against them. Think of it this way. Have you ever had a neighbor with a perfect lawn? The grass has zero dandelions and is a perfectly uniform color of green. It’s always cut—even in one of those crisscross patterns that makes it look like some sort of lawn quilt? The edging around the sidewalk is perfect. The flower beds are always in full bloom and arranged in a perfectly complimentary pattern so that no matter what the season flowers are blooming? When leaves fall they are immediately raked up—I mean it’s as if the neighbor has a rake version of a roomba robot that rakes their lawn while they sleep.. Well, you and the rest of the neighborhood don’t like that neighbor because his commitment to lawn excellence is an indictment against your mediocrity. I mean, I don’t care if my lawn has weeds as long as they’re green—so neighbors who have only green grass make me look lazy. That’s what happens to us spiritually when we rely on God to rebuild some area of our lives. We make those who DON’T do that look bad. Maybe you make a sacrifice and instead of taking a family vacation you go on a mission trip. People talking about THEIR glamorous family vacations don’t like this because it makes them look selfish and so they ridicule you for taking your faith too seriously. Maybe you make the commitment to come to church on Sundays while your neighbor is working overtime perfecting his lawn. As he sees you in your Sunday best heading off to church he gives you a ridiculing look.
At work when you talk about how great your marriage is—it makes the guys who cheat on their wives look bad—and so they ridicule you—and say you are missing out on all the philandering fun. Ridicule should be expected when we try to obey God. For when we live obediently, we do stand out—stand out like stars in a crooked and perverse world as we hold forth the Word of life.
Remember, Nehemiah and the Jews weren’t being ridiculed because they were doing something wrong—but rather because they were doing something right!
(2) The second source of discouragement for the Hebrews was FEAR.
You see, when Sanballat and his buds saw that RIDICULE wasn’t working and that progress was still being made on the wall they made plans to do something more serious. They plotted together to take military action against the Jews to stop the project. Now—Sanballat and these armies were not going to attack in full force. They knew if they did word would get back to Persia and they would risk the wrath of King Artaxerxes. No—as Jews living near them heard—their plan was more of a guerilla warfare deal. Small groups of soldiers would attack the workers and kill them, then slip away. If Artaxerxes complained Sanballat could say, “I’m so sorry but this is a dangerous area. That kind of thing happens all the time. There are thieves and murderers all over the place. It was really not a good idea to rebuild this wall. You should recall your cupbearer. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
Well, word about these imminent attacks spread and then FEAR spread with it like wildfire—fear that wherever they Hebrews turned they would be attacked—that Sanballat and the bad guys were behind every bush—every wall—-just waiting to attack. Now—the shocking thing about all this was the first tribe to express this fear was the same tribe that reported these plots. And I’m referring to the tribe of Judah. This was the tribe of David—the last tribe you would think would give in to fear. They were looked on as leaders and pacemakers. If the tribe of Judah was discouraged and gave up, then other tribes would follow suit. In fact we read in verse 12 that these particular Jews came and warned Nehemiah ten times of the dangers of continuing. They complained as much as Sanballat did. The reason they did was they had intermarried with the women of the enemy. They were unequally yoked. Their bonds of marriage were stronger than their bonds of allegiance to God. So they whined and complained. They said, if they kept up this wall building it was just a matter of time before the Jews would be wiped off the earth. In short the people of this royal tribe were being pulled in two directions. They had become double-minded. And as James 1:8 says, “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
The tribe of Judah also lived closest to the Samaritans and this should remind us that you cannot live near the enemy and it not affect you. You can’t constantly hear negativism without having it rub off on you. If you are want to soar with the eagles, you can’t run around with turkeys.
(3) The third source of discouragement for the Hebrews was FATIGUE.
In Verse 10 the people of Judah reported, “The strength of the burden bearers is failing.” And, the original meaning of the word we translate as “failing” is “stumbling” “tottering,” “staggering.” But however you word it the fact is the people had been working a long time and they were tired. How long had they been building the wall? We don’t know how long but we know how much. Verse 6 says they were halfway through. This means the newness of the project—and the excitement that comes in the early days—had worn off. And the fact is no matter what job we tackle, halfway is usually the most discouraging point. When you are physically drained you become discouraged at the slightest problem. And this most often happens when you are at the halfway point. At this point we look around and see there is so much still to do. This is why we have so many half completed projects lying around in our garages.
But there are more serious examples.
- Some think—my kids are rebellious. They are in trouble AGAIN but they are too old to rebuild—too old to help—so I’m calling it quits.
- As couple enter MIDLIFE some think their marriage is no longer exciting—it’s too broken and they give up.
- Some think, “I’m in too much debt. I’ll never pay this off.” And they QUIT
That’s the way it was for the Hebrews. Thanks to their fatigue they were ready to throw in the TROWEL. And remember these are these same people who were described in verse 6 as working with all their heart. So—ridicule, fear, and fatigue all helped spread discouragement through the city.
Well, how do you deal with discouragement? Let’s look to Nehemiah’s example for an answer.
(1) First, keep PRAYING.
Now—we know from our study that Nehemiah was a man of prayer and we see him continuing to do this as discouragement settled over the workers. Take a look at his prayer in verses 4-5: “Hear us, O God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. 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.” This was not your typical prayer. The Bible is filled with prayers for God to forgive our sins but Nehemiah prayed, “Don’t forgive Sanballat’s iniquities! Judge them God! Destroy them Father!” And before we criticize Nehemiah for his lack of grace—I think we should comment him for his honesty. He was being REAL with God and that’s what God wants. Also note, that in this prayer Nehemiah was humbling himself because instead of attacking the enemies that surrounded them, he fought his battles through prayer. He fought on his knees because he knew the battle was the Lord’s—not his.
I’m reminded of David’s words to Goliath before he gave the giant an incurable headache: “The battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.” (1st Samuel 14:27) Nehemiah knew that the enemies were really fighting against God and so he asked God to deal with them. He didn’t give lectures to the workers, organize raiding parties against the enemies, or create propaganda campaigns to put a different spin on things. No—he just prayed. Here’s the principle we can learn from Nehemiah: When people talk against you, don’t talk back. Talk to God. Do this because PRAYER is the most powerful weapon at your disposal. It can change your heart. It can even change your enemy’s hearts.
A visitor to Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle in London was being guided through the massive church building. The guide asked the visitor if he would like to see the power plant of the church. Expecting to see the huge equipment that operated the building, the visitor followed the guide down into the basement. He opened the door to a room. Instead of being greeted by the noise of machinery, the visitor was confronted by over seven hundred people on their knees praying for the services. The power plant in the life of every Christian is when he or she opens his life to God through prayer.
Nehemiah knew this so when their enemies started talking, Nehemiah did too. But he talked to God. He continued to PRAY—and the people continued to WORK.
(2) The second way to defeat discouragement is to keep REMEMBERING Who God is.
Verse 14 says that Nehemiah arose and spoke to the people about the power of God saying, “Remember the Lord Who is great and awesome.” This is important when discouragement settles in because when we remember Who God is—how BIG He is—how POWERful He is—our problems shrink in comparison. The people of Jerusalem were looking at the rubble and the debris all the work that needed doing—when they needed to be looking at God. Isaiah 26:3-4 says, “He—GOD—will keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.” Nehemiah knew that even in the face of opposition the success of the wall was wholly dependent upon God Who inspired its beginning—God Who softened the heart of Artaxerxes—giving him a three year paid leave of absence and everything he needed to rebuild. I mean, verse 10 was true. The people could not rebuild the wall on their own. Only God could empower them for this task. It was indeed GOD-SIZED. So they needed to remember WHO God is and what He had promised.
I don’t know about you, but it’s easy for me to forget God when things are tough. I need to be reminded that He is always there for me. I need to remember my past experiences of His POWER and WISDOM and GRACE and LOVE. When I remember all this—I remember that God is more than able to deal with the cause of my discouragement. So, when you’re down, turn your attention from your discouragement to the One who is able to do something about it. Remember the Lord.
You know, the people complained about all the rubble in verse 10 and that brings a question to mind. Wasn’t the rubble there in the beginning—when they STARTED? Of course it was. The difference was that when they started the project they were focused on God and His character. Now, they had become rubble-gazers. Friend, if you focus on all the junk in your life, and in the lives of others, you will become discouraged. Let’s determine to be God-gazers instead of rubble-gazers, OK?
At the time it was completed in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world. During the first phase of the project 23 men fell to their deaths in the icy water. Murphy’s laws were there in abundance! Things were going from bad to worse because there were very few safety devices. And so, when it was halfway completed, the builders decided to take another look and make some changes. Do you know what they did? They reorganized, built the largest NET ever made, and attached it under the area where the men were working. Was it worth the cost and the time it took to do this? Ask the ten men who fell into it without being injured! Not only did it save those ten lives, I’m told that the work was completed in three-fourths the time because the workers no longer lived in fear of falling. Friends, God’s great net of security spans this globe. No matter where we live. No matter what we’ve done. No matter how discouraged we’ve become. He’s stretched out His everlasting arms beneath us. As a result, we can live and work freely and without fear, knowing that we are protected, safe and secure.
Discouragement can be defeated as we remember Who God is—and all He has promised. Why even if the WORST happened and we died—thanks to Jesus it would be the BEST! So keep praying—keep remembering Who God is—and finally,
(3) Nehemiah would say, keep WORKING.
Nehemiah turned Jerusalem into an armed camp. Half the men worked while the other half stood on guard. He saw to it that the people who worked on the walls carried weapons as well. He told workers who lived outside the city to sleep inside its walls. He also kept a trumpeter with him all the time and told the people if they heard the trumpet sound to grab their weapons and follow the sound. This emboldened the people to keep working. I’m reminded of Galatians 6:9 which says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we—KEEP WORKING—and do not give up.” I know we’ve all heard of and benefited from the work of Thomas Edison. Thanks to his genius, we enjoy the microphone, the incandescent light, the battery, talking movies, and more than a thousand other inventions. But above and beyond all that Edison was a man who refused to be discouraged. He refused to give into despair. He never gave up. He kept working. His son wrote a biography of his dad and in it he recalled a freezing December night in 1914. It was at a time when still unfruitful experiments on the nickel-iron-alkaline storage battery, to which his dad had devoted almost ten years, had put Edison on a financial tightrope. The only reason he was still solvent was the profit from the movie and record production. On that December evening the cry of “FIRE!” echoed through the plant. Spontaneous combustion had broken out in the film room. Within minutes all the packing compounds, celluloid for records and film and other flammable goods were in flames. Fire companies from eight surrounding towns arrived but the heat was so intense and the water pressure so low that the attempt to douse the flames was futile. Everything was destroyed. When he couldn’t find his father, the son became understandably concerned. At 67 he feared his dad may have been injured but then he saw his dad excitedly running toward him. “Where’s your mom?” shouted the inventor. “Go get her, son! Tell her to hurry up and bring her friends! They’ll never see a fire like this again!” Early the next morning, long before dawn, with the fire barely under control, Edison called his employees together and made an incredible announcement. He said, “We’re rebuilding!” He told one man to lease all the machine shops in the area. He told another to obtain a wrecking crane from the Erie Railroad company. Then almost as an afterthought, he added, “Oh by the way. Anybody know where we can get some money?” We face insurmountable odds—but we must not give in to discouragement. We must pray—we must remember God—and we must keep working.
Let’s pray.