"What matters is trusting faithfulness expressing itself through love.” (Gal. 5:6)
"It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, 'The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.' So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven." (Nehemiah 1:1-4)
God created each one of us with desires, longings and passions. As we move towards these, He meets us in them, fulfilling our deeper needs to contribute and make a difference. As we put our hands to what our heart prompts and engage with Him in the work of His kingdom, we come to know Him in deeper ways.
Song 7:11-12 says, "Come my Beloved, let us go to the fields, we will spend the night in the villages and in the morning we will go to the vineyards. We will see if the vines are budding, if their blossoms are opening, if the pomegranate trees are in flower."
God formed us and created us with certain desires. John Ortberg writes, "God is a desire-creating, desire satisfying God. He made birds with the impulse to fly -they want to do it because God made them to do it. Dolphins swim because God made them with an instinct to swim. God doesn't plant wrong desires in his creatures." [1]
Psalm 145:16-19 says, "You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him."
As Nehemiah pressed into the desires that God placed in his heart, God opened the door for him to put his hand to what his heart prompted. When Nehemiah was grieving the condition of the walls at Jerusalem, the king asked him "Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart."
Nehemiah told him that the city of his fathers lies in waste with its gates burned. The king then asked him, "What do you request?" And Nehemiah prayed to God and told the king-, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it."
The king not only agreed to let him go, but also agreed to write letters to the governors of the region to let him pass through and to give him what he needed in timber to rebuild the city wall. Nehemiah noted, "And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me." (Neh. 2:8)
The desires, longings and passions He places within us our not self centered. They are not for position, power, possession, or prestige. Before we know Christ, we are filled with the world and the desires of the world. These 'false' desires choke out our true purpose, and truly being fulfilled when we pursue them.
Pursuing selfish and vain desires, passions and ambitions make us smaller and smaller people. We feel discontented and dissatisfied while we are filled with growing discontentment and ambition that cannot be satisfied. As a result, we are filled with envy, comparison, greed, pride and jealously.
In James 4:1-6 it says, "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, 'The Spirit who dwells in us years jealously'? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: 'God resist the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'"
Instead we are to put to death these desires so that the life of God can come forth. As we look to God and trust Him, He gives us the strength we need to put to death personal ambition, greed, pride, etc. And as we put to death these lesser desires, we come more alive to God and His purposes.
John Ortberg writes, "We must say no to any desires that would keep us from living in the flow of the Spirit. We must always be ready to sacrifice a lesser desire for the sake of living a greater life." [2]
Tobiah, Sanballat and his friends are examples of leaders who were large in their own eyes, full of pride and ambition. They were enemies of God and attempted to get in the way of His purposes coming forth out of jealousy.
When Tobiah, Sanballat and his friends heard that the wall was being rebuilt by Nehemiah and the Jews, they became indignant and mocked them. As then as the walls were being further restored, they became angry and conspired to attack the Jews and create confusion.
When this was unsuccessful, they conspired against Nehemiah and tried to frighten him with threats that they would report him as leading a rebellion against the king. Sanballat and his friends then used one of the Jews, a false prophet who was a secret informer, to give Nehemiah an evil report and try to get him to run and hide in the temple for his life.
Jesus says in Matthew 7:15-20, "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks within himself, so he is.” If one has God's kingdom purposes at heart and not their own, their actions will reveal this just as it did with Nehemiah. Nehemiah laid down his own personal interest to see God's will be done.
On the other hand, if one is full of pride, ambition and hunger for position, their fruit will be full of competitiveness, envy and jealousy. What will matter to them is how they appear to others and personal gain rather than God's purposes coming forth.
Religion sometimes becomes an easy substitute for genuine righteousness. When one is empty and doesn't know how to get filled by God, they may substitute right behaviors for right relationship with Him. Jesus confronted this in the Pharisees. They looked good on the outside but inside they were full of ambition, greed, envy, jealousy and comparison. They followed all the rules and kept the laws, but their heart was not in it. They were following religion for social acceptance. Their ministry was about using God to meet their own needs to be glorified rather than genuinely desiring God to be glorified. They lacked a genuine love for God and deep desire to see His kingdom purposes to come forth.
Jesus tells a parable in Luke 18:9-14 to “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.” In the parable, a ministry leader was praying alongside someone who had a history of a great deal of sin. The one with the sinful past, begged God for mercy and felt unworthy to even be there. And the ministry leader, who had been faithful in prayer, fasting and doing all the right things their whole life, prayed in their heart, 'I thank you that I am not like other men who have sinful pasts or sinful lives.' Jesus then ends the parable with telling them that the broken sinner was justified and the ministry leader who did what appeared to be right was not justified. He said, “for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Matthew 7:21-23 says, “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by they name, and by thy name cast out devils, and by thy name do many mighty works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
There is one who does all the right actions but without love. Bonhoeffer writes that there is a 'demonic faith' that produces wonderful works. They do all the 'right actions' but their motives are wrong. Their actions fail to be based out of love.
Bonhoeffer notes that another way false religion shows up is where one justifies himself through his confession and not his actions. [3] James 2:17 says that faith without works is dead. When one claims to know Christ but never acts from his or her beliefs, they are deceived if they think they are following Christ. Bonhoeffer writes that the doer is the obedient man who builds his life on the grace of God. [4]
Ultimately, each one of us will account for what we did with our lives and the motives that were behind our actions. Bonhoeffer writes, “God will not ask us in that day whether we were good Protestants, but whether we have done his will. We shall be asked the same question as everybody else.” [5]
"I'll give you everything you need for life and godliness, just trust me, lean into me. Your gonna shine, in righteousness and holiness... behold I'll make all things new... and there's gonna be a wedding..." sings in the background.
Nehemiah's longings and desires were based upon something larger than himself. He desired to see justice come forth for his people. He deeply longed for things to be set right. And it was this passion that fueled his labors.
Operating out of this longing to see things set right rather than from a desire for personal gain, Nehemiah freely offered all that he had to give to God in his labors. He left a significant position of power to rebuild the walls. When he got there, he put his whole heart into seeing the walls rebuilt.
And when he was appointed as Governor, he did not take any provisions from the people. Rather he paid for everything out of his own pocket. He simply told God, “Remember me, my God, for good, according to all I have done for this people.”
Because Nehemiah's motives were based upon accomplishing something outside of himself, he was free from seeking personal gain or the approval of man. More than once when the leaders or people were in sin, Nehemiah willingly contended with them.
When the leaders and the people were not honoring the Sabbath, Nehemiah contended with the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day?” (Neh. 13:17).
One article writes, “ In the beatitudes He [Jesus] gave them a new understanding of who is blessed. To be blessed is to know your longing and need for God and for His righteousness to fill everything. We are blessed when we are willing to receive from God His life for us, when we are willing to let Him tell us who we really are. This poverty of spirit comes from a realization that everything else in this creation, including ourselves, cannot get us life.
Jesus then went on to tell His listeners that true righteousness has to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. He told them that He Himself is the One who does this, who fulfills God's will for righteousness. God's will for us is not just to do righteous things, but to be truly set right from the inside out. He intends to satisfy our deepest, built-in longing to see all things, all of creation, set right. And this He does in Jesus, who takes on our fallen humanity and fulfills the whole will of God, making all things right. In our poverty of spirit, in our longing for righteousness, we receive and share in Jesus' righteousness which is partially and imperfectly manifested in us now, but will, in the end, totally transform us by the power of the Spirit into Christ's likeness.” [6]
The desires, longings and passions God places within us are always rooted in love - love for God and love for others. John Ortberg writes, "'The me God made me to be' is measured by my capacity to love. When we live in love, we flourish. That is the dance."
When our motivation for our actions is love for Christ and for our brother, we cannot go wrong. Paul says in Galatians 5:6, “When we are united with the Messiah Yeshua, neither being circumcised nor being uncircumcised matters; what matters is trusting faithfulness expressing itself through love.”
They flow out from our relationship with God and contain a deep desire to contribute and make a difference in the world. John Ortberg writes, "Your flourishing self works out of a richness and a desire to contribute. You live with a sense of calling. How much money you make does not matter as much as doing what you love and what creates value. You become resilient in suffering. You get better. You grow." [7]
Nehemiah operated out of this desire to contribute. He had a sense of calling to make a difference and to right injustice in the world. Nehemiah invited God into the journey with him every step of the way. And he did not try to do works for God out of his own strength.
Nehemiah bathed every step in prayer and looked to God to guide him. Proverbs 3:6 says, “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” As a result of looking to God, Nehemiah discerned when Sanballat and his friends, and later the false prophet, were trying to deceive him and lead him off course.
When Saballat and his friends threatened Nehemiah, he sent to them, saying, "No such thing as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart." He discerned that they were trying to make them afraid, saying, "Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will not be done."
Philippians4:6 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”
When Nehemiah felt weakened by the oppression of his enemies, he did not complain or sit down and quit. Rather, he prayed for the strength he needed to continue to press forward. He prayed, "Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands." (Neh:6:9).
Nehemiah did not let opposition overcome him or weaken his position. Rather than run and hide, succumbing to fear, or seeking vengeance for the evil that was done to him, he pressed into God. Nehemiah let opposition build in him character and deeper convictions. He kept pressing forward.
In Nehemiah 6:14 he prayed, “My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their works, and the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid.”
John Maxwell notes in my bible commentary, “Nehemiah had to contend with the same kind of pest the plagues most true leaders today: distracters who torment and do everything possible to interfere in the work of the kingdom. Sanballat played this distracting role in the life of Nehemiah... The contrast between Nehemiah and Sanballat could hardly be more pronounced. Nehemiah's leadership and character countered every assault of Sanballat and provided the impetus for his godly vision to be completed. Contemporary leaders can learn several valuable lesson from studying Sanballat's assaults, threats and schemes:
- Expect distracters
- Don't give them the time of day
- Trust God to protect you and your reputation
- Keep your hands to the plow and don't look back.” [8]
Nehemiah was committed and kept his hands to the plow despite great adversity. This was the same for Paul. He did not spend his energy chasing down those who were preaching out of wrong ambitions. Rather, he simply said, either way, the gospel is being preached. However, when someone presented false teaching, becoming a stumbling block to the believers faith, he did not sit by and watch. He actively and passionately defended the truth.
As a person who values getting along with everyone, it can be distracting when someone opposes me. I can spend energy focusing on this person when I really just need to let it go. At one time, if someone strongly opposed me, it validated the belief I held that there was something wrong with me. While I don't 'go there' anymore, it is still easy to get distracted by someone who does not like me.
We can trust that as we look to God, he is more than capable of sustaining us through our trials. He can close the mouths of lions and bring us through our fiery ordeal unscathed.
Lord forgive me for sometimes becoming distracted or draining my energy by trying to get along with someone who opposes me. Teach me how to navigate these situations. I long to look much more like Nehemiah who contended with people who were in sin but let go of a sense of needing to be in control when people opposed your kingdom purposes.
Lord, forgive us wherever we have let worldly desires or ambitions choke out a passion for your kingdom purposes. Would you give us a fresh passion to see your kingdom purposes come forth. Give us hearts that deeply long to see things set right for others and your righteousness to fill everything. And would would you strengthen us to remain committed and faithful, even during opposition. Also, give us discernment to know when to let go in opposition and when to contend with people in their sin to see your will come forth.
1-2, 7. Ortberg, John. The Me I Want To Be. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 2010.
3-5. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. Touchstone, New York, NY. 1959.
6. Trinity Study Center. Matthew 6:1-4. Located at: http://www.trinitystudycenter.com/mount/matthew_6-1-4.php. 2009. Last Accessed: 4/5/11.
8. Maxwell, John. The Maxwell Leadership Bible, Second Edition. NKJV. Lessons in Leadership from the Word of God. Thomas Nelson. Nashville, Tennessee. 2007.
God created each one of us with desires, longings and passions. As we move towards these, He meets us in them, fulfilling our deeper needs to contribute and make a difference. As we put our hands to what our heart prompts and engage with Him in the work of His kingdom, we come to know Him in deeper ways.
Song 7:11-12 says, "Come my Beloved, let us go to the fields, we will spend the night in the villages and in the morning we will go to the vineyards. We will see if the vines are budding, if their blossoms are opening, if the pomegranate trees are in flower."
God formed us and created us with certain desires. John Ortberg writes, "God is a desire-creating, desire satisfying God. He made birds with the impulse to fly -they want to do it because God made them to do it. Dolphins swim because God made them with an instinct to swim. God doesn't plant wrong desires in his creatures." [1]
Psalm 145:16-19 says, "You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him."
As Nehemiah pressed into the desires that God placed in his heart, God opened the door for him to put his hand to what his heart prompted. When Nehemiah was grieving the condition of the walls at Jerusalem, the king asked him "Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart."
Nehemiah told him that the city of his fathers lies in waste with its gates burned. The king then asked him, "What do you request?" And Nehemiah prayed to God and told the king-, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it."
The king not only agreed to let him go, but also agreed to write letters to the governors of the region to let him pass through and to give him what he needed in timber to rebuild the city wall. Nehemiah noted, "And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me." (Neh. 2:8)
The desires, longings and passions He places within us our not self centered. They are not for position, power, possession, or prestige. Before we know Christ, we are filled with the world and the desires of the world. These 'false' desires choke out our true purpose, and truly being fulfilled when we pursue them.
Pursuing selfish and vain desires, passions and ambitions make us smaller and smaller people. We feel discontented and dissatisfied while we are filled with growing discontentment and ambition that cannot be satisfied. As a result, we are filled with envy, comparison, greed, pride and jealously.
In James 4:1-6 it says, "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, 'The Spirit who dwells in us years jealously'? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: 'God resist the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'"
Instead we are to put to death these desires so that the life of God can come forth. As we look to God and trust Him, He gives us the strength we need to put to death personal ambition, greed, pride, etc. And as we put to death these lesser desires, we come more alive to God and His purposes.
John Ortberg writes, "We must say no to any desires that would keep us from living in the flow of the Spirit. We must always be ready to sacrifice a lesser desire for the sake of living a greater life." [2]
Tobiah, Sanballat and his friends are examples of leaders who were large in their own eyes, full of pride and ambition. They were enemies of God and attempted to get in the way of His purposes coming forth out of jealousy.
When Tobiah, Sanballat and his friends heard that the wall was being rebuilt by Nehemiah and the Jews, they became indignant and mocked them. As then as the walls were being further restored, they became angry and conspired to attack the Jews and create confusion.
When this was unsuccessful, they conspired against Nehemiah and tried to frighten him with threats that they would report him as leading a rebellion against the king. Sanballat and his friends then used one of the Jews, a false prophet who was a secret informer, to give Nehemiah an evil report and try to get him to run and hide in the temple for his life.
Jesus says in Matthew 7:15-20, "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks within himself, so he is.” If one has God's kingdom purposes at heart and not their own, their actions will reveal this just as it did with Nehemiah. Nehemiah laid down his own personal interest to see God's will be done.
On the other hand, if one is full of pride, ambition and hunger for position, their fruit will be full of competitiveness, envy and jealousy. What will matter to them is how they appear to others and personal gain rather than God's purposes coming forth.
Religion sometimes becomes an easy substitute for genuine righteousness. When one is empty and doesn't know how to get filled by God, they may substitute right behaviors for right relationship with Him. Jesus confronted this in the Pharisees. They looked good on the outside but inside they were full of ambition, greed, envy, jealousy and comparison. They followed all the rules and kept the laws, but their heart was not in it. They were following religion for social acceptance. Their ministry was about using God to meet their own needs to be glorified rather than genuinely desiring God to be glorified. They lacked a genuine love for God and deep desire to see His kingdom purposes to come forth.
Jesus tells a parable in Luke 18:9-14 to “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.” In the parable, a ministry leader was praying alongside someone who had a history of a great deal of sin. The one with the sinful past, begged God for mercy and felt unworthy to even be there. And the ministry leader, who had been faithful in prayer, fasting and doing all the right things their whole life, prayed in their heart, 'I thank you that I am not like other men who have sinful pasts or sinful lives.' Jesus then ends the parable with telling them that the broken sinner was justified and the ministry leader who did what appeared to be right was not justified. He said, “for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Matthew 7:21-23 says, “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by they name, and by thy name cast out devils, and by thy name do many mighty works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
There is one who does all the right actions but without love. Bonhoeffer writes that there is a 'demonic faith' that produces wonderful works. They do all the 'right actions' but their motives are wrong. Their actions fail to be based out of love.
Bonhoeffer notes that another way false religion shows up is where one justifies himself through his confession and not his actions. [3] James 2:17 says that faith without works is dead. When one claims to know Christ but never acts from his or her beliefs, they are deceived if they think they are following Christ. Bonhoeffer writes that the doer is the obedient man who builds his life on the grace of God. [4]
Ultimately, each one of us will account for what we did with our lives and the motives that were behind our actions. Bonhoeffer writes, “God will not ask us in that day whether we were good Protestants, but whether we have done his will. We shall be asked the same question as everybody else.” [5]
"I'll give you everything you need for life and godliness, just trust me, lean into me. Your gonna shine, in righteousness and holiness... behold I'll make all things new... and there's gonna be a wedding..." sings in the background.
Nehemiah's longings and desires were based upon something larger than himself. He desired to see justice come forth for his people. He deeply longed for things to be set right. And it was this passion that fueled his labors.
Operating out of this longing to see things set right rather than from a desire for personal gain, Nehemiah freely offered all that he had to give to God in his labors. He left a significant position of power to rebuild the walls. When he got there, he put his whole heart into seeing the walls rebuilt.
And when he was appointed as Governor, he did not take any provisions from the people. Rather he paid for everything out of his own pocket. He simply told God, “Remember me, my God, for good, according to all I have done for this people.”
Because Nehemiah's motives were based upon accomplishing something outside of himself, he was free from seeking personal gain or the approval of man. More than once when the leaders or people were in sin, Nehemiah willingly contended with them.
When the leaders and the people were not honoring the Sabbath, Nehemiah contended with the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day?” (Neh. 13:17).
One article writes, “ In the beatitudes He [Jesus] gave them a new understanding of who is blessed. To be blessed is to know your longing and need for God and for His righteousness to fill everything. We are blessed when we are willing to receive from God His life for us, when we are willing to let Him tell us who we really are. This poverty of spirit comes from a realization that everything else in this creation, including ourselves, cannot get us life.
Jesus then went on to tell His listeners that true righteousness has to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. He told them that He Himself is the One who does this, who fulfills God's will for righteousness. God's will for us is not just to do righteous things, but to be truly set right from the inside out. He intends to satisfy our deepest, built-in longing to see all things, all of creation, set right. And this He does in Jesus, who takes on our fallen humanity and fulfills the whole will of God, making all things right. In our poverty of spirit, in our longing for righteousness, we receive and share in Jesus' righteousness which is partially and imperfectly manifested in us now, but will, in the end, totally transform us by the power of the Spirit into Christ's likeness.” [6]
The desires, longings and passions God places within us are always rooted in love - love for God and love for others. John Ortberg writes, "'The me God made me to be' is measured by my capacity to love. When we live in love, we flourish. That is the dance."
When our motivation for our actions is love for Christ and for our brother, we cannot go wrong. Paul says in Galatians 5:6, “When we are united with the Messiah Yeshua, neither being circumcised nor being uncircumcised matters; what matters is trusting faithfulness expressing itself through love.”
They flow out from our relationship with God and contain a deep desire to contribute and make a difference in the world. John Ortberg writes, "Your flourishing self works out of a richness and a desire to contribute. You live with a sense of calling. How much money you make does not matter as much as doing what you love and what creates value. You become resilient in suffering. You get better. You grow." [7]
Nehemiah operated out of this desire to contribute. He had a sense of calling to make a difference and to right injustice in the world. Nehemiah invited God into the journey with him every step of the way. And he did not try to do works for God out of his own strength.
Nehemiah bathed every step in prayer and looked to God to guide him. Proverbs 3:6 says, “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” As a result of looking to God, Nehemiah discerned when Sanballat and his friends, and later the false prophet, were trying to deceive him and lead him off course.
When Saballat and his friends threatened Nehemiah, he sent to them, saying, "No such thing as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart." He discerned that they were trying to make them afraid, saying, "Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will not be done."
Philippians4:6 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”
When Nehemiah felt weakened by the oppression of his enemies, he did not complain or sit down and quit. Rather, he prayed for the strength he needed to continue to press forward. He prayed, "Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands." (Neh:6:9).
Nehemiah did not let opposition overcome him or weaken his position. Rather than run and hide, succumbing to fear, or seeking vengeance for the evil that was done to him, he pressed into God. Nehemiah let opposition build in him character and deeper convictions. He kept pressing forward.
In Nehemiah 6:14 he prayed, “My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their works, and the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid.”
John Maxwell notes in my bible commentary, “Nehemiah had to contend with the same kind of pest the plagues most true leaders today: distracters who torment and do everything possible to interfere in the work of the kingdom. Sanballat played this distracting role in the life of Nehemiah... The contrast between Nehemiah and Sanballat could hardly be more pronounced. Nehemiah's leadership and character countered every assault of Sanballat and provided the impetus for his godly vision to be completed. Contemporary leaders can learn several valuable lesson from studying Sanballat's assaults, threats and schemes:
- Expect distracters
- Don't give them the time of day
- Trust God to protect you and your reputation
- Keep your hands to the plow and don't look back.” [8]
Nehemiah was committed and kept his hands to the plow despite great adversity. This was the same for Paul. He did not spend his energy chasing down those who were preaching out of wrong ambitions. Rather, he simply said, either way, the gospel is being preached. However, when someone presented false teaching, becoming a stumbling block to the believers faith, he did not sit by and watch. He actively and passionately defended the truth.
As a person who values getting along with everyone, it can be distracting when someone opposes me. I can spend energy focusing on this person when I really just need to let it go. At one time, if someone strongly opposed me, it validated the belief I held that there was something wrong with me. While I don't 'go there' anymore, it is still easy to get distracted by someone who does not like me.
We can trust that as we look to God, he is more than capable of sustaining us through our trials. He can close the mouths of lions and bring us through our fiery ordeal unscathed.
Lord forgive me for sometimes becoming distracted or draining my energy by trying to get along with someone who opposes me. Teach me how to navigate these situations. I long to look much more like Nehemiah who contended with people who were in sin but let go of a sense of needing to be in control when people opposed your kingdom purposes.
Lord, forgive us wherever we have let worldly desires or ambitions choke out a passion for your kingdom purposes. Would you give us a fresh passion to see your kingdom purposes come forth. Give us hearts that deeply long to see things set right for others and your righteousness to fill everything. And would would you strengthen us to remain committed and faithful, even during opposition. Also, give us discernment to know when to let go in opposition and when to contend with people in their sin to see your will come forth.
1-2, 7. Ortberg, John. The Me I Want To Be. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 2010.
3-5. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. Touchstone, New York, NY. 1959.
6. Trinity Study Center. Matthew 6:1-4. Located at: http://www.trinitystudycenter.com/mount/matthew_6-1-4.php. 2009. Last Accessed: 4/5/11.
8. Maxwell, John. The Maxwell Leadership Bible, Second Edition. NKJV. Lessons in Leadership from the Word of God. Thomas Nelson. Nashville, Tennessee. 2007.
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