Nehemiah 4:1–3 ‘What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day?’ (v2)
As we mentioned earlier, haters are going to hate. It seems that success, which we prayed for yesterday, breeds opposition.
But this seemingly overnight success was a long time coming. Nehemiah’s predecessor was Zerubbabel (Ezra 1–6), who led the first Jewish exiles back to Jerusalem and completed the rebuilding of the temple in 516 BC.
But rather than continue rebuilding the city, they stopped. They got used to living in the ruins and there was no vision or leadership to create change.
Then Nehemiah arrived seventy years later in 445 BC and created the idea of rebuilding the walls and reminding the small Jewish community of who they were.
The opposition was a reaction to the vision of what they could become. All the time the Jewish people stayed quiet and forgot their glorious history and their creator God, their enemies were happy to let them carry on as they were so that they could maintain control.
Jesus faced opposition from the Pharisees for supposedly breaking sabbath law. But it was not the law breaking that caused concern, it was what might happen if people realised there was a better way of living and the Pharisees would lose their control.
Are we living in the comfort of the ruins or are we striving to live God’s way? Often a gauge of our ‘success’ in walking the way of Jesus, comes in the form of opposition from those whose control we are threatening.
A Prayer To Make:
‘Lord, thank You that You promise to be with us when we face persecution and opposition. Help us to remember that if You are for us, who can be against us? Amen.’
An Action To Take:
Are you facing opposition in the choices you are making or are you comfortable and not wanting upheaval? Ask God to reveal an area of your life where you need to make a change.
Scripture To Consider:
Exod. 14:10–14; 2 Chr. 20:14–19; Matt. 5:43–48; Titus 2:1–8
