LESSONS FROM NEHEMIAH: WHEN REBUILDING BRINGS OPPOSITION AND OBSTACLES

What happens when you face opposition and obstacles during the rebuilding process? Can this be a sign to give up your dream, work even harder, or turn to God for help?

WHO IS NEHEMIAH IN THE BIBLE?

God brought me to Nehemiah and the story of rebuilding the wall a few years ago when I launched my website. If you have been here AT THE CROSSROADS before, you know that God often uses people and stories from the Bible to teach me His truth and encourage me on my faith journey.

Each week, I try to pass on what I learned to you, hoping it will bring inspiration, hope, and encouragement.

During that time of studying Nehemiah, I learned so many lessons that I could apply to my life and my ministry. Lessons about perseverance, faithfulness, and obedience. As we approach the beginning of a new decade with its challenges, hopes, and dreams, I thought it would be a good time to revisit those valuable lessons to give us some motivation to keep moving forward!

NEHEMIAH TRIES TO REBUILD

In his project to rebuild the wall around the city of Jerusalem, Nehemiah was faced with several obstacles, challenges, and discouraging people. As I reread the story, I wondered how he had the determination to continue because the opposition was so great on many levels.  But Nehemiah did not quit; instead, he prayed and planned.

NEHEMIAH FACES OPPOSITION REBUILDING THE WALL

Here is a little background on Nehemiah if he is new to you:

Nehemiah was a godly Jew who lived during the 5th century B.C. in Susa, the capital of the Persian empire. He was the cupbearer to the Persian king, Artaxerxes I. Basically, this meant he was the king’s righthand man because, in the ancient world, this was a very important and prestigious position.  Nehemiah’s responsibilities included making sure that the king’s drink did not contain poison. After all, one of the easiest ways for an assassin to remove a monarch was through poisoning his drink! Even though Nehemiah was considered one of the king’s most trusted and loyal advisors, he was concerned about the problems and struggles of his own people who were living back in the homeland.

Nehemiah’s concern centered on the city of Jerusalem, whose walls were in ruins. The walls had been destroyed by the Babylonians almost a century and a half before when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem and took the Jews into captivity. The Jewish people who had returned to Jerusalem from Babylon following the seventy-year exile had completed the rebuilding of their Temple. Still, the walls of the Holy City remained as piles of rubble.

⁶ We kept at it, repairing and rebuilding the wall. The whole wall was soon joined together and halfway to its intended height because the people had a heart for the work.
^7-9 When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repairs of the walls of Jerusalem were going so well—that the breaks in the wall were being fixed—they were absolutely furious. They put their heads together and decided to fight against Jerusalem and create as much trouble as they could. We countered with prayer to our God and set a round-the-clock guard against them.
¹⁰ But soon word was going around in Judah,
The builders are pooped,
    the rubbish piles up;
We’re in over our heads,
    we can’t build this wall.
^11-12 And all this time our enemies were saying, “They won’t know what hit them. Before they know it we’ll be at their throats, killing them right and left. That will put a stop to the work!” The Jews who were their neighbors kept reporting, “They have us surrounded; they’re going to attack!” If we heard it once, we heard it ten times.

Nehemiah 4:6-14 (The Message)

Do you sense their weariness, uncertainty, doubt, and fear?

The Jewish people had a “heart for the work,” but were also exhausted, fearful, and overwhelmed.

Can anyone relate?

We can bring energy, enthusiasm, and excitement to a rebuilding project only to collapse and crumble when we face obstacles and opposition.

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES AND OPPOSITION WITH GOD

What about you today? Are you in the process of rebuilding, restoring, or remaking something in your life?

• Maybe it is a new venture, a job, or even a career.
• Maybe you are trying to rebuild a relationship with someone.
• Maybe you need to rebuild your confidence and trust after a devastating loss or failure.
• Maybe your physical body needs some restoration after a stressful time.
• Maybe your future needs to be rebuilt after you have faced and dealt with the pain of your past.

Whatever it may be, I know God has taught me some life-changing truths as I have sought to rebuild various areas in my life.

WHEN YOU FACE OPPOSITION AS YOU TRY TO REBUILD

Have you ever started a rebuilding project only to get into the middle of it and face huge barriers? Unexpected hurdles? Costly repairs? Think of this on a literal level.  You decide you just want to do a few things to update your bathroom, so you begin by taking the tiles off the walls so you can paint…uh-oh. Underneath you find water damage, and all the walls need to come down. Once you take the walls down, now you realize the whole shower and tub need to be replaced, which leads to damaging the floor! And on and on it goes. You get the picture, right? It is a snowball effect. But you already committed to the project. You’re in the middle of it now, so there is no going back. You need a functioning bathroom!

Let’s return to the story of Nehemiah. He prayerfully prepares by asking God for wisdom and guidance. He schedules the project by cautiously counting the cost and assembling the right people to support and help him in this massive and crucial rebuilding project. It is going so well.  

Until it isn’t.

Sanballat and Tobiah were rulers in two of the Persian provinces surrounding Judah and were very angry that someone had come to help the Jews (Nehemiah 2:9). They were both threatened by Nehemiah’s success in rebuilding the wall because they did not want Jerusalem to become a strong and well-defended city.  So they began their opposition by mocking and ridiculing the builders:

Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews, saying in front of his friends and the Samarian army officers, ‘What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they’re doing? Do they think they can build the wall in a single day by just offering a few sacrifices? Do they actually think they can make something of stones from a rubbish heap—and charred ones at that?’

Tobiah the Ammonite, who was standing beside him, remarked, ‘That stone wall would collapse if even a fox walked along the top of it!'”  

Nehemiah 4:1-3 (NLT)

When you start to rebuild the walls of your life, you can expect to face opposition and obstacles both internally and externally.

Unfortunately, the enemy’s first strategy to stop God’s work in our lives is to discourage us through sarcasm, scorn, or rejection.

We either begin with negative self-talk that goes something like this:

Who do you think you are starting this project? You will never get it done! You always start things and never finish them. No one is going to help you. You are going to fail and look like a loser.”   

(Full transparency:  those are words from my own head!)

Or other people, even if they are not overt or confrontational, begin to plant seeds of doubt and discouragement:

Are you sure you want to go ahead with this? Do you really need to? I am not sure if you are ready or have the resources.  It is going to be challenging, and you have a lot going on in your life right now.”

No, they are not throwing stones at us or trying to knock us off the wall physically…but it sure can feel that way.

HOW NEHEMIAH CONFRONTS OPPOSITION

In looking at Nehemiah’s story, let us not lose sight of these truths:

• Progress on the wall brought out the enemy. 
• Opposition came because Nehemiah was successful.

As we also begin to see progress and success in our personal rebuilding projects, the same thing will happen to us. Either we will begin to question or distrust ourselves, or others will be uncomfortable with the direction we are moving and try to get us off track.

That is why halfway points are always critical. On the one hand, we can feel very encouraged when a project is almost completed. Our accomplishments can invigorate and encourage us to keep moving ahead. On the other hand, the middle can also become a place of discouragement and hopelessness as we realize there is so much further to go (think about the bathroom example). Now throw in a personal attack, and we are vulnerable to burning out, walking away for a while, or leaving the job altogether.

PRAYER IS THE SECRET WEAPON TO OVERCOMING OPPOSITION

Nehemiah also understood the vulnerability and exposure that can happen in the middle of rebuilding so that when he saw discouragement, doubt, and fear taking hold of his workers, he took action. His first proactive response should come as no surprise to you: he made sure that the people continued to pray. Remember, this is how Nehemiah started the rebuilding process: with prayer. So now that things are becoming unmanageable, he returns to seeking God.

But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves.”  

Nehemiah 4:9 (NLT)

I love how he played both defense (prayer) and offense (guards).  

Overcoming obstacles requires both a DEFENSIVE and OFFENSIVE STRATEGY.

I strongly suggest we need to take the same posture when we face obstacles and opposition during rebuilding. We need to get down on our knees and ask God to protect, guide, and support us. We also need to be proactive in setting up guards around our minds, thoughts, attitudes, and even people who do not encourage us in God’s truth. The Bible tells us to take every thought captive and use the tools God has given us to defeat the lies and manipulation of the enemy:

We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.”    

2 Corinthians 10:5-6 (The Message)

Next, Nehemiah asked them to remember their “great and awesome” God and fix their eyes on Him. It is so easy to fall into the trap of focusing on our present circumstances instead of trusting God. Although it is a well-worn cliche, I still love the truth of this quote:

If God brings you to it,

He will bring you through it.

Nehemiah knew with certainty that God had put it in his heart to rebuild the wall and had provided the resources, people, and position to complete the project. He was not going to let the opposition or any obstacles deter him from achieving his goal. Instead, he used them as fuel to push through and keep fighting. Here is how he continues to challenge the people:

Don’t be afraid of them. Put your minds on the Master, great and awesome, and then fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”  

Nehemiah 4:14 (The Message)

Godly counsel, unwavering encouragement, and bold challenge from wise and discerning people who know God’s truth are foolproof ways for us to defeat discouragement and doubt.

Are you in a discouraging situation amid your rebuilding process?

• Are you listening to the voices of doubt instead of truth?
• Is there so much debris from the broken walls of the past that the situation seems impossible?
• Are there obstacles that seem insurmountable?  
• Is the opposition powerful and unrelenting?

I have been there, dear friends!  Here are some simple action steps to take when opposition and obstacles threaten the rebuilding process:

• Take it to the Lord first by praying specifically about the situation.
• Remember how big and mighty God is–with Him all things are possible.
• Guard yourself against doubt and discouragement by replacing those voices with the truth (read your Bible!).
• Don’t give up! Stay and fight for what God has already promised you.

OVERCOMING OPPOSITION AND REBUILDING TOGETHER

If this post encouraged you in any way, would you mind leaving a comment, sharing it on social media, or even just letting a friend know? It would mean so very much to me!

And if you are not a fellow traveler here AT THE CROSSROADS, please join me on the journey by signing up today. It would be a privilege to walk alongside you as we overcome obstacles and rebuild together. I would love to have you as a fellow traveler! Sign up by filling out the form below, and you will receive weekly blog posts, monthly newsletters, free faith resources, and more!