Dealing With the Enemy

Because Nehemiah obeys God and seeks His counsel, God delivers for him. Not only does the King allow Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls but sends with him army officers, cavalry, official letters from the king to provide for his safe passage! That is how God will deliver you as well! When the project is a God project and it has been fully submitted into prayer, you can expect that even the world will help you accomplish it! You can expect protection, provision, and safe passage as you labor for the Lord. The Prophet Isaiah reminds us of this:

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. Isaiah 43:2

This is the confidence that Nehemiah must have walked in on his journey back to Jerusalem. It is the confidence we need to walk in as well today. But remember, the enemy will still try and tear down the work that you are doing. We see in Nehemiah's case, he sends the scoffers against him first:

When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and 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?" Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, "What they are building--if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!" Nehemiah 4: 1-3

Now, Sanballat was a Samaritan Governor who clearly opposed the rebuilding of the walls in Jerusalem. Tobiah was an Ammonite Official who likewise opposed the work Nehemiah had undertaken. They were enemies of the work God wanted accomplished. So to will we face such enemies as we labor for the Lord. The first attempt to stop the work is through mocking the work; making fun of it. I am sure we can all think of people who similarly mock our work in God and the work God is doing in our lives. Remember that the Sanballat's in our lives mock because they do not understand:

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1Corinthians 2: 14

The things of God are foolishness to man. The enemy will try to break your spirit first. You will have no shortage of Sanballats and Tobiahs in your walk. People who are quick to point and to ridicule. People who because they do not understand, mock from a point of ignorance. We need to respond as Nehemiah did with more prayer to God. The result was that the men worked "with all of their heart" and half the height of the wall had been rebuilt.

The mockers were not done however and we should not expect the enemy to back down in our lives either. Realizing the mind games did not work, they change tactics:

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