Dealing With the Enemy Lessons From Nehemiah

Nehemiah 6: 15-16 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.

God has called us all for a great work beloved. One's calling may be different from another's; but of no less importance. The enemy, having lost the battle for your soul, now seeks to make your work impotent for the King and His kingdom. He will send many obstacles your way but we must hold fast to the teachings in the Bible and remain true to the project God has called us to.

So it was for the Prophet Nehemiah. He lived during toward the end of the period of exile for the Israelites. Remember that because King Solomon had drifted from God to worship the foreign gods of his foreign wives, the Lord had decreed that the kingdom would be split. The ten tribes of Israel were scattered and the remaining remnant of Judah eventually carried off into captivity in Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. This was to fulfill the promises of God as far back as Deuteronomy where God had warned Israel about not following His commands:

The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you. Deuteronomy 28:36-37

After decades in captivity, Nehemiah finds himself as the Cupbearer to King Artaxerxes I. He hears the report of those who survived the exile back in Jerusalem and how the walls and gates had been completely destroyed. The project is now being birthed in his spirit. Nehemiah shows us the first thing we need to do whenever we are considering a project for the Lord; fast and pray:

When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Nehemiah 1: 4

His prayer included a heartfelt confession of his sins, as well as those of his forefathers. In his prayers he reminds God of His promises to His people. These are good models for us to follow as well. Too often our prayers can become rote or monotonous. Too often they can become stale or a "wish list." Nehemiah fasted and wept and sought the Lord before he would even dare approach King Artaxerxes about the project God was birthing in his spirit. We need to be just as reverent in how we approach our work for God as well today. It should not be haphazard in nature but a carefully thought out and prayed over work.

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:

But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem's walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. Nehemiah 4: 7-8

We can also expect the enemies of God to come against us in our work and walk with the Lord. They may well come to pick a fight or stir up trouble against us. They may pick on our easier buttons to push. Maybe our pride. Maybe our temper. Maybe our past failures. Perhaps after laboring for so long we allow ourselves to lose sight of who we are truly working for. We should not look for the accolades or appreciation of man; just that we are within the will of God. We do not labor for our friends. We do not labor for our Ministry Leaders. We do not even labor for our Pastor. We labor for God. Now that we know the scheme of the enemy will be to come against us and stir up trouble; what should we do? Follow what Nehemiah did:

But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. Nehemiah 4: 9

The enemy is going to try and infiltrate your heart. He may try by sending mockers in your way at first but eventually it could move into a more aggressive assault on our heart. It could attack our pride, our self-righteousness, our intellect. Nehemiah says to do two things pray and post a guard day and night. Then the threat will be met. For us these are intertwined. The more we pray and stay in the Word of God the more on guard our hearts will be. How important is this?

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Proverbs 4: 23

Above all else! Soon however, the strength of the builders would begin to falter. The Bible tells us they began to believe all the reports they heard about the threats being made against them. Nehemiah responded as we need to:

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. After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes." Nehemiah 4: 13-14

We must guard our hearts with prayer and His Word day and night. That is how we will be vigilant against the enemy when he attacks. What is more telling here is that Nehemiah paid extra attention to the "exposed places" and placed extra protection there. So we must as well in our lives. We all have exposed places in our lives. These are the places the enemy most easily attacks us at. Maybe we are more prone to attacks on our prejudices, our lust, or maybe our pride. More than just knowing our enemy, we must know ourselves to properly protect these exposed places in our lives. In addition to guarding our exposed places Nehemiah reminds us that we must remember that God is great and awesome and that we too must fight for what we hold dear to us. But in any battle we face, God faces it for us first:

The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." Deuteronomy 31: 8

Hallelujah! The Lord Himself goes before us! We have no reason to fear or to discourage! He will never leave us or forsake us! While we reside in these mighty promises, remember the enemy will keep coming. Having faced ridicule and open threats, soon Nehemiah would be faced with distraction, another weapon the enemy wishes to use against us. Four times Sanballat and his cohorts would send a message to Nehemiah to meet with them and each time the response from Nehemiah was the same:

so I sent messengers to them with this reply: "I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?" Nehemiah 6: 3

What great project are you doing for the Lord in your life? What does He have you working on? I am sure that the request to meet seemed reasonable but Nehemiah knew who He worked for and who his enemies were. Likewise, we should not engage in a conversation with the enemy. We should not agree to meet with the enemy. There is no common ground to be struck. We are doing a great project and cannot go down, period.

And so we come to our key verses. The wall was completed and the schemes of the enemy had failed. With it, so did the confidence of all of the enemies of those in Jerusalem. They had all seen that Nehemiah had completed his great work and could not have done so, surrounded by enemies at all sides, without the help of God Almighty.

The more your enemies see God at work in your lives the easier the battles become. The more guarded you are against the exposed places in your walk, the less susceptible you are to the schemes the enemy throw at you. Mockers fade in light of the work God has for you to do. Threats no longer resound in light of the work God has for you to do. Distractions and offers to meet with the enemy are ignored in light of the work God has for you to do. You simply cannot come down.

Reverend Anthony Wade July 8, 2009