"I Am Carrying On a Great Project "

How to Handle Opposition While Completing a Task

Taught by Toby G.
Notes by Linda G.

Toby began her teaching today by explaining that the book of Nehemiah is a memoir. A memoir differs from an autobiography in that it tries to capture highlights and memorable moments from the author’s past. A memoir would have an emotional slant that would focus more of the contemplation of certain events more than historical documentation alone. In this book of the bible Nehemiah is recounting what happened to him as he took on the task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.

The purpose of the walls, as Toby explained, was to be the first line of defense for the city. The most vulnerable parts of the walls were the gates. In Nehemiah chapter 6 the gates of the wall are being rebuilt. As we have seen throughout the first five chapters, the rebuilding process was fraught with opposition. Nehemiah (the man), in Toby’s words, was the ‘head contractor’ in the building process. She pointed out that he was an ordinary man. He followed the leading of the Lord; he had strengths and weaknesses. In other places in the bible we see that God delivered His people through miraculous means (i.e. parting of the Red Sea, the ground swallowing the enemies). In Nehemiah we see an ordinary man handling opposition as he completes the task set before him without the aid of miraculous intervention. Toby showed us how we can do the same as we counter opposition on our own ‘great project’.

Toby divided chapter six into three schemes of the enemy to stop the rebuilding process. These schemes are relate to three themes of the entire book of Nehemiah : Nehemiah’s relationship with Artaxerxes, Nehemiah’s relationship with God, and Nehemiah’s relationship with the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Scheme 1 (Nehemiah 6:1-4)
In this passage, we see the return of the enemies : Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem. To date, they have already opposed the building of the walls on three occasions. This time the attack on Nehemiah was personal. As Toby pointed out, when we are personally attacked it is deeply troubling. The enemies wanted to meet Nehemiah on the plain of Ono, a trip of 25 miles from Jerusalem. In itself, the invitation does not appear evil yet to comply with the request would be a distraction to the work to which Nehemiah was called. Nehemiah did not accuse these men of evil intentions but gave them several opportunities to see if they were sincere in their request. Their motives became clear and Nehemiah did not allow himself to be distracted.

Toby asked us ‘What is your great project?’ and ‘How do you handle opposition?’. We learned, as Nehemiah did, that we need to keep focused on the ‘project’ God has given us. Toby taught us that we need not allow ‘brush fires’ that may be the result of our work to ‘burn us to a crisp’. Keep focused on the task at hand!

Scheme 2 (Nehemiah 6:5-9)
In these verses, Nehemiah faces more opposition – this is the fifth time! The enemies circulated an unsealed letter that cast doubts on the motives of Nehemiah. The letter contained rumors that could destroy Nehemiah’s credibility in the eyes of King Artaxerxes and in the eyes of Jerusalem’s citizens. Going back to the book of Ezra, this ploy had been used successfully to stop the rebuilding of the temple for 15 years.

The tactic of the enemy is this case was intimidation. This is not a physical attack but one that affects our mind and emotions. The desired result of intimidation is to cause fear and timidity. It puts the focus on the intimidator, not on the spiritual or physical reality of the situation. It takes our eyes off the Lord. Toby pointed out that we need to recognize this as it comes against us just as Nehemiah did. He knew that his relationship with the king was solid. He recognized the attack for what it was. Toby also pointed out what Nehemiah did NOT do. He did not counter their accusations in a position of defensiveness. He did not argue with them or try to justify his position. He prayed and called the lie for what it was.

In class a few things were discussed that shed light on our own battles with intimidation. Sometimes as we are serving the Lord in a specific task we may be assaulted by thoughts that question our own motives (ie: ‘you are doing this for your own glory’). The accusation is not against what we are actually doing but on who we are. Nehemiah was so confident in his relationship with God that he was not moved by this.

Scheme 3 (Nehemiah 6:10-15)
The third scheme against Nehemiah is grounded in religious deception. Nehemiah is meeting with a man by the name of Shemiah. This man attempts to convince Nehemiah that he has Nehemiah’s interests at heart and gives him a message as if it were a prophesy from the Lord. Toby pointed out that the words Shemiah used were purposely meant to convey a tone of spirituality. Additionally, he suggested they meet in the temple, a further attempt to validate his lie.

Shemiah’s prophecy does seem plausible in light of the current circumstances that Nehemiah faced. Nehemiah used spiritual insight to determine his course of action. This insight is called discernment. In the New Testament we see this principle in 1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world”. Discernment is the ability to sense if something is ‘of God’ or not. We have been given this ability by the Lord and we need to make use of it as we live out our lives in this world to overcome the schemes of the enemy.

Chapter 6 concludes with “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” (Neh 6:15-16). Toby summed up how Nehemiah handled the opposition with several key points: he did not retaliate; he handled the opposition minimally; he didn’t get involved in a debate; he called the bluff; he dealt with the situation in an upright, honorable manner; and he refused to play by the enemy’s rules.