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THE BUMPS ARE WHAT YOU CLIMB ON - by Darren Choo
Nehemiah 4:1-9
8 June 2008

Introduction

Andrew Bonar, a Scottish Presbyterian minister and close friend of D L Moody once told Moody these very words,
“Let us be as watchful after the victory as before the battle.”

The wise words in this advice holds true for all who are Christ’s disciples as well as God’s leaders in the kingdom today. The warning here from Bonar is that when things are going well, be prepared and get ready to anticipate for any forms of opposition, for the enemy is never going to let us off easily. The devil doesn’t want to see progress in the work of the Lord and thus will always provide stiff opposition against us. We only have to look to Scriptures to find such examples.

The prophet Elijah after a resounding victory over the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18), faced opposition in the form of the evil and wicked Queen Jezebel who wanted to kill him (19:1-3). Elijah eventually had to flee for his life. The apostles are yet another case in point. After being called by Jesus and given power and authority to preach the kingdom and to perform great works (Luke 9:1,6), they now suddenly find themselves in a situation where they are unable to heal a boy with an unclean spirit (9:40).

But perhaps the person who has encountered fiercer or more sustained opposition is none other then the 18th century evangelist George Whitefield. As a young Anglican clergyman, he often preached to crowds of well over 50,000 people in the open air – mind you this was done without microphone or loudspeakers. Yet despite of his great success in reaching out to the masses, opposition came in the form of the church, where the godless ministers closed their doors to his ministry. Whitefield was opposed by his very own denomination for spreading the Good News due to a different convention!

Even Jesus faced opposition from His own people that He declared in Luke 4:24 that “No prophet is accepted in his hometown.”


Facing Opposition

The problem with most of us is that we are accustomed to nice paved roads and level sidewalks. But life is not made that way. Sometimes the road is easy, the birds are singing and life seems wonderful. At times oppositions arise, the road is rocky, bumpy and we hear no music at all. Then what? Complain? Give up?

A little boy was leading his sister up a rocky and bumpy slope. Half way up, the girl complained that the path was difficult and was full of bumps. To this, her brother just replied, “Sure, the bumps are what you climb on.”

What profound words from a young boy. What do you do when the “bumps of oppositions” crosses your path of life? As disciples and leaders of Christ, we do well to learn from the boy that in facing the “bumps of opposition”, we overcome them by climbing over it.

No test of leadership is more revealing than the test of opposition. Christian leaders can go to pieces under such immense pressure. Some grow too discouraged to continue, while others build walls around themselves and shoot murderously from behind. I know of some leaders who have become embattled, embittered and vindictive.

But not so for Nehemiah in his handling of great oppositions. After successfully getting permission of leave as well as approving of the necessary provisions from King Artaxerxes in chapter 2 and on top of that managing to convince his fellow countrymen in the previous chapter to rebuild the walls, we would think that all will end well. But as we read in the passage, opposition soon arises and Nehemiah recognizes the leaders of the opposition in the form of Sanballet the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant. In fact, these two men opposed Nehemiah’s work for the Lord ever since Nehemiah returned in 2:10.

Just for are these two men? Personal details first. Sanballet is a Babylonian name, a native from Beth-Horon (Horonite) which is northwest of Jerusalem. Reports record that his daughter married into the high priest’s family and sources tell us that he was the elderly governor of Samaria. The natural guess is that Sanballet was a non-Jew who inter-married a Jewish woman and had no religious interest or motivation of any kind. He was only anxious to carve out a career by showing himself a loyal servant of the Persian regime.

Tobiah on the other hand is a Jewish name meaning, “Yahweh is Good”. Like Sanballet, he too was probably an employee of the Persian Empire and seeks favor with the government. Thus, to promote the glory of God meant precisely nothing to him at all.

Know for sure that lurking behind every human opponent is the active presence of the devil in attempting to thwart God’s project. Both Sanballet and Tobiah are the lackeys of Satan. They would represent leaders in the local churches and para-church bodies who challenges the status quo as subversive opposes every Godly vision that moves the church forward. And it is through these two men that Satan uses many forms of opposition to spoil the divine work.

The next few chapters (4-6) list at least 8 different forms that the enemy uses to prevent the success and progress of God’s work.

a) Ridicule (4:1-6)
b) Intimidations (4:7-9)
c) Discouragements (4:10)
d) Fear (4:11-23)
e) Selfishness (5:1-19)
f) Compromise (6:1-4)
g) Slander (6:5-9)
h) Threats (6:10-14)

Ridicule & Mockery

The first form of opposition Nehemiah encountered was words of ridicule and mockery. Sanballet and company first used mockery on the Jews even before the work of rebuilding started. As early as in 2:19, they mocked them by saying
“What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

It is not unusual for the enemy to throw insults at the servants of God as it is a telling weapon in destroying morale. Goliath ridiculed young David, ”Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?” (1 Samuel 17:43). Jesus was mocked by soldiers during His trials, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” (Luke 22:63-65).

Now in this chapter, Sanballet continued to mocked Nehemiah and his fellow Jews by throwing 5 further questions, each of them like a poison arrow that was meant as a puncturing jab at the morale of the builders.

a) “What are those feeble Jews doing?”
The first question was a direct ridicule on the Jews. The poison in the first question lies in the description of the workers as feeble Jews. Now if you want to hurt someone with words, you need not exaggerate to wound; just simply pick on a truth that is sensitive. To hurt an overweight person, just call “fatso” or “Barney the dinosaur”; to a handicapped person refer as a “damned cripple”. Sticks and stones may or may not break bones, but make no mistake mocking words can wound deeply as those of us who have been mocked before would know and testify.

That’s what Sanballet intended in saying that the Jews are feeble. It was to imply that they are withered, miserable, incompetent lot. It was a simple yet truthful reminder of their inferior state of being a disgraced nation and the truth of these words hurts. Sanballet’s second arrow follows the first without a pause.


b) “Will they restore it (the walls) for themselves?”
This second question ridiculed the work. In other words, Sanballet craftily planted doubts into the minds of the workers. Nothing is more damaging to the project that is being undertaken then to hear fears and discouragement being echoed all around.

c) “Will they offer sacrifice?”
Thirdly, Sanballet ridiculed the people’s faith and worship in God. “Will they offer sacrifice?” These words was a challenge to them that in their present negative situation, where is God? Is God really there? Does God really care about them? Will God hear their prayers?

d) “Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish?”
And finally the last two questions suggest that the Jews didn’t know how difficult the task was and would soon call it quits. It was a ridicule of their will.


Plots of War

Amazingly, despite the threatening words, the rebuilding work prevailed as V6 records that the wall was joined together to half its height. As both Sanballet and Tobiah saw the progress of the work, they naturally became angry and soon began a second plan of opposition – this time plotting a secret attack against Jerusalem (V8). The news of war is a terrifying one for the people. It is one thing to know of the danger that threatens but quite another to stand with weapon in hand and yell when the enemy breaks through.


Overcoming Oppositions

What we would have done if we were in Nehemiah’s shoes? I’m sure many of us have our own ways of dealing with the opposition that we encountered. And I’m afraid many of us, including myself would have done quite the opposite of what Nehemiah did. But today as we see how Nehemiah responded and dealt with all the mockery and intimidations that was thrown at him, may it be an important application for all of us in overcoming oppositions in our lives.

a) Prayer

Very prominently, in both instances, Nehemiah climb over the bumps of opposition by going to the Lord, thus proving once again that he is indeed a man of prayer.
· Hear, O our God, for we are despised (V4)
· And we prayed to our God (V9)

What is rather shocking however, is the content in Nehemiah’s first prayer.
“Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land of captives (V4b).
Do not cover their guilt and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight …” (V5a)

What it seems here was that Nehemiah was not only asking God to fight the enemy for him but requested a damnation of the enemy! How do we reconcile such a prayer when Jesus Himself tells us to love our enemies (Matt 5:44)?

Let me share with you two thoughts on this issue. Firstly, we must recognize that it is natural for all godly leaders to be upset and angry especially when God’s intentions are halted. Our Lord Himself was angry in cleansing of the temple when He overturned the tables of those selling oxen and sheep and pigeons as well as the money-changers sitting there (John 2:13-17). Yet, while we agree there is no virtue in demanding someone else’s damnation, the lesson taught is that it is better to open one’s angry heart in the presence of God in prayer than to bury the anger deep inside and pretend to be pious. Better to expose it to God that He may correct us, than to pray but with phony piety.

Secondly, we must also recognize that in this prayer, Nehemiah was not requesting personal vengeance though it sounded like it, but rather it was a plea for God’s judgment on His enemies. Both Sanballet and Tobiah had resisted the work of God because they were not interested in God’s purposes. Both didn’t want Jerusalem to be rebuilt because they didn’t want the glory of God to be restored. Hence, their opposition against the Jews was in reality opposition against God. To this Nehemiah prayed that God will judge their sinful and wicked action and that their evil plans will fail.

b) Focus

Nehemiah also climb over the bumps of oppositions by being focus on the task ahead of him. A good leader is one who keeps his focus in the midst of opposition. Taking the example of George Whitefield again, when the church closed its door to him, this man of God didn’t lose his focus. Whitefieldknew that his ultimate goal which was to proclaim the Gospel and he kept this focus in mind despite of the opposition. That is why George Whitefield is one of the central figures in the great evangelical awakening in Britain and North America.

Similarly, Nehemiah didn’t allow himself to get detoured from his work by taking time to reply to their words in a heated debate. Instead, he trusted that God had heard and seen what the enemy was up to and that God was mighty enough to deal with them in His own way and time. Nehemiah’s ultimate goal was to get the wall built and his strategy was to ensure that the people had the same mindset.
No wonder the wall was half its height, for the people had a mind to work (V6). Further, it was no surprise that as a result of his focus, the wall was finally finished in an incredible 52 days (6:15)!


Conclusion

In closing, let me summarize three vital lessons that we