Despite all the opposition, the wall and gates stood picturesque against the sky.   The opposition depressed and defeated:  “much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God” (Nehemiah 6:16).  Our labors are not in vain; even when the going gets very tough, we must remember God is our strength and the victory is His.  The wall was complete; but, there were other tasks that still lay ahead for the nation.  Nehemiah named his brother Hanani as governor over Jerusalem; because “he was a faithful man, and feared God.”  Now with the wall completed, they turned to other necessary work; because, the infrastructure needed repair. “the city was large and spacious: but, the people in it were few, and the houses were not rebuilt” (Nehemiah 7:4 NKJV).

Before moving forward, Nehemiah did four important things; because, he knew just having the wall would not keep the people safe without rules and regulations guarding them.  The people needed an infrastructure built upon rules and regulations established by God, to protect them from heresy.  Ever since King Solomon’s inclusion of so many ideologies through his bringing in so many wives from other nations and allowing them to build idolatrous altars to other gods; the nation had waxed and waned.  When so many did not truly embrace their own ideologies, the nation had become a melting pot of ideas that turned them away from worshipping the true God.  This had led them to not have any national pride; ultimately, leading to captivity instead.   There loss of strength and position had begun within; by having so many who did not love the nation nor it’s ideas.

REBUILDING THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF ORDER

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The enemy attacks remain persistent when we are doing the work of the Lord.  The greater the work, the nearer its completion the more ferocious will be the attacks.  Satan uses threats, lies, and whatever means he can to cause doubt, disruption, sorrow, and fear.  This was the case for Nehemiah as well.  The enemy continued to send invitations to Nehemiah to come, take a break from the work, and meet with them so they could negotiate a plan.  When he declined every invitation, they sent a letter filled with false accusations.  This letter they failed to seal; because, they wanted to spread these false rumors as quickly as possible.   Knowing the hearts of men can be so quickly bent to gossip, they purposefully wanted the false accusations to be leaked to the press of the day.  Surely, that would cause the people to doubt Nehemiah, bringing about a revolt.

Nehemiah’s reply was swift.  “Your words are all lies.  What you accuse me of are what you, yourself, are guilty of.”  You see, the letters accused Nehemiah of doing all this to gain fame, fortune, and power over the people of Israel.  But, that was what Sanballat had plotted to do.  In fact, he had married his daughter to one of the high priests in Jerusalem; so that, he might have influence and power.  He knew his daughter would entice the priests to idolatrous worship; that, the power of God within the nation might be thwarted.  Sanballat had seen and heard of God’s power; but, did not worship Him.  Instead, Sanballat wanted to draw God’s people away from God’s favor and into His judgement.  Then, he knew he could overpower them.

THE ENEMY ATTACKS

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They had faced the threat of attacks from without and the revolt from within.  The wall was completed.  All that was left to finish the task was to construct and place the many gates.  Sometimes, when we are seeing the end in sight; we become vulnerable to Satan’s attacks.  Our overflowing joy, opens us up as an easy target.  Feeling exuberant as nothing can stop us now; we begin our victory dance and let down our guard.  Typically, that is when Satan begins a subtle approach. Nehemiah faced the same.  As he must have sighed in relief and his heart leap with joy to God, when the walls stood complete.  Now to finish the gates.  Still a formidable task; yet, with great joy and hope the workers moved forward.  That was when Nehemiah received an invitation from Sanballat to come out to a beautiful valley retreat and meet with him.

It would seem the reasonable and kind thing to do.  Go out and meet with your former opposition; after all, they had failed to stop you.  God is on your side and the proper Christian thing to do would be to extend a hand of friendship by accepting the invitation. “Come, let us meet; that, we might work out a compromise.” To this, Nehemiah said, “No! I have way too much work here to yet accomplish.”  Truth was their invitation wasn’t really to have a nice little meeting, nor were they concerned with Nehemiah’s wellbeing.  They were not really offering him a get away retreat.  Instead they were plotting to kill him.  If they could get him out of the way, the people would never finish the gates.

AN INVITATION TO COMPROMISE TRUTH

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The building of the wall continued, despite the oppositions plans to secretly attack the workers and slay them.  God had allowed their evil plots to become known and Nehemiah placed guards surrounding the workers and armed the workers.  He established a plan of notification to alert them; therefore, they continued to build the wall at God’s command and under His protection.  Then the whole project came to a screeching halt as the workers began to grumble. A revolt of sorts; because, they were in financial distress.  Not an unusual place to be when truly doing God’s work.  Yet, their distress had been worsened by the greed and abuse of their fellow Jews. Satan had thus far failed to stop the building by outside opposition, now he tried from within. There needed to be a spiritual cleansing from the inside before the work could continue.

Remember the Jewish people had been slaves, captives for 70 years prior to their return to the land.  They had rebuilt the temple and now they were building the wall.  Suddenly they remembered their own financial distress.  The wall would protect them from external tyranny; however, they suddenly remembered their own financial state.  Despite their return to the land, there wasn’t enough food to support their families. Over the course of time, while remaining subjects of Persia; they had to pay taxes on their land.  Furthermore, to make matters worse; famine hit their land due to drought.  To survive, most of the people were forced to borrow from the few Jewish people who had money.  This was necessary to survive; however, their own leaders placed high interest on the loans.

When they could not pay the interest, they were forced to hand over their land.  Some sold their children into slavery to their Jewish nobles.

GREED AND ABUSE RAMPANT WITHIN

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They continued building the wall; despite, the criticism being launched at them.  They had prayed for the enemy to be removed; however, instead the enemy now determined to launch a military attack against the builders.  Often, when Satan realizes that his mocking words can’t deter the Christian from doing God’s work; he launches a greater attack and God allows him to.  Not because God didn’t hear our prayers, nor because we are outside His Will; however, He realizes we need to grow both in our faith and in our defense.  Unless, we learn how to defend ourselves against the enemy; we cannot accomplish the task at hand to spread the gospel truth to a world in need of Him.  We must act, defending the cause of Christ.  So, how do we finish well when the Enemy Attacks?  To do so we must arm ourselves with the sword of truth.

Remember our battle is “not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).  Remember that God has provided us with His armor to protect us.  The only weapon He gave us is: “the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).  This is a powerful sword in two ways.  It is the truth of the gospel message and it is the power of Christ in us.  To wield this sword or to stand firm when the enemy attacks, we must “study to show (ourselves) approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

WHEN THE OPPOSITION ATTACKS

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