Nehemiah Pt. 2—Faith Overcomes Discouragement—Nehemiah 4: 10-23; Gal. 6: 9-10
One of the many nice things about being young is that sometimes we don’t have to be all that responsible for what is going on. One of my favorite things about childhood is knowing that I could depend on the leadership or wisdom of someone else to come to my rescue—that there would be someone with an answer in the room with me to whom I could turn. But, as an adult, I’ve learned something different. The other day I was caught in a tense meeting. Things were getting ugly, voices raised, insults on the horizon. I looked around for this wisdom and this help to calm the stormy tempers, and I realized something…heaven help, I am the adult in the room now…and that’s when the panic and discouragement set in.
Nehemiah probably often felt like the only adult around doing what was wise and needed. He continued working in strength and hope for the restoration of the city and its historic walls. In this context, we need to be aware of three major things: that often we will become discouraged from enemies about us and our own faint heart at times, that when we feel and see discouragement we have the remedy of faith, and lastly, when we live in faith God has promised blessings unto us for holding fast.
So we see, then, that enemies can come from around us or even within us. In verse 10 we read that the people of Judah complained. They were tired. The rubble was everywhere, and the project looked like it would never be completed. They were overwhelmed, and as my mom would say, “Their get up and go had got up and gone.” But in verse 11 we also hear that the enemies around them were plotting to kill them and destroy their work. They were getting battered from within and from without by all the struggles surrounding them.
We have to remember that often there are people in the world who don’t care about us or who actively wish us harm. One of the most unbelievable aspects of community violence is violence done to a stranger. It shows a total lack of compassion and appreciation for humanity. There are real and present dangers in the world. Here we see the Israelite’s enemies moved from irritation at the re-building work, to mockery and insults, to outright threats of hostility.
But we also face struggles within as well. Discouragement doesn’t just happen when enemies besiege us. Our own minds can become overwhelmed, burdened, and cluttered. We can become tired and weary. We can realize when we are the only adults in the room that adulting is hard and taxes our time and spirit to the max. God’s people are well-acquainted with being weighed down in life. But in those times, the story of Nehemiah provides hope.
Nehemiah applied faith—both trust in God and preparation for the future. First, Nehemiah made a plan with God’s help. Here is the plan. To ward off any attack, Nehemiah had guards posted all around the wall or where the wall was and kept a trumpeter with him at all times to sound the alarm should the enemy attack. To keep everyone safe, he brought all the people living outside the safety zone of the city inside where they would be less vulnerable to attack. Every person in the city was armed and ready should they be attacked. Nehemiah didn’t just provide soothing words; he had the people ready with actual preparedness.
He then says to the people, to alleviate their inner struggles, “Then our God will fight for us!” This says to the people that they were as ready as they could possibly be, but they also had to trust in God to fight the battle for them and keep them safe. I think of adversities we often face. In 2017 we dealt with a hurricane in Macon. Currently we have a pandemic. In each of these times we had to be prepared. For the hurricane, we needed extra water, lights, coolers, things to help our homes function while the power might be off. For the pandemic we needed grocery supplies, cleaners, soap, and, apparently, ridiculous amounts of toilet paper. But also, we had to trust that God would help us and continue to help us.
God calls us to be ready—to make plans, to watch for what is to come. We have to do the work here in putting together our best effort at dealing with adversity and discouragement. But we must also trust in God at all times. Peace and hope come from knowing that there is a plan in place when trouble may arise, but peace also comes from knowing we have a God, who is bigger than discouragement and bigger than our enemies, ready to fight for us when we feel attacked.
So then, we must stay strong for the real blessings that await us. When we face constant opposition in our lives, it can drag us down and make us weary. I know this because I’ve heard it from you all. When there is a constant struggle in life you feel tired, weak, weary. But in Galatians 6:9 we read, “So let us not grow tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” I am a firm believer that if all is dark around you, somewhere, somehow, there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel, even if it’s dim and far off. That is because darkness is always cast out by the light of love, the light of hope, the light of Christ, and light will always overcome the darkness.
We see the example in others. Moses had to trek across the desert for decades before the promised land became a reality. Moses never even got to go into the promised land, but he remained in God’s steadfast love. Nehemiah faced the challenges of rebuilding the demolished city with discouraged people and bitter enemies. And our greatest example: Christ who suffered on a cross before there could be hope and resurrection. Each of these instances of strength in trouble and overcoming weariness and discouragement calls for a mix of faith and planning or preparedness. We must have the faith that overcomes, which is based on a plan, based on our trust, and based on knowing that God is our rock and salvation.
Sometimes as we grow up we face a grim reality in life. Once we could look around and find a mentor, a wide elder, a person who could provide help and support. But one day we all will end up being the one who is the adult in the room and the one to whom others turn when the need help and reassurance. It was an odd moment this past week when I was mentoring a young man, recently graduated from college, through his law school application process. It was then that I realized, he doesn’t look at me as a contemporary or peer. He looks at me as a “seasoned” mentor. That realization alone is enough to make you discouraged without all the other problems in the world!
But truth be told, there is no reason for us to feel discouraged from opposition or worry and doubt. We can take heart and have faith in dire situations. With God’s help we can be prepared and make a plan, then we can rely on our God to guide and trust in our God to fight for us. Have faith in the light at the end of every tunnel, and don’t let yourself grow weary. There is faith to cast out every discouragement, every worry, and every fear. Be strong and have that faith, for the Lord, your God, will fight your battles. Let any discouragement that creeps up in your mind and soul be cast out the light of faith.
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