Lessons That Christians Can Learn from Nehemiah's Rebuilding the Wall of Jerusalem
Nehemiah was taking the initiative to rebuild the walls or defenses of Jerusalem. He was having his prayer said in Nehemiah 1:4-11 where he acknowledges the guilt of his people and the need for repentance before restoration can be done. Nehemiah 6 reveals how the hero of the book was getting so much trouble with Sanballat the Horonite (or Moabite), Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshen who was an Arabian. Remember these three were from the enemies of Israel. The Moabites and Ammonites came from Lot's incestuous sin with his daughters. The Arabians are both descendants of Ishmael and Esau. They were always in hostility with Israel. Worse, a lot of Israelites today are still not saved.
Here's one thing that a Christian must understand. If one is doing to do the work of God then expect the world not to love that person. 2 Timothy 3:12 says that the godly shall indeed suffer persecution. Nehemiah was doing the very work of God. Satan hates any kind of authentic righteousness so he goes against them. Satan tried to go after Job. Now, he was after Nehemiah. But there's one comfort in Satan's attack against the believer. That comfort is Satan must always get God's permission first before the former can attack the Christian. Also, Satan is not allowed to kill the Christian unless God says so. In short, any bad thing that happens to the Christian is because God permitted it.
God may have permitted Satan to heckle Nehemiah through Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshen for this reason - to keep Nehemiah from taking pride in himself as he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. It was to fortify and test Nehemiah. I would dare believe that God allowed Satan to harass Nehemiah so the power of God will be shown. Would have the rebuilding been a smooth sailing then there's going to be the tendency that Nehemiah and his team would have taken credit for what should be of God. It was a testing for Nehemiah just like it was a testing for Job. Yet, Nehemiah looked up while he did his job. He knew that God allowed problems along the way so he can learn to focus on God.
Nehemiah can be viewed as a man of conviction, separation, devotion and compassion. He was obviously a saved man - something that Satan hates. He was a man driven by the Word of God. He was a man who observed what was going on and knew that the walls of Jerusalem had to be rebuilt to protect it. He was a man of separation. He knew that he had to separate himself from the world so he could rebuild the walls. Separation isn't an easy thing but God demands it. He was a man of devotion and compassion. He built the walls out of compassion for his people. He was a man of devotion to his work who did what he had to do in spite of Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshen who were frequently discouraging him from doing his work. Likewise, Christians shouldn't be discouraged because the God of Nehemiah is also the God of Christianity.
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