The fifteenth verse of this chapter is the most important one, for it brings us to the conclusion that Nehemiah was seeking when he left Persia. So the wall was finished.
There is a twofold explanation for the success of Nehemiah in the work which God had called him to do. The first is in Nehemiah 6:16, “this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.” The second is found in the character of the man himself.
It is with the second factor that we are going to deal mostly, but before we do, there is just one thing to be said: “Nehemiah triumphed because he was doing a work which God had initiated, and because God initiated it, He empowered it. It never would have succeeded unless God had been behind it all.
It is not our task to initiate programs for God. We are here simply to carry out that which God has begun. Our God has one great desire upon His heart. It is to find a man here, and another there, a girl here, and one there, and so fill them with the Holy Spirit that they may become channels through whom He can do what He plans to do.
In order to accomplish His purposes, He designs to use human agencies and human cooperation. He longs that every one of us may be usable. The question that we face is, do we take the situation seriously enough and personally enough to allow God to use us? It is easy to say, God will use someone else for this work, I can’t do it.
Oh, to be like Nehemiah! Oh, to live that each one of us might be found worthy of God’s trust as Nehemiah was.
There are several forms of attack that Nehemiah faced in this experience within the chapter.
1. The snare of the world friendship
When Nehemiah first started his work of building, ridicule, scorn, and threats were the chief weapons. Now that the work is almost done, the enemy changes his tactics to try to feign friendship.
Four times the enemy came with letters saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.”
Here was a last-ditch effort to get Nehemiah away from the work God had called him to do.
This is what Satan tries to get us to do. He tries his best to get the devout Christian to lower his standards. The thing that Satan often tries to do is get us thinking that we are doing too much of the” work. He says, “You have done your part, now you take it easy and let someone else do it for a while.”
Nehemiah’s reply to this request was, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” Not for a moment would he yield to this attempt to make him compromise.
Any man who seeks to do a work for God is always being persuaded to lower his standard. This is where the snare of the world’s friendship enters. It is often from this source that we are tempted to compromise.
When a person compromises, at that moment, he is defeating the power of the Holy Spirit in his life.
2. The slander of the world
After trying four times to get Nehemiah to leave his work and failing, the enemy then turned to slander.
The slander at this point took on the form of misrepresenting the purpose of Nehemiah’s work. He is simply building Jerusalem so that he can rule over it was the accusation.
He had come to Jerusalem to build the walls for one purpose, that the name of God would not be a reproach among the nations any more.
Slander can be an important and powerful tool to bring the Christian to compromise. No one likes to be evil spoken of. No one likes to be the target of bad stories.
May we remember that we are not in service for Christ for what the world thinks of us. Our work cannot be governed by public opinion. Unless we work with the motive of doing the will of God, our efforts are in vain.
Many people seem to be your friend to your face, but behind your back, they will rejoice to see you suffer defeat. These are not the people who should hold sway over the type of service we render to our God.
3. Scandal of world religion
When the enemy failed at pretending to be a friend and spreading slander, he turned to a scandal that came in the form of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The wolf in sheep’s clothing is much more dangerous than the roaring lion. The one in sheep’s clothing is a constant menace at the moment when we let down our guard.
It is revealed in Nehemiah 6:10 that a man came to Nehemiah professing to be a prophet. He tried to make Nehemiah think that God was telling him to leave this work. “Now, when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, ‘Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.'”
Note Nehemiah’s reply, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live?” He had come to this work upon the leading of the Lord; did he not have the assurance that God would be with Him?
Some have come into our world today in the name of religion who would lead the people away from the work of the Lord, as much as this false prophet tried to lead Nehemiah away.
It takes a great deal of discernment and a constant guard not to be led away from service to the Lord by such people. For they come as it were as wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Observe how Nehemiah faced this type of experience. He faced it with firm defiance. Why should a man such as I flee? Nehemiah’s determination was that there would be nothing that would stop him from doing the work God had called him to do.
In each of the attacks upon Nehemiah, he turned the enemy back with strong positive declarations.
With the snare of the world’s friendship, he said, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down.” There was no place for compromise. There was no reason to walk away from the Lord’s work.
With the slander that was hurled at him, he simply said, “There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them in thine own heart.”
With this last scandal by the so-called religious man, he said, “Should such a man as I flee?”
This sort of positive stand is the greatest weapon that the Christian possesses. In Nehemiah 6:16, we read this conclusion to the work, “And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.”
I declare unto my friends that when we follow through in determination with the work that God has called us to do, the greatest enemy in the world cannot defeat it, for that work is wrought of God. God does not call His people to work for Him without empowering them for the task that He has chosen.
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