FEAR NOT for July 11, 2016: Nehemiah 4:14

"And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses."

BACKGROUND/COMMENTARY (david guzik @ blueletterbible.org): Starting in v. 1, we see the opposition to the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Sanballat and Tobiah, in particular, ridicule the work of God. First they were deeply disturbed, then furious, then indignant. All the while, they were mocking the Jews for even thinking they could rebuild the walls!
Nehemiah, however, decides to counter the discouraging attack with prayer. Nehemiah's response is a great example to all of us. He didn't debate, he didn't form a committee, he didn't even deal with the two enemies directly. Instead, he took it to God in prayer. For Nehemiah, prayer was a first resource, not a last resort. When times of opposition come, God wants us to rely on Him - and the purest way of expressing our reliance on God is through prayer. The result after the attack and Nehemiah's defense in prayer: the work continues on with greater and greater strength.
The enemy's strategy, then, shifts gears: they decide to kill the Jews. They realize that the only way they can stop the rebuilding of the walls was to kill the people building them! But, God reveals the enemy's evil scheme to the Jews and Nehemiah goes on the offensive: He organizes the Jews' defense and he reminds them that God is fighting with them. Verses 12-14 tell us what Nehemiah did, but we can also think of what Nehemiah could have done in this situation. (1) He could have done nothing - and even been spiritual about it. "Well brother, we're just trusting in the Lord. We prayed about it, and believe the Lord will deliver us somehow." (2) He could have panicked - and started thinking it was his job alone to defend against the attack. (3) What he did was to wisely and calmly trust God in the midst of the storm, and to do the concrete things God would have him do to obtain the victory. Nehemiah put their mind in the right perspective. The challenge was great but there was no reason for fear. He who was in them was greater than he who was in the world.

PERSONAL APPLICATION: (1) Like most attacks of discouragement, there is a trace of truth in the words of the enemy. As builders, the Jews were feeble. They would not complete the building of the walls in a day. They didn't have the best materials to work with. A lying, discouraging attack will often have some truth in it, but it will neglect the great truth: God was with them and has promised to see them through. (2) Sanballat and Tobiah sought to bring the discouragement through criticism. Charles Swindoll points out that there were many of them together doing the sarcastic, mocking criticism. One measure of a leader is to be able to measure criticism; to not allow one to be run down by the critical, while still be sensitive to God's voice even in the midst of criticism. (3) Discourage-ment is such a powerful weapon because it is somewhat the opposite of faith. Where faith believes God and His love and promises, discouragement looks for and believes the worst - and tends to pretty much forget about who God is and what He has promised to do.
So, when we are under spiritual attack it is easy to feel that just enduring the storm is the victory. It isn't. The attack often comes to prevent your progress and work for the LORD. Victory is enduring the attack and continuing the progress and work for the LORD.