Are You Letting Opposition Stop What God has Started In You

Speaker A: This is Scripture Links daily dose of Inspiration for Thursday, September 17, 2026 and today is National Monte Cristo Day. Monte Cristo, of course, is a indulgent rich. I've never eaten it sandwich. That's a fried ham and cheese sandwich. It's prepared with an egg battery. The sandwich is then deep fried or pan fried and topped with some powdered sugar and jam. Sounds pretty good. Anyway, if that's your thing, if you've had it and you enjoy it, or maybe you're trying it for the first time, go get one and enjoy it on this National Monte Cristo Day. Today, September 17th is the birthday of J. Willard Marriott, the founder of the Marriott Hotel Group. And on this day in 1787, the US Constitution is signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At Internet in Independence hall there was 39 delegates present. Among them were Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. Our scripture reading today, if you're reading through the Bible with us, we're reading in the Old Testament history of ancient Israel. And today we're going to read 1st Samuel chapters 11 through 14. And today for our, for our episode here today, we're going to look at Nehemiah chapter number four, and we're going to talk a little bit about the subject of, of opposition. What do you do when you're trying to do what God has called you to do? And suddenly the opposition starts? Nehemiah and the people of Jerusalem discovered that rebuilding the wall was going to involve more than bricks and mortar. Their enemies mocked them, they threatened them, they tried to discourage them. But Nehemiah didn? T tell the people to quit. He told them to remember the Lord. Sometimes the greatest threat to what God wants to accomplish through us isn t the opposition itself. It is allowing the opposition to make a stop. When Nehemiah heard about the fallen walls of his hometown Jerusalem, he knew he had one thing left, one thing he had to do, and that was go and rebuild the walls. But opposition was there. By learning how and looking at how Nehemiah dealt with that opposition and how he continued to work, we can apply some of these principles to our lives as well to help us win. Not if, but when opposition comes. Because you know when you start doing things for the Lord, opposition is going to be there. You know, the devil likes nothing more than to keep us Christians from doing our calling, from doing what God's told us to do. And he's going to use about any means necessary to get us to stop. But let's, let's look here at what happened here. Nehemiah, chapter number four. We're going to look at verses one through nine. Then we're going to jump down and look at verses 14 and 15. Scripture says, but it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews. And he spake before his brethren and in the army of Samaria and said, what do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burnt? Now Tobiah the ammonite, was by him and said, even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. Hear, O our God, for we are despised and turn to reproach upon their own head and give them for a prey in the land of captivity. And cover not their iniquity. And let not their sin be blotted out from before thee, for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. So we built a wall, and the wall was joined together unto the half thereof, for the people had a mind to work. But it came to pass that when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up and that breaches began to be stopped, they were very wroth and conspired all of them to come and. And to fight against Jerusalem and hinder it. Nevertheless, we made our prayers unto our God and set a watch against them day and night because of them. And jumping down to verses 14 and 15, and I looked and rose up and said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, be not afraid of them. Remember the Lord which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses. And it came to pass when our enemies had heard that it was known unto us and God had brought their counsel to not that we returned, all of us to the wall, everyone unto his own work. There we got it. The opposition comes here in verses 1 through 6. In chapter 4 of Nehemiah, we're introduced to the two antagonists, if you will, in the story. I love. I love the book of Nehemiah because it almost reads like. Like we're peeking into somebody's diary. You know, many of us. I wasn't in this, but many of us had a brother or a sister, and most likely especially for the sister more so than the brother, they would have kept a diary. And how many people wouldn't have wanted to go in and take a look at their diary? It makes me think in a TV show, Leave it to Beaver. And that one episode where Larry and Beaver snuck into Larry's sister's room and started reading her diary. Of course they got trouble. They got in trouble for doing that. But the Book of Nehemiah is like. Like peeking into Nehemiah's diary as he's recording everything that had happened as he. They were rebuilding the walls and what happened after they had rebuilt the walls and. Fascinating read, highly recommend it. And. But we're introduced to two people here that you're going to see a lot through the next few chapters of Nehemiah, and that is Sanballat. And he was the governor of Samaria, and he was the chief adversary of Nehemiah who opposed the rebuilding of the walls. And then there was Tobiah, who was an Ammonite officer who also tried to stop the rebuilding of the walls. And we see here that. That in the beginning of chapter number four, we see Sam Ballot that was getting upset. He was Roth, which just means very angry that they were. They were rebuilding the walls. And. And he started mocking them. He started making fun of. Making fun of them. He's saying, hey, what are these people, Jews, doing? Look at. Look at what they're doing. Are they gonna. Are they gonna fortify their wall? Are they gonna rebuild their walls? Or will they sacrifice? Will they sacrifice to God in there? Are they gonna sacrifice themselves to rebuild this feeble wall? Are they going to revive the stones that are burnt, that are a heap of rubble? He was mocking them. He was making fun of them. And his. His buddy Tobiah here, the Ammonite, starts chiming in along with them. I'm sure that they're standing there sitting on their donkeys or on their camels, laughing this whole time. And he says, hey, even that which they build, if a fox go on it, it's going to break down their wall. In other words, their wall is going to be so feeble, so weak, that even if a little fox jumps on it, it's going to destroy the whole thing. They were laughing about it. And sometimes people's laughter hurts, don't it? And I'm sure it did them. But what did Nehemiah do here is they were mocking him and mocking those rebuilding the wall. He prayed. Then we see in verses 4 and 5, Nehemiah praying. He says, hear, O our God, for we are despised. They are despised and turn their reproach upon their own head and give them for prey in the land of captivity. And cover not their iniquity. And let not their sin be blotted out from before thee for they have provoked thee to. To anger before the builders. Nehemiah's praying. He says, God, we're despised. In other words, he's saying, look at what they're doing. He said, take their reproach, take their insults, take their mockery, he said, and put it on their own head. And then he says here in verse number five, and cover not their iniquities. Let not their sin be blotted out before thee. Because they're of their mockery, because they're provoking God to anger. Nehemiah was. Was. Was giving God his concerns. He was giving God the things that was. Was worrying the people that was building the walls. And the result of that prayer, verse number six. So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof. For the people had a mind to work. The people had a mind to work, meaning they wanted to get their walls rebuilt. They were coming out of captivity. Their wives would soon be coming back, their kids would soon be coming back. And they wanted to make sure they had a safe place to go. They wanted the walls rebuilt. Nehemiah had. Had. Had got them motivated to go and rebuild these walls. And then Sanballat and Tobiah come and is trying to tear down their work, is trying to make fun of their work, is trying to mock them and embarrass them and cause them to lose hope and cause them to. To not want to see the wall to completion. And then we get into verse number seven and eight and we see that there's more opposition coming to what Nehemiah is doing. And it says here in verse number seven and eight says. But it came to pass that when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth and conspired all of them to come together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to hinder it. Now, I don't know what these people's problems were. I don't know what was wrong with Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites. I don't know what their issue was. Because having a fortified walled city was something that they would have had back then. Samaria probably most likely had it. The Ammonites I'm sure did. The Arabians did, the Ashdodites did. But they didn't want Jerusalem to be able to be productive, protected. Sounds kind of like. Well, yeah, I'll just blurt it out. Sounds kind of like what. What some in our government want today, that there's no protection for that for our country. And they set out to fight against Jerusalem to hinder them from rebuilding their walls, to hinder them from. From being able to protect themselves. And they were going to come and they were going to do. Going to fight against it. What did Nehemiah do again? Verse 9 says he prayed. Nevertheless, we made our prayer unto God and set a watch against them day and night because of them. So now they. This, they're continuing to rebuild the walls and Nehemiah has. Has a watch set out there for these, these armies that's going to come and fight against them to try to keep their walls from being rebuilt. But what's the outcome? That's where we jump down to verse number 14. And I looked and I rose up and I said to 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. And it came to pass when our enemies heard that it was known unto us and God had brought their counsel to not that we returned, all of us, to the wall, everyone unto his work. Nehemiah reminded the people. He said, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of them. Don't be afraid of their mocking. Don't be afraid of their insults. Don't be afraid of them. If they come against us with spear and sword, don't be afraid of them. Why? He says, remember the Lord. Remember the Lord. The Lord gave them that land. The Lord gave them those cities. The Lord's restoring them. He's saying, remember the Lord which is great and terrible, which is great and wonderful. He says, then fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses. Remember the Lord. And as a result, it came to pass when our enemies heard that it was known unto us. When the enemies heard that they found out about their plans, that God had spoiled their plans and brought their plans to naught. They kept working on the wall. They returned, all of us to the wall, every man, everyone unto his own work. What is our application for today? Let's wind it up. What can we apply for this when and not if opposition comes? Because you know God, God's called us each into a task, into a calling. And when you start doing that calling, when you start following the words of the Bible, when you start living for God, opposition is going to be there. People's not going to understand it. People's going to make fun of you. Oh, you really read that, that Bible, that collection of fairy tales and fables and you think that's real? When you start living for God, opposition is going to come. People's going to challenge you. Maybe you decide not to go and, and and party hardy at the bar anymore. People's going to make fun of you. Oh, you're one of them Bible thumper people, ain't you? We need to follow what Nehemiah did here when he was being mocked, when the people was being mocked, when their work was being made fun of. We need three, three things he did here that we need to remember and we need to do when the time of opposition comes. The first off most important prayer, Pray. Ask God for strength. Ask God to work in the lives of your opposition so that they can see what you have. So that they can see that the Lord is the true God. Prayer. Give your concerns to God. Give your worries to God. Cast your cares on him. That's what Peter tells us in first Peter. Cast your cares on him. The second thing, don't be afraid. Don't let people tear down what God is doing in your life. Don't let people tear down and cause you to be afraid to do what God called you to do. Yes, it's difficult. Yes, it's hard. Yes, it hurts when people make it funny. Yes, it hurts when people don't associate with you anymore. But that's when the prayer comes in. And finally remember, Remember the Lord. Remember his calling. Remember how he's worked for you in the past. Remember what he's brought you through. Remember his word. Remember his promises. Remember his strength. Remember who you are. Remember what you have in him. Remember what you will have in him. That's not going to stop the opposition, but it's going to help keep your focus on the things that God called you to do and not on the opposition. What things are you facing today? Pray, don't be afraid and remember God. Think about that as you go through this day. And remember, get into God's word and allow God's word to get into you. Then share that word with someone today. Have a blessed day.