When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed… When they heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead … they were very angry.  They all plotted to come together and fight against Jerusalem … (Nehemiah 4:1, 7-8).

Rebuilding is hard enough work all by itself.  Add in some opposition, however …

When God works not everyone is happy about it.  Many within the community of faith itself are resistant, apathetic, lethargic, or unwilling.  And there are those “outside” who are not pleased that “the way things are” is about to change, with dramatic implications for their own status and privileges.

The earliest returnees from the Exile began their “rebuilding” with the Temple, not the walls of the city (see the Book of Ezra).  They faced opposition and resistance that actually brought their work to a halt for years before they were finally able to complete it.  In Nehemiah’s time, around a century after the rebuilding of the Temple, the walls of Jerusalem were still in ruins—and they were plenty of people who did not want to see those walls rebuilt.

We first meet Nehemiah’s opponents early in Nehemiah 2, then again in chapter 4, and again in chapter 6. Their resistance begins with mockery and ridicule, but as the work proceeds it begins to harden into threats and plots of violence.

“Joining God in his work” will always face some kind of “however…”: opposition, resistance and hostility, from inside our own hearts and community as well as from “outsiders” of various kinds who view “rebuilding” as a threat.  “Rebuilding” presents a challenge to the powers that be, the “powers” that lurk within our own hearts as well as those that operate in the world around us.  

What will anchor us as we meet resistance is what anchored Nehemiah and his community: the “however” of God.  In response to his adversaries, Nehemiah always keeps the LORD in the center of his field of vision.  He stays rooted in what God has said, what God has called him to do, and from there moves to responding to the opposition.  

Obedience will meet resistance; however, it is the God of heaven, not our smarts, strengths, or craftiness that will cause our efforts to be successful. We must start whatever work God calls us to and keep going, taking our cues not from the resistance of opponents or the norms of our culture, but from the God of heaven, whose servants it is our great privilege to be.

How can you keep the LORD in the center of your field of vision, rather than allowing your “opponents” to fill up your screen