Kurt Krowel
Nehemiah 4
I’m going to begin a new series of topical Bible messages – tackling the issues in our lives that rob us of joy. I’m talking about – those things which tend to steal away our enthusiasm for living, taking the energy and excitement out of the everyday.
Dormant Within Us
The surprising thing about these “joy-stealers” is that they come from within each one of us. There may be something from the outside that sets them off but they are lying dormant inside each one of us. And although we can’t eradicate them from our lives we can learn to deal with them biblically and experience victory over them.
The first issue I want to cover is something that seems to have affected not only a lot of people in the Bible but also affects a lot of us today – the issue of discouragement.
Discouragement – Absence of Courage
If you think about the word, “discouragement”, it suggests the absence or removal of courage. It’s approaching life apart from the perspective of the victory God has brought to us in Christ.
Today I want to show you how to recognize and respond to discouragement. The Bible is chock full of people facing all sorts of challenges so we run across people just like you and me who encounter discouragement.
But fortunately, God recorded their stories for us so we can relate those events to our own lives. Nehemiah and what he encountered not only helps us to recognize discouragement but also to respond to it in a biblical way so we can overcome it.
Nehemiah picks-up where Daniel left off
It’s interesting that we just finished Daniel because Nehemiah picks up Israel’s everyday life where Daniel leaves us off. King Cyrus had released the Jews from their captivity in Persia and they returned to Israel and Jerusalem to rebuild the city and the Temple. First to return was Zerubbabel, then next, Ezra the priest and finally, a leader named Nehemiah.
Ezra built Hearts while Nehemiah built Walls
As a priest Ezra focused on building up the hearts of the people and Nehemiah worked on rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls. By the 4th chapter of Nehemiah, Nehemiah has organized the people into work crews in order to complete the work.
About halfway through the wall-rebuilding project, they run into some opposition (4:7). Two guys in particular made life difficult for Nehemiah and the rest of the workers. Their names were Sanballat and Tobiah – an Horonite and an Ammonite. These guys did everything they could to discourage Nehemiah and get him to throw in the towel. They didn’t want Israel to get resettled in the land and move forward into God’s plan for them.
Think about the picture here. It’s usually when you’re about half done with an overwhelming project that discouragement begins to set in. You’re tired from what you’ve already accomplished and you begin to wonder if you can reach your goal. Sanballat and Tobiah start to threaten and harass Nehemiah and the people, so they began to get discouraged. What Nehemiah did to deal with it can give us some keys to overcoming discouragement.
I. Learning to Recognize Discouragement
One of the best ways to keep discouragement from taking over in your heart and mind is recognize what makes you susceptible to it. Let me list four discouragement factors – four things we need to learn to recognize to know that discouragement may pay us a visit
A. When you’re feeling fatigued
Look at Nehemiah 4:10 “Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, ‘The strength of the laborers is giving out…'” Nehemiah said that the workers were about ready to collapse. Then over in Nehemiah 6:15 it indicates that they completed the entire project in 52 days.
Needless to say, Nehemiah had the whole crew moving at a real fast pace in order to finish the project in less than 2 months. Up until the opposition surfaced from Sanballot and Tobiah they had worked for about 1-month, non-stop, with only a few hours off per day. Put yourself in their shoes. How would you feel?
Pitfalls of Being Tired
You and I are so much more prone to discouragement when we’re tired. At least I know I am. I know that with my personality type I tend to push myself harder than anyone else could ever push me. But I’m learning to change the way I work and take time to recuperate – no matter how important the task is or how many needs remain unmet.
There’ll always be unfinished projects and unmet needs – even if we finish the things and meet the needs. If we take a rest period when we’re tired, we’ll last longer and be more productive.
The first factor that often leads to discouragement is exhaustion or weariness. The second factor is…
B. When you’re feeling frustrated
Not only was their strength failing but there was also a lot of debris in the way from the destruction of the old wall. Look back at 4:10 “Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, ‘The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.'”
There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to get a project going when you’ve got a mess or clutter in the way. I know that in construction, as well as many other endeavors, clearing things out of the way to do the foundation is one of the most important and most frustrating parts.
There are a lot of projects in life like that we can undertake and find ourselves frustrated. You’d just like to bulldoze everything down to the ground and start over. Often times that would be easier because you would see some progress and headway
It’s easy to get discouraged when you work without purpose, or there’s so much stuff you have to deal with that you can’t see any progress. It’s easy for people who are tired and frustrated to begin to think they’re not going to succeed or they haven’t gotten anywhere. If you don’t learn to deal with frustration and you let it go, it may eventually lead to burnout.
The third factor leading into discouragement is…
C. When you’re considering failure
If you look back in 4:10 you’ll see that Nehemiah’s crew had come to the conclusion that they weren’t able to “rebuild the wall.” Think about the factors that led to their’ considering failure – fatigue, frustration, long hours, with no breaks, and the conclusion that they’ve made very little improvement. You can almost imagine the workers beginning to talk amongst themselves and share their discouraging and frustrating experiences.
But the truth is that we’re all going to fail at something. We live in a fallen world and failure is a part of our lives here. Failing is not the issue it’s what we do when we experience failure. It’s how we respond to failure, or frustration that makes the difference regarding discouragement.
If we don’t learn to deal with those first three, we can sometimes allow this last one to set in and really become discouraged.
D. When you’re feeling fearful
Look back at 4:11-12 “Also our enemies said, ‘Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.’ Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, ‘Wherever you turn, they will attack us.'” The workers got word of the plans of their adversaries to get rid of the Jews and stop their work.
We shouldn’t be surprised by that kind of a tactic. Generous, relentless criticisms from others can take a real serious toll over time. Nehemiah’s criticism came in the form of threats. The workers were already struggling and then came the threats.
I remember being on staff at a church where there was a brand new pastor who was an excellent teacher. But his very first day in the pulpit, just after he had done an outstanding job that showed so much promise, my wife and I overheard two “good ol’ boys” in the church say, “We got to get rid of this guy, quick!”
Mean-spirited Criticism
Why is it that we in the local church are so quick to criticize and resist the changes that might be the means to our surviving and even thriving? Why is it that we’re often so critical of one another?
You may be struggling and then you either receive a note, or a phone call or a bit of unsolicited criticism from a dear perfectionist and demanding soul. And it’s like a weight put on a sinking person’s shoulders. What often happens is the person who’s struggling begins to wonder if they should even continue what they’re trying to accomplish. Criticism can lean to doubt, doubt to fear, and fear to discouragement.
But the key is in knowing how to respond when you’re tired, frustrated, feeling like a failure and fearful about the future. How do you keep from getting sucked down into discouragement?
II. Learning to Respond to Discouragement
Let’s continue to look at Nehemiah 4 so we can trace the order of events in order to learn what Nehemiah did in tackling the issue of discouragement.
Look at what Nehemiah said in verses 4 & 9 “Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity… But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet his threat.” Why is it that the first thing Nehemiah did is usually the last we do?
Like Nehemiah we need to learn to…
A. Call Upon the Lord
How many times do you catch yourself saying, “Well all I can do now is to pray?” The thing we do last is the thing we need to do first.
One of the things that help me when I’m facing issues that bring on discouragement is to write down in a journal how I’m feeling. Not only does it help me sort out my thoughts, but it also acts like a written prayer. If you think about it, that’s what the Psalms are, right?
Then you can also go to the Psalms themselves. They’re like David’s personal journal entries for the issues he faced – among which was discouragement. Call upon the Lord.
Next, look at verse 6 “So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.” We need to learn to…
B. Continue On
It’s so easy to give up and give in when you get discouraged. The thing we normally want to do is rid ourselves of the source of our frustration and discouragement. And I’m not saying that there’s not an appropriate time and place for that type of decision. But when we do that too soon, we can actually keep ourselves from finishing and achieving what we set out to do in the first place.
Nehemiah hung in there he stuck to it. He shut out his critics. The time you and I need to start or continue doing something is usually when we least feel like it.
C. Claim God’s Encouraging Promises
Look at 4:14 “After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, ‘Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.'”
God’s promises are the anchor of our faith. When you’re dealing with waves of discouragement you need to anchor your faith to God’s promises. God’s word is also the foundation and basis of our faith. When you feel the flood of discouragement coming over your soul, you need to climb onto the rock that can’t be moved.
God’s Word tells us not to get discouraged in the middle of the good things we are doing. Look at Galatians 6:9-10 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
When you’re feeling discouraged learn to claim God’s encouraging promises.
Finally…
D. Carry Another’s Burden
Look at Nehemiah 4:16-23:
“16 From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah 17 who were building the wall.
Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, 18 and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me.
19 Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. 20 Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!”
21 So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. 22 At that time I also said to the people, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and workmen by day.” 23 Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes each had his weapon, even when he went for water.”
They were helping each other. Some were carrying stuff, others were guarding stuff and others were building stuff – and all of them had their swords strapped in place at the same time. They carried each other’s burdens.
There have been times when I was greatly encouraged simply by helping someone else. Somehow when you focus on serving others your own problems seem to blur into the background.
We so need each other! And we need to gather together and learn to stay together as a family. Let’s close by reading Hebrews 10:24-25:
“24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one anotherand all the more as you see the Day approaching.”