Ray C. Stedman on Nehemiah 6, in a message “DON’T VACILLATE — PERPETUATE!”
One thing that clearly emerges from this book is that life is a battle from beginning to end. Nehemiah ran into opposition the moment he set his heart to obey God’s command to rebuild the walls and gates of Jerusalem. He faced difficulty before he even got to the city. Then, after he reached Jerusalem, enemies rose up to oppose everything he did. You may not yet have experienced all that in your Christian life, but you will! In Ephesians 6 the Apostle Paul warns, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood,” {Eph 6:12 NIV}. Men and women, other humans, are not really our problem. What we are up against is invisible forces: “the world powers of darkness” {cf, Eph 6:12b}, Paul calls them. These same enemies are found in the book of Nehemiah also. Thus we are confronted by an invisible enemy who hates law and order, and justice and peace. He loves to mangle, trap, destroy and murder. He lives to oppose the work of God in creating harmony, beauty, love and respect. That is what we are battling.
Here in Nehemiah, as in many other places in Scripture, we learn that the devil has two main ways of working. I hope you will bear them strongly in mind because you will run into both of them in your experience, and perhaps have already done so:
First, the devil comes, as Peter says, “like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,” {1 Pet 5:8b RSV}. A lion is a very dangerous, powerful and fearsome animal. He is so strong that one bite from his jaws can crush the thickest bone in the human body, the thigh bone. One blow from his mighty paw can smash a human skull like an egg shell. This strength portrays the devil’s ability to strike at us with calamity, disaster and frightening circumstances that chill our blood. That is one way the enemy works in our lives.
But he has another capacity also. The Bible reveals that he can suddenly become what the Scripture calls “an angel of light,” {2 Cor 11:14b}. He comes with smiling, gracious accommodation, enticing promises and flattering words, assuring us that what he proposes will cost us nothing.
But either route, fear or flattery, will result in destruction for us. Ruin will begin. We must be on our guard against each of these approaches. That is why Paul says of himself, “We are not ignorant of the devil’s devices,” {cf, 2 Cor 2:11 KJV}. Nehemiah likewise teaches us to be aware of how the devil goes about his work.
In Chapter 6, following a series of attacks and threats against him in an effort to intimidate him, the enemies of Nehemiah suddenly change their tactics. Suddenly they resort to friendliness and persuasion.
When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it — though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates — Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.”
But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer. {Neh 6:1-4 NIV}
They could not stop the work of building by threat and attack, so they switched their tactics. You will experience this too when you try to correct wrong things in your life. It is possible that your friends will become your most dangerous foes. Many people today are faltering in their Christian pilgrimage because they listen to the advice of their friends. But those friends may not be reflecting the wisdom of God. They may be picking up the attitudes and wisdom of the world around. It sounds like good advice because so many people follow it, but it may be totally wrong. We must check everything by the word and wisdom of the Scriptures.
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