"Our God will fight for us."
Nehemiah 4:20
Nehemiah Chapter 4 (Part 2)
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From this same chapter, we are going to consider this time, how we face our enemy, and learn from how Nehemiah tackled the opposition he, and the Jews with him, had to face. Apart from the text at the head of this sermon, we have two places in Nehemiah 4 which are helpful in seeing how Nehemiah faced the enemy. One is verses 4 and 5, the other is verses 13 to 15.

When we read verses 4 and 5, which is Nehemiah�s prayer to God, we may well feel that this is a prayer which expresses inappropriate sentiments. Nehemiah had every right to call on God for his help and protection, but should he be asking for God to pour out such awful things on his enemies. I can�t answer this question for I don�t know how Nehemiah�s prayer should be taken. Personally, I would feel guilty if I prayed for such devastation on my enemies, though I would pray to be defended and saved from them. We are taught to pray for our enemies by Jesus and to seek their salvation.

What we do learn from Nehemiah�s prayer is something we perhaps do not appreciate as we should, and which we need to learn. This is implied in how Nehemiah prayed. Nehemiah realised that Sanballat and Tobiah and their supporters were actually fighting against God and maligning God and despising God. Nehemiah saw that Sanballat was despising the glory of God, and this was the great sin that they were committing. This is why Nehemiah prayed for their destruction. Nehemiah appreciated what an offence it was to fight against God and to despise him.

Nehemiah was clear that he had been led by God to the work of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. He was doing it for the glory of God, and to show the glory of God to the world. The state of Jerusalem, and the state of the Jews, had implications concerning the glory of God. God�s glory can not be diminished in its essence, but his image can be brought low before the world. Nehemiah knew also that to fight against and oppose the people of God doing the work of God, was to oppose God and his glory. Nehemiah�s prayer was in this context. Nehemiah prayed as he did because he was concerned for the glory of God, and because if the work was stopped or impaired the glory of God would be effected. God�s glory was bound up in the condition of his people. The glory of God is a powerful motive and plea in prayer.

Nehemiah gives us a most important example. He did not seek, first and foremost, to combat the threat and the opposition with human strength or wisdom, but brought the problem to God in prayer. Prayer is the great weapon of God�s people. Prayer is what we engage in first in the spiritual battle.

By prayer Nehemiah acknowledged his own weakness and his need. This did not mean that he did nothing as we shall see, but it did mean he acknowledged that the battle could not be won by his strength or wisdom. Further Nehemiah showed his faith. He placed himself and the work in the hands of God. He pleaded the glory of God. His argument expressed in his prayer was that if the work was prevented, then Satan would win the day, and the people of God would be despised, and God�s character would be tarnished.

Prayer is the first and chief action which God�s people use in the spiritual battle. We place the problem in the hands of God, and in faith look for his help, defence and guidance. The Christian does not make an alliance with the world, but with God.

Prayer does not preclude action. Nehemiah prayed but he also acted. We see the action he took in verse 13 and the following verses. He prepared for attack, and did all that was sensible for the defence of Jerusalem, and for the prevention of the work being stopped, but he did it with prayer and in dependence on God.

Prayer comes first. So often God�s people make plans, and then ask God to bless them. Then when nothing goes right, or the blessing is small, then we are discouraged, and feel that God has let us down. What really has happened is that we have made plans which were not from God, and so God could not be expected to bless and prosper them. No amount of prayer is going to cause God to change his plans, or put his plans on hold, simply to cause us not to be upset when we go off and do our own thing.

Further God will not bless action that does not come from him, because they are not the best actions. God�s purpose is the only purpose that will bring blessing and the overcoming of Satan�s wiles.

We have to understand that our wisdom is flawed and effected by the sin that dwells in our sinful nature. We have to appreciate that on our own we are no match for Satan, and if he can get us to work in our own strength and wisdom, he knows that he will win the victory. We have to appreciate that unless we plan with prayer and waiting upon God for guidance, our plans will not be of God and will not be good plans in the situation.

It is very difficult for us to wait upon God. God seems to us to work so slowly and we want quick results. Further we need to proceed carefully, because it is not always easy to discern the will of God. What we may be sure of is that when with sincerity we seek to know God�s will, and desire to follow it, then God will not allow us to go astray.

As we read this chapter, what comes through is the attitude of prayer in which Nehemiah lived. He lifted up the problem to God, and placed it in his hands, but his prayer and trust did not stop here. As he sought to follow the guidance of God, he consciously trusted in God, and not in the actions. He trusted that God would make the actions effective, and constantly waited on God for confirmation that the actions he was taking were his will and by his direction.

Nehemiah lived in prayer and communion with God. There is a danger that having prayed and been led by God in a course of action, we then forget to pray, and as we become involved and busy, our trust becomes centred in the actions we are taking, and not in God who is the power and strength of all our actions.

We may illustrate this point by thinking of some electrical appliance. The designing, building and installing of the equipment can represent our work and labour. However the piece of equipment is useless without power. It has to be plugged in and the electricity switched on. The object, and the components that make it up, are quite dead and useless unless the electricity is pulsing through them, and activating them in the way they were designed to do.

So it is with us. God gives us work to do, but his is the power. We are so many dead components, and the action we take without any power, unless God exercises his power on our behalf.

Nehemiah posted guards. He gave instructions that when the trumpet was sounded, all the people would come to the place where the trumpet was sounding from, and so help in the repulsing the attack. All these were wise plans, but Nehemiah knew that they would not be able to defend themselves against attack, or be victorious against their enemies by themselves. They just were not strong enough. In fact Nehemiah knew that God�s supernatural power and action must be working for them.

This is in fact what we see. Verse 15 expresses this fact. The enemies of Nehemiah gave testimony that their plans were being thwarted by God. Even Sanballat and Tobiah had to acknowledge that their plans were being overcome by the fact of God being with Nehemiah, and fighting for him. It is fact that when the people of God are walking in the way of God, and acting in prayerful faith and dependence upon God, things are achieved that make it plain that it is not just human power and wisdom at work. People are able to see the hand of God, even though they may be reluctant to own it.

From this we can see that it is important that in all God�s work, and the blessing God gives, we must always give the glory to God, and not seek to glorify ourselves. This should not be a problem, because one of the things grace works in our lives is the happiness of seeing God glorified. On the other hand it is a fact of life that without God people are concerned with promoting their own glory and image.

Nehemiah�s words in verse 14 are so important and powerful. He says, "Don�t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome." Nehemiah tells the people to fight for their brothers and families with this remembrance of God.

Faith will never be strong unless we know our God, and have him always in remembrance. We first have to know God. We come to know God in his forgiving love when we receive his salvation. We learn to know him as a God of grace and love. We learn to know the amazing power of God that made possible this amazing forgiveness and the gift of eternal life.

This initial knowledge is necessarily small. We are just babes in the faith. Faith is built as we seek to sit at Jesus� feet in his word, the Bible, and learn what God has done in Christ, and so grow to appreciate the greatness of his infinite love. We shall never be strong in faith if we are not constantly deepening our knowledge, understanding and experience of God. It is our privilege to have fellowship and communion with God. We must avail ourselves of this privilege in reading and study of the Bible, and in the attendance on the means of grace - church worship, sermons, bible teaching, groups for study and prayer.

However knowledge must go further. As we remember the way God worked and blessed his people recorded in the Bible, we practise faith and trust in God in our daily life and work. We need to notice as God blesses us, remember his blessings, and thank him for it. The practice and proving of faith, brings strengthening of faith. We then remember how God has blest us in the past and how he blest us, and so we are strengthened to believe for the difficulties of the present. This is living in faith and prayer.