Saturday, January 21, 2012

Nehemiah 6: 1-14 But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”

In today's world we need Nehemiah's to rise up and pray in the midst of plots, lies, and attacks against the gospel as he did. "Now Strengthen my hands" (vs 9)

More Threats
We find Nehemiah and the people steadily working on the wall. The enemies of God, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem were still getting angry about it. They sent message after message asking for a meeting. An unsealed letter was also sent (so others could read it and become afraid) accusing the Jews of desiring to make Nehemiah king so they could revolt against the king. They threatened to get word back the king of this plot.

They just want to scare us into backing down.
Nehemiah's assessment was that these enemies were doing their best to scare both he and the people from finishing God's project. So he sent them a reply by messenger. Kind of reminds me of email. "8 I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.” 9 They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.” But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.” I want you to think about a few things here. First, Nehemiah had to rely upon his character that he had built with the king during his time of service. Our everyday life of hard work and loyalty really do matter and will effect our mission. Second, Nehemiah wasn't fooled. He knew their plan and he prayed against it. They wanted him to become weak...his prayer was that his hands be strengthened. We need to pray and declare the opposite of what the enemy is trying to proclaim over us.

Prophets of Doom hired by enemies
Folks who called themselves prophets called Nehemiah and tried to get him to go to the temple for sanctuary because that was the only way he could protect himself against those who wanted to kill him. It was not God but a trick. It is a sad state when sometimes even those who use a cloak of spiritually really are hirelings. Nehemiah's prayer life caused him to see this for what it was. We hadn't heard about it throughout the book, but apparently these prophets had been trying to intimidate him all along.

Prayer.
Father, we ask in Jesus Name that we would discern the plots of the enemy like Nehemiah did. We pray along with him, "Strengthen our hand".





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