Opposition increases

Opposition increases

But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry.

Nehemiah 4:7

In the beginning of the chapter, we saw that Sanballat and Tobiah ridiculed Nehemiah and the work that he was about to do. But after the wall reached half its height, the opposition did not reduce. It actually increased.

Sanballat, Tobiah, Ammonites, Arabs have been opposing this from the beginning. Now the people of Ashdod have joined with them.

Old enemies stay

From the beginning, Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem(Arab) have been opposing this. They do not get tired of opposing Nehemiah. They do not leave Nehemiah. They continue to stay and disturb Nehemiah.

😡New enemies have come

😡Old enemies refuse to go

Even under these negative circumstances, Nehemiah does not get shattered.

Enmity against Jesus 

Jesus had to face a lot of enemies and opposition. People were out to destroy Him even before He was born.

🔹Herod

🔹Satan

🔹Pharisees

🔹Saducees

🔹Jewish leaders

But He continued in the path that His Father had kept for Him. He never stopped but kept going. He did not get frustrated but faced the opposition in several ways:

📘Jesus applied Scripture

🙏Jesus prayed

⭕Jesus remained silent

❤Jesus loved

Application

When people rise against us, it is very difficult. Satan brings opposition to distract us from our goals. People rose against Nehemiah. But he did not waste his time fighting with the enemies. He had his eyes on the goal.

Let us learn from Jesus how to handle our enemies. Old enemies will refuse to leave, New enemies will rise up! But God is always with us! May we never become weary or frustrated. May we run towards the goal!

🏃‍♀And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

Hebrews 12:1🏃‍♀