Five Ways Nehemiah Dealt with Opposition

What did Nehemiah do in the face of all the opposition he faced? Well, he did many things but I’d like to highlight five ways Nehemiah faced into opposition that I outlined in my message on Sunday (find the whole message here: “Facing Opposition in a Good Work”). These are just notes right out of my sermon outline, but I hope they are helpful for us as we consider facing into opposition in our own lives.

1. Nehemiah prayed about opposition (1:4-11; 2:4b; 4:4-5, 9; 5:19; 6:9b, 14-15; 13:14, 22, 29, 31)

• Praying in response to the report
• Praying for God’s favor in response to the situation
• Praying amidst the work
• Continuing conversation with God
• Praying, praying, praying
• Nehemiah prayed in the face of opposition

2. Nehemiah prepared for opposition (4:9, 13-23)

• “we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat” (4:9)
• “From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor” (4:16)
• Nehemiah prepared in the face of opposition

3. Nehemiah ignored opposition as a distraction (2:10; 6:1-4)

• “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.” (6:2-4)
• Nehemiah ignored opposition

4. Nehemiah confronted opposition (6:8-9)

• Sanballat says Nehemiah is pulling together a rebellion, Nehemiah addresses it directly
• “I sent him this reply: ‘Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.’” (6:8)
• Nehemiah confronted opposition

5. Nehemiah saw through opposition (6:10-13)

• Shemaiah son of Delaiah sought to inspire Nehemiah to seek peace through running away; but Nehemiah understood that Shemaiah was actually a voice of his opponents, so he was able to see through this

Nehemiah is one example of someone facing opposition and we can learn from the way he dealt with it. This isn’t a formula, but it is helpful guidance.