Faith Journey

Do you have challenges in your life that are making you weary?

Just take a snapshot of our society, just in our Canadian province of BC.  This past year there were:

1. 21,000 marriages  and 10, 000 divorces  (BC this past year)
2. 3,280 sexual assaults this past year (BC this past year)
3. 34,560 crimes of violence (BC this past year)

This may be the picture of the challenges in your home life. If not it certainly is impacting those you work with and families within your neighborhood. Sometimes survival means you don't allow yourself to care. Live your life and forget the rest.  However, when we look at Scripture our attitude must be different.  Just look at Luke 6:35 or Philippians 2:1-5.

The word compassion comes from a Latin word "compate" meaning to suffer with. When you begin suffering with the homeless - know their names and their situations and some of the inequities and injustices they have suffered - not an easy thing to do.  If we are going to be a people of compassion:  in our community, homes, in the market place, in our world....we are going to be in danger of compassion fatigue. And maybe that's where you are now.

The Story: In Nehemiah 5:1-13 we get a glimpse of the social challenges in Jerusalem during the rebuilding of the walls. They were living through a time of famine and so they lacked food. Inflation was through the roof and their debt was high. They were having to mortgage their property to pay the taxes or even sell their sons and daughters into slavery to their own countrymen.

A good leader will have a sincere compassion for those that work with him.  In Nehemiah's case he looked to God and the Scriptures to find an answer. God directed his attention to passages that talked about the practice of usury, of the Jewish people taking advantage of their own people.  Just look at these verses:

1. Exodus 22:25
2. Deuteronomy 23:19, 20
3. Leviticus 25:35-40

What Nehemiah did was confront the people, he made a plan (Nehemiah 5:11) to correct it and then had the people reaffirm their pledge as God's children (Nehemiah 5:12-13).

The Key Truth: God expects his children to live a life of compassion, just as he did for us through his Son Jesus Christ.

The Application: Philippians 2:5. Begin looking to Christ and his attitude. Make it your own. Learn from Christ and His Word as a pattern to your life. As believers, we are to first take care of those in need around you.

In the previous section, Nehemiah 4:10-12, we see how the builders of the wall were subdued into fear because of the criticism and opposition from those that were not involved in the work or had any interest in the reconstruction project.  They had taken their eyes off the vision and began focusing on the problem, the pile of work that was ahead of them.  They lost their strength.

The Story: In this section, Nehemiah 4:13-23, we see how Nehemiah responds to this dilemma.  First, he rallied the people into small units of supportive people that had the same goals. It was like a defensive unit against the opposition they faced throughout the day.  Primarily, he brought the families together to work in an environment of encouragement.

Then Nehemiah directed their attention on the Lord (Nehemiah 4:14).  All they could think about was the problem.  That's the strategy of the defeatist. There is one greater than all of our troubles, our God and Lord.  Remember the Lord throughout every challenge.  Furthermore, he organized the work teams into an balanced effort of defense and building. Some Christians can spend their life fighting but accomplish nothing for Christ. In Nehemiah 4:16-18 we read how the men were divided, half of them on guard against any form of opposition and the other half did the work.  Another great lesson is to protect those who do the work by watching out for those that oppose them.

Finally, they determined a rallying point. When they heard the sound of the trumpet, everyone dropped what they were doing and came together where they heard the trumpet.  That's the weekend call for the Church to come together for worship and teaching.

The Key Truth: Criticism can cause great damage in any living, working or worshiping environment. Surviving criticism requires a strategy that involves coming together with encouraging Christians that help keep our focus on the Lord.

Today's Application: Join a Small Group where you can encourage one another through actions and words.  Together we put our focus on the Lord through His Word and prayer.

So far in our story:
Chapter One: Nehemiah gets troubling news about his homeland and the city of Jerusalem. He prays for 4 months and God impresses upon his heart what action he should take.
Chapter Two: God changes the heart of the King, making it possible for Nehemiah to do the job.
Chapter Three: Work begins on the wall; everyone participates and everyone is important.
Chapter Four: We see that opposition is inevitable with activity.

Today`s Story: Nehemiah 4:10-12. Where ever you see the work of God you will find criticism.  It`s inevitable. In the verses of today's story we see what impact it has if allowed to continue.In Judah the workers soon noticed that the work was heavy and they began to grow weary, not a result of the hard work but a direct result of the whining from workers and the opposition. It will weary you.  Criticism will break down the heart of man. It's interesting how quickly their self-esteem broke down. "Boss, they think I'm unimportant!"

They soon lost their vision. Instead of focusing on what God had called them to do their eyes shifted to the huge pile of rubble or the work that was required of them. Critics kill the vision if left unchallenged.

The criticism began eating away at their thinking. Days earlier they clearly saw how quickly this job could be completed.  All of the locals worked together, each repairing a portion of the wall.  Now the thoughts of "we can't do it" began to invade their minds.

In the end they became fearful, thinking that they would be defeated and even killed if they continued the work.  Criticism has a powerful impact on anyone, weather in the home, work or in the Church.  It's easy to say, "just ignore them" but the words still eat away at you as they did in Nehemiah's story.

The Key Truth: Criticism left unchallenged will kill the vision of the people, demoralizing them to the point of fear. In the end we begin to manage our fears instead of God's vision for his people.

The Application: You need to take criticism seriously. Start by checking yourself. How often do you criticize others or how often do you express your negative thoughts in God's house. Make a conscious decision to quit by asking God's forgiveness and asking the Holy Spirit to teach you to say no to criticism.  If you're a leader, don't shrug off the criticism that someone expresses to others in the church. While you're perhaps tough enough to ignore them, many of God's children can not.

An unknown author penned this prayer: "Lord, this soldier is tired, so very tired. He's worn to the bone from the battle: Never a cease-fire. So very tired.  Nothing makes sense, Lord; everything's so wrong. The battle he's fought has defeated him -- and yet the battle's not over.  Beyond the defeat a ray of hope lies, faint, so very faint, but there. The hope to go on and win. Lord, watch over this soldier. Pick him up, brush him off, show him that you understand and care. Bless this soldier, Lord, 'cause he's me.’”

The Question: How do you respond to your spiritual critics?

The Story: Progress was going ahead at a great pace. Everybody was in their position and working with all their heart. It took little time for the critics to show up and begin to ridicule the workers. when Sanballat saw the success Nehemiah was having in Nehemiah 4:1-9, he became incensed with anger and used the weapon of ridicule to get them to back down. It's often a tool of the arrogant; they think so much of themselves that they believe that their words alone will get you to back off and return to your submissive ways.

What was Nehemiah's response? He automatic response was to go back to God in prayer. He released them to God and recognized what they were doing was sin. In today's world we would have the tendency to overlook this skirmish as little more than a personality conflict and then seek to bring the two parties together to resolve their differences. We've minimized sin to a personality clash.  There is no victory there.

Nehemiah gave them over to God and then ignored them. That's the best thing you can do to an arrogant critic of the gospel.

The Key Truth: Your first course of action ought always be prayer. 1 Peter 5:7

The Key Applications: Don't let critics stop what you know God has called you to do. They are arrogant and want to take the place of our God. Take everything immediately to God and leave it there. Partner together in prayer and persistence.

What we learn about critics in Nehemiah 4:1-9:

1. Criticism inevitably accompanies positive activities.
2. Criticism is often born out of anger.
3. Critics do not operate alone.
4. Sarcasm is their favorite tool.

What can we learn from Nehemiah 4:1-9 as how to respond with critics:

1. Prayer
2. Partner
3. Persistence