How would you handle continual opposition?

Nehemiah 6:8 - I sent this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.”  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.”

Don’t be surprised if you start doing something good or creating positive change amongst a people group that opposition arises. 

Unfortunately when the positive is added the negative will always be around the corner.

So the question I ask today is; are you facing opposition?

How much positive change are you involved with in your community?

Nehemiah’s wall building experience of protecting and building his community created a series of events of opposition.

Did you catch that?

He didn’t face opposition once and than everything went rosy, it was continual when he was building the wall.

How strong would you be if you had to face continual opposition?

The example we see today is the same old enemy trying to use the same old dirty tactics.  Sanballat and Geshem sent a message to Nehemiah saying to him that they had something important to discuss with him and they wanted to meet with Nehemiah to talk about it away from Jerusalem.  However, Nehemiah knew that it was a plot for his life.  Listen to Nehemiah’s 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?”

We can learn from Nehemiah’s situation that the opposition will try and pull you off your project, consume your time and attack you when you are away from the things that strengthen you. 

However, in all this opposition Nehemiah stuck to the task.  He prays to the Lord - “Now strengthen my hands.”

Friends, the key message to us today is not to become weakened by opposition, but rather strengthened by asking the Lord to give you the strength for the task.

Remember, He is the source of the strength in what you do!