8/10/2011 7:04:16 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Ridicule
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Nehemiah 4:1-6
Message of the verses: “1 ¶ Now it came about that when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious and very angry and mocked the Jews. 2 He spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy men of Samaria and said, "What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones?" 3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said, "Even what they are building-if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!" 4 Hear, O our God, how we are despised! Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity. 5 Do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have demoralized the builders. 6 So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.”
I have been reading the commentaries of Warren Wiersbe for at least the last fifteen years, and have enjoyed all of them very much. In all of these years and commentaries I cannot remember an introduction to a chapter as long as this one. The Lord has used the words that Dr. Wiersbe has written many times in my life and in today’s SD I have found words that he has written to “hit the nail right on the head” of what is going on in my life and I will write more on this latter.
In chapters four through six the enemy of our souls is at work in the lives of Nehemiah and the faithful Jews who were working on the repairs of the wall around Jerusalem. When things are going well the enemy will many times bring opposition into our lives to stop the work of the Lord and that is why is seen this section of the book of Nehemiah. Dr. Wiersbe writes that there at least nine different types of attacks that Satan bring upon Nehemiah and the Jews who were working on the wall. In chapter four of both Nehemiah and Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary we will see four of those attacks. In today’s SD we will discuss the first one, ridicule.
As I look over the pages of the commentary from “Be Determined” there is a sea of yellow highlighted sections from this forth chapter of Nehemiah’s commentary. That means that there was a lot of material that seemed to be speaking to my heart or just worthy of being highlighted in my opinion. The book of Nehemiah seems to me like a book that could almost be put into the New Testament, for even though it is a book that is put in the historical portion of the Bible it has things in it that are of the richness of books of the New Testament. Whenever I think of the word rich I think of when I was a young man working on a farm helping to bale hay and we would go into the kitchen and have our lunch and in the refrigerator was unpasteurized milk that had all of the cream in it. We had to stir the milk as the cream had risen to the top. It was the best milk that I have ever tasted and that was because of the richness of it. There is that kind of richness in Nehemiah’s book and Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on this book.
When one looks at the Bible they can find different occasions where ridicule is found. When David went to fight the giant Goliath he was taunted and ridiculed by him. The soldiers did the same to Jesus before He was crucified, and even while hanging on the cross Christ was ridiculed by the onlookers. Dr. Wiersbe writes “When the enemy laughs at what God’s people are doing, it is usually a sign that God is going to bless His people in a wonderful way.” The blessings that have been given to God’s people because of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ certainly prove that this statement is true.
It is not known exactly what Sanballat had to do with the army of Samaria but it seems that he was using it to help ridicule the Jews and he did it in three different ways and Tobiah added one more.
First Sanballat ridiculed the workers by calling them feeble Jews. This word means miserable or withered. He was saying that they were a bunch of old cut flowers that were withered and useless and therefore could never build a wall.
Next Sanballat would ridicule the work itself by asking a series of questions found in verse two. “Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish in a day?” God was the One who would give the strength to Nehemiah and the Jews to finish this job for He had ordained it to be done. The question will they sacrifice means that it would take more than sacrifice and prayer to get this job done, yet that is exactly what it did take to get it done, prayer and sacrifice of the people doing the job. The question will they finish in a day means that the Jews did not realize how hard and long this work would take.
In Sanballat final question he ridicules the material that the Jews were going to use to build the wall. He speaks of the stones, which were made of limestone that becomes weak when subject to fire, however the walls were torn down therefore making the stones strong. The gates were burned down and this would be replaced by using new lumber that would be supplied by the king as seen earlier in Nehemiah.
Tobiah would ridicule the finished work by stating that when it was done that a fox walking on it would make it fall down. Dr. Wiersbe writes: “from a human point of view this would be true; for the Jewish remnant was weak and poor, and the work was too great for them. But they had a great faith in a great God, and that’s what made the difference.”
I want to comment on the prayer that Nehemiah prays, and we have already seen his prayers before. This prayer is like the “imprecatory psalms.” Psalm 69; 79; and 139:19-22 are examples of imprecatory psalms. Dr. Wiersbe writes concerning this prayer: “We must remember that Nehemiah was praying as a servant of God concerned for the glory of God. He was not requesting personal vengeance but official vindication for God’s people.” When you think about it the opposition from Sanballat and Tobiah was opposition against God.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I wish to go back to something that Dr. Wiersbe wrote in the introduction of this chapter for this portion of the SD. He writes “When the picture of our life or ministry is not all we think it ought to be, perhaps the Master Artist is rescuing us from something far worse and preparing us for something far better.” To understand this statement you have to understand the story he sites before making that statement. There was a painter who was painting a cupola high in the air and as he stepped back to see how his work was progressing he was just about to fall to the ground to his death when his assistant took the paint brush from his hand and painted over his work and so the painter stepped forward to get the brush from his assistant thus keeping him from falling to his death.
My wife and I have spent almost eight months of our life in Hawaii, and for most of the time here I have been searching to find out why the Lord brought me here and what was my job for Him while here. Perhaps the quote from Dr. Wiersbe answers those questions, that the Master Artist is preparing me for something that I have no idea of.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Continue to learn contentment.
2. Trust the Lord to teach me and instruct me in the way that I should go.
8/10/2011 8:37:15 AM
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