Nehemiah 4:11 "And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease."
As I sit here praying about this verse of Scripture, a part of me says this
morning should be a short and direct devotion. But I want to keep this verse in
context of the book of Nehemiah as well as the application to our lives
today. Let's look at the two previous verses to see the state of mind of
those who were doing the work of rebuilding the wall. "Nevertheless
we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night,
because of them. (10) And Judah said, The strength of the bearers
of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to
build the wall." (Nehemiah 4:9-10) We can see they were praying and
seeking God's help, but it seems they were spending a lot of time looking at
the mess as they were praying.
Remember Peter in the storm? "Lord, if it is you, bid me to come to
you." Jesus said, "Come." Peter got out of the boat and took
some steps on top of the water, but suddenly he took his eyes off Jesus and
began to look at the wind and waves. When that happened, he began to sink. But
praise God, Jesus reached out and lifted him up when he called to Jesus,
"Lord, save me." What does this have to do with the situation in
Jerusalem as the wall was being rebuilt? The people, even while praying,
took their eyes off God and started looking at the rubbish. They became very
discouraged when they began to concentrate on the situation instead of the
Lord.
It was during this time that the adversaries said, "They shall not know,
neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the
work to cease." We live in a time when discouragement seems to be rampant
even among God's people. We have to turn our eyes back to Jesus! The enemy
(Satan) understands the principle that the house cannot stand if it is divided.
How does he divide it? The truth is that we will stand strong against him
if he attacks from outside. But he has too much success if he can get inside
our minds, if he can get inside our homes, if he can get inside our churches.
He has never changed his tactics even from the very beginning in the Garden of
Eden. He divided the thoughts of Adam and Eve by luring them to take their eyes
off the joy of God in search of whatever that forbidden fruit had to
offer. We must - We must stand strong in the power of God Almighty and
lean heavily upon Him in order to avoid the confusion and turmoil that Satan
tries to instill. Lord, please give us your strength to withstand the
wiles of Satan.