God's working in the face of scorn, ridicule

The books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther are post-captivity books that fit into the history of Israel after the Babylonian captivity. These books talk about a remnant in Israel that goes back to Jerusalem and rebuilds the city and the temple.

Nehemiah is wanting to know, “How’s it going back in Jerusalem?”

Nehemiah 1: [3] And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

Nehemiah realizes, “Boy, things are in bad shape back in Jerusalem after all these years.”

[4] And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven.

He asks God to give him an opportunity to help the people and Nehemiah goes to the king where he’s at there in captivity and asks and receives permission to go back, explains Richard Jordan.

Nehemiah 2: [8] And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

In other words, he gets provisions to repair the city and rebuild the wall of the city.

[9] Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.
[10] When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

As soon as they find out that Nehemiah’s coming back to restore Jerusalem, the people there are mad about it and they’re grieved exceedingly; they don’t want this to happen. They think it’s a bad thing.

Nehemiah is going to go out at night and kind of survey the situation, assessing what’s going on.

[11] So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
[12] And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.
[13] And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
[14] Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.
[15] Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.
[16] And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.

He sees the damage and it’s pretty thorough. The 12 gates around the perimeter of the city are all knocked down. He can’t even get past with the animal he’s riding in some places, so the situation is pretty dire.

[17] Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.

When he reports back to the Jews there, he says, “I see the situation and how bad it is, but look what the hand of God’s doing.” The king has given him the provisions and soldiers to allow the Jews to rebuild the thing, so he says, “God’s working in our midst.”

You know, it doesn’t matter how bad things are even with us today. If you’ve got God’s Word in your hands, you’ve got God working in your life if you’ll believe it. It doesn’t matter what the situation is.

[18] Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.

It says here that the people strengthened their hands for this good work. They bought into it: “Let’s get on with it.”

[19] But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?

Nehemiah says, “First they were grieved in their heart and now once we start doing something they laugh us to scorn; they despise us. What is this thing?”

They scorn and despise and then they accuse them of being rebels and question their motives: “What is it you’re really trying to do here? You must be trying to do something nefarious.”

What does Nehemiah do in the face of their scorn? You know, having evil motives imputed to you isn’t anything new and it wasn’t anything that ended in Nehemiah’s day.

That kind of thing usually sets people on edge. For most of us, that’s about all it takes to get us to stop. Attack the messenger. Scorn, ridicule, despise, accuse you of nefarious motives and means.

Notice what Nehemiah did: [20] Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

Nehemiah says, “I know what God has said to me. I know what His Word says, and I know what His promise is, and I know who He gave the deed to this land to. I’ve got His Word and I’m going to trust that and I’m not going to worry about what you say because you don’t trust His Word and you don’t have any part in what He’s doing.”

Really there’s not any other answer to scorn, ridicule and the questioning of motives. Paul says in Romans 3: [7] For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?
[8] And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.

People are going to despise you, they’re going to slander you, they’re going to take what you say and twist it and impute evil motives to it, and the only real way to get through that is what Nehemiah does and it’s what Paul did.

You just have to know what God’s said and then trust in it. You’re not going to get the hand of God working like Nehemiah did, because God isn’t trying to build a nation today or restore a city today, but you will have God working in your life and in what you’re doing as you trust His Word.