Introducing Opposition
NEHEMIAH 2:9-10
Some people will tell you that there are no guarantees in life. Well, I’m not going to do that. I will make you an iron-clad guarantee tonight. This guarantee is as sure as I’m standing here. I’m not a betting man and I wouldn’t want you to make bets. But if you were ever to bet on this, you would win. Are you ready? Here it is: Anytime that you step out in leadership you will be opposed. That’s not really a surprise, is it? Well, actually for some people it is a surprise. You see, some people have this mistaken notion that if God gives you a burden… and then you really pray and seek His face about that burden… and then you do all the planning and preparation you’re supposed to do… and then you boldly step out in leadership like you’re supposed to… some people mistakenly think that it’s all going to be smooth sailing. It never ceases to amaze me when people finally step out in leadership on something that the Lord has clearly burdened them about. And when they finally step out in leadership they inevitably run into opposition. And then as soon as they run into opposition, the first thing they want to do is quit. And then this is the part that gets me. Then they try to blame it on God. They say, “Well, I guess since I ran into this opposition, God is closing the door.” Does God close doors of opportunity? Yes. But He usually does it as a way to show us His will for a situation. He usually does it as a way to clarify the burden that He’s given us. But once that burden has become clear… and once that burden has been prayed and fasted over… once that burden is clear, God usually doesn’t close the door. Think about it, why would God give you a burden that is crystal clear and then block you from doing anything about it. Nehemiah’s burden was to rebuild the wall and the city of Jerusalem. God clearly gave him that burden. Nehemiah prayed and fasted over that burden. He planned and prepared and prayed some more for that burden for four months. God opened the initial doors of getting permission to go. Remember, that was what Nehemiah had prayed about. He prayed that the Lord would prosper his servant and grant him mercy in the sight of the king. And God answered that prayer. He answered it four months later when the king told Nehemiah he could go. And not only did he give him permission, he gave him his protection, and his provision. The door was clearly open. The burden was clearly from God and the door was open. So much so, that Nehemiah recognized it back in verse 8. He said that it all happened because the good hand of his God was upon him. So if the good hand of God was so clearly upon Nehemiah, everything was bound to go smoothly, right? That’s what always happens when we’re walking in God’s will and doing what He wants us to do, right? If God wants you to lead in accomplishing His work and you boldly step out and do it, He’ll make sure everything goes smoothly for you, right? Wrong! That is the one time when you are guaranteed to face opposition. I know that might not seem like a good way to get you to boldly step out in leading in the burden that God has given you. And if I were a salesman or a recruiter it wouldn’t be. Because most of us are too timid to step out and lead under the best of circumstances. Much less when somebody stands up here and tells you that you’re going to face opposition. But it’s true! If I told you anything less, I would be lying. Nehemiah was clearly in God’s will. He was clearly called by God. God clearly gave him a burden. He clarified that burden in prayer and preparation. He opened doors with the king when Nehemiah obediently stepped out in leadership. And then, no sooner than things started happening, opposition came. Just like it will when you step out to lead in the burden that God is giving you. So since opposition is inevitable… we need to understand it before it comes. That’s one of the wonderful things about this book. I imagine it wasn’t so great for Nehemiah, but it’s great for us, because we get to see all of the opposition he faced. And a lot of the opposition came from these two characters in our passage tonight—Sanballat and Tobiah. We will see them different times throughout the book, but tonight we’re just introduced to them. But the introduction is enough to help us understand opposition before it comes against us. It will help us recognize opposition when it comes and when we recognize it, then we can know how to overcome it. The first thing we need to understand about opposition is that opposition can be territorial.
Opposition can be territorial. I want you to picture this scene. Here you are, Tobiah, sitting in Ammon. You and your buddy Sanballat from up in Samaria have pretty much had your run of the place. The king had left you in charge of these remote outposts and completely left you alone. As long as nothing disruptive got back to the king, you could pretty much do as you please. Those pesky Jews had stirred things up for a while with their temple, but they haven’t done anything for years. They got their temple done and left the rest of the place in rubbles. They were certainly no threat. Things were good for Tobiah and Sanballat. And then here they look one day out on the horizon and what do they see. They saw a whole army of military cavalry coming at them. They weren’t coming in a war posture, they were coming as a delegation. You’ve seen the pictures of when the president goes overseas and he has his whole contingent with him. That’s the way this was. When Tobiah and Sanballat looked out on the horizon, they saw an official delegation from the king coming in their direction—unannounced. That would have been enough to shake them up. But then when Nehemiah approached them and presented them with the letters from the king, it only got worse. Because those letters were authorizing Nehemiah to create a new nation-state within the kingdom. A nation-state that they saw as being in direct competition with their nation-states. If this character Nehemiah was successful in his mission, Jerusalem would be the equal of Ammon and Samaria in the king’s eyes. I’m sure they even though it would be a little bit more equal in the king’s eyes after looking at the king’s letters. After all, the king never sent them provisions like that. He didn’t give them an escort like that. Can you see the jealousy? Can you see the way they were marking out their turf? That doesn’t ever happen today, does it? “That’s always been my job.” “Here this new person comes in with all these new ideas.” “Acts like she’s running the place.” “Well, we’ll just see how excited she is when I’m not helping her anymore.” “As a matter of fact, I’m going to make sure that my friends don’t work with her either.” I saw that played out in front of my eyes a few months ago at a church in our association. We were there for a pastor’s fellowship and I walked into the kitchen to thank the ladies for fixing our lunch. I had never met them and they didn’t know me. But they began to tell me the story of why their church has two kitchens. They have two kitchens because one of the ladies in there bought the table. Another one bought the stove. Another one remembered when the cabinets were put in back in the ‘40s. And because of that, they weren’t going to let anybody come in and cut a hole to put a dishwasher in. They didn’t need a dishwasher and they weren’t going to let them put one in. Apparently, the church decided that those ladies were so territorial about their kitchen, the only way they could get anything done was to build a new one and leave them as queens of their own territory. Opposition can be territorial. When you step out to lead, people can see your leadership as a threat to their security or their influence or their power base or even their comfort. And when they do, sometimes they will step up in opposition just like Tobias and Sanballat did. Opposition can be territorial. It can also be historical.
Opposition can be historical. When we do a little bit of digging into the names in this passage, we find some interesting things. Sanballat’s name is listed as the governor of Samaria in some archaeological artifacts that were discovered not too long ago. But what is more interesting is Tobiah’s name. And not for what you find of him in the archaeological record. What’s interesting is what you find in the biblical record. You see, even though Tobiah is called an Ammonite here in this passage, Tobiah isn’t an Ammonite name. It is a Jewish name. So that would indicate that, even though he was a governor of Ammon, he was also of Jewish descent. Then when you look back at the genealogical record in Ezra 2, things get really interesting. Ezra 2:59-60 says, “And these were they which went up from Telmelah, Telharsa, Cherub, Addan, and Immer: but they could not shew their father’s house, and their seed, whether they were of Israel: The children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred fifty and two.” It all makes sense now, doesn’t it? Well, maybe when we skip down to verse 62, that will help: “These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.” Years before, when Zerubbabel and Jeshua brought the first group of exiles back to Jerusalem, they were numbered and placed into groups according to their ancestry. If you had the paperwork to prove that you were a Levite, then you were counted as a Levite. If you had the paperwork to prove that you were a priest, then you were counted as a priest and could do the work of a priest. But there was a group of people who didn’t have the right paperwork. They said that they were priests, but couldn’t prove it. So even though they knew in their heart that they were supposed to be priests, they weren’t allowed to. The text says that they were actually put out of the priesthood like someone who had been polluted. One of those families was the Tobiah family. Because of the way that name is specifically pointed out in Ezra leads me to believe that Tobias was descended from that family. And if that was the case, his opposition was historical. His family’s rejection from the priesthood led to generations of deep-seated bitterness. Whether that bitterness had an opportunity to crop up before this, we don’t know. But it certainly did from here on out. Tobiah is a thorn in Nehemiah’s side throughout the book. People don’t carry grudges and bitterness like that today, do they? You’ve never heard anybody bring up anything that happened back when Bob Hogan was here, have you? Historical opposition can come in all different forms. Probably the most popular is what are called the seven last words of a dying church: “We’ve never done it that way before.” That’s one kind of historical opposition. But there is a kind that is even more difficult to deal with. And that’s the kind that is similar to Tobiah. It’s the kind that says, “I got hurt doing that before, so I’m not going to allow myself to get hurt again.” “When I tried that once before, I got beat up. Don’t ask me to try it again.” Historical opposition has a memory like an elephant. In Tobiah’s case it was generational. He was bitter about something that happened to his great grand-daddy. Opposition can be historical. It can be territorial and it can be historical. It can also be spiritual.
Opposition can be spiritual. Notice the last words of verse 10, “it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.” There were some territorial things going on. They opposed Nehemiah because they wanted to protect their turf. There were some historical issues going on. Tobiah opposed Nehemiah because he had some deep-seated bitterness happening. But neither of those are explicitly stated in the text. You have to dig for those. What is the opposition that is stated explicitly? They were opposed to anybody wanting to come in and help out God’s people. This is an explicit statement against God’s chosen people. The opposition was spiritual. Does that mean that Tobiah and Sanballat were wicked people? We don’t really know. In their element, they could have been great guys. But they were part of a bigger picture. You see, the welfare of the children of Israel was God’s concern. God chose them and called them before they were even a people when He called up Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees. He nurtured them and grew them and protected them. They rebelled and God punished them, but there was no point in time when God un-chose them. When God chose Israel, He sealed them as His chosen people. The Psalmist calls them the apple of God’s eye. It was out of the nation Israel that God would send His Son. Jesus is of the house and lineage of David. The offer of salvation for the world came through the Jews. That is why Satan has opposed the Jews throughout history. The opposition Nehemiah was facing might have come in the person of Sanballat and the person of Tobiah. But it was really much bigger than that. The opposition he faced wasn’t really their flesh and blood. The opposition he was wrestling with was against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Which is the same opposition you will face as you step out in leadership in doing God’s will that He has burdened you with. It might look like other people. It might come in the form of territorial opposition. It might come in the form of historical opposition. But rest assured, when you step out in doing God’s work, the opposition you face will be spiritual opposition.
The sad thing is, when many people face opposition, they quit. They mistakenly see the opposition as a stop sign and they quit in defeat. Well, the Lord didn’t call you just so you would quit on Him. He didn’t call Nehemiah just so he would quit when he ran into Tobiah and Sanballat. He called him to persevere and overcome the opposition and lead his way through it. And he did. And so can you. How? Just go back to what got you here in the first place. How do you overcome opposition? You have to fall back.
First, you have to fall back on your burden. Remember the burden that God gave you in the first place. Remember who it was that gave you that burden. In the very next verses, that’s what you find Nehemiah doing. He takes a nighttime ride around the rubble and destruction that is Jerusalem. If nothing else, that served to seat in his mind the burden God gave him. Has God given you a burden for evangelism, but you’ve come up against opposition that makes you want to quit? Then just go walk around the streets and neighborhoods for a while. Walk past all the bars and strip clubs. Remind yourself of the lostness all around you. Has God given you a burden for this building? Have you come up against opposition and are ready to quit? Then get by yourself and walk around the facilities. See all the things that need to be done. Let that burn in you the burden the Lord has given you. Has God given you a burden for discipleship or music or teaching or helps or maybe a completely new ministry? And then before you could even get started, you come up against territorial or historical opposition? Well, don’t focus on the opposition. Take your eyes off the opposition and put them squarely on the burden that God has given you. Fall back on your burden. Overcome opposition by falling back on your burden and by falling back on your prayer.
When the opposition comes is not the time to start praying. It’s the time to fall back on the prayers you started with. Remember what Nehemiah did when he first felt the burden? He prayed about it. Serious, protracted fasting and prayer. He spent days and weeks and months praying about the burden that God had given him. He prayed until God gave him the clarity and the direction and began to open doors of opportunity for him. And then as he was walking through those doors of opportunity, just because he faced opposition, he knew that wasn’t a closed door. He had diligently and fervently prayed. Now it was time to fall back on that prayer. I’m sure Nehemiah prayed about the opposition. But the task was settled. He wasn’t going to quit the task because it had already been settled in prayer. When the opposition came, he fell back on that prayer. He also fell back on his preparation. Overcome opposition by falling back on your preparation.
Just because Nehemiah’s burden was from God and just because he prayed about it, he didn’t assume that everything was going to be rosy. He knew there would be opposition. He knew there would be challenges. So he planned for those. That is evident in the things he asked the king for back in verses 7-8. He asked for letters of authority and letters of provision from the king. He planned for this very kind of contingency. Now, I understand that we can’t always plan for every contingency that might come along. But if you expect that the unexpected will happen, then you won’t be nearly as surprised when things don’t go exactly according to plan. Even in those times, you can fall back on your planning. Just like Nehemiah did. Overcome opposition by falling back on your burden, by falling back on your prayer, and by falling back on your preparation. But here’s the real key to Nehemiah’s success. And it will be the real key to your success as you overcome opposition in leading out in accomplishing the burden God has given you. The real key to overcoming opposition is falling back on your faith.
Do you remember the last words Nehemiah said before he encountered this opposition? The last words of chapter one, Nehemiah says, “And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.” Nehemiah knew that the burden he felt was from the Lord. He knew that the Lord had given it to him. He knew that the Lord had heard his prayers. He knew that the Lord was with his preparations. He knew that the Lord had opened the doors to get him this far. So why would he think that the Lord was going to leave him now? It might have looked like it. The opposition might have looked really bad. Well, it was going to get a whole lot worse. But Nehemiah trusted God. He trusted the fact that when God calls us to a task and we depend on Him to accomplish that task, He’s going to see us through. Nehemiah had faith in the faithfulness of God. He knew that because the good hand of his God was upon him, it didn’t matter what opposition he faced. It didn’t matter because His God was bigger than even the biggest opposition.
So, let me ask you again, what is your burden? What has God burdened your heart that needs to be accomplished? Why are you not stepping out in leadership to get it accomplished? Is it because you’ve faced opposition in the past? Is it because you crossed over into somebody else’s turf and they opposed you? Is it because you dug up somebody’s historical bitterness and they opposed you? Did that cause you to quit? If it did, then now’s the time to fall back on your burden. God gave you the burden for a reason. He gave it to you to accomplish, not to quit on Him. Now’s the time to fall back on your prayers. Maybe you didn’t pray it through the first time. That doesn’t mean the burden is gone. It means you need to pray it through now. Now’s the time to fall back on your preparation. Figure out all that it’s going to take to accomplish the burden. Go back to the plans you’ve made. Rework them. Make new ones if you need to. But above all, now’s the time to fall back on your faith. The God who gave you the burden is the God who will see you through to the end. No matter what obstacles or opposition the enemy can throw at you. It’s time to step out and lead in the burden that the Lord has given you. Are you ready?