Devotional Nehemiah 4:1–14: Serving Surrounded by the Enemy Devotional on Nehemiah 4:1–14: learn to face the enemy's fear, mockery, and opposition by keeping your eyes on God's protection. Topics: Devotional, Old Testament.

Devotional Nehemiah 4:1–14: Serving Surrounded by the Enemy

Continuing through the book of Nehemiah, which has been the foundation of the biblical messages in our church services, last Sunday’s theme was “Called to serve surrounded by the enemy.” It is found in Nehemiah 4:1–14.

If you recall from the previous chapter, Nehemiah had managed to convince every family in Israel to help rebuild the wall.

In this chapter, the enemies realized that the Israelites were successfully building the wall and that, if they continued, they would actually finish it.

From this chapter, we can draw 4 important points for reflection:

1. The enemy is always watchful, united, and all around us. When Sanballat saw that the Jews were committed to the rebuilding effort, he mocked them and recruited his brothers and the army of Samaria to disrupt the work. Tobiah, seeing this as well, remarked that even if they built a stone wall, a fox climbing on it would break it down. In other words, when they realized the Jews were succeeding in fulfilling God’s mission, they decided to unite and attack the work together—they didn’t act alone. It follows the principle: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” When the goal is to hinder the will of God, we will be attacked by multiple enemies at the same time.
2. The enemy has plans to discourage our hearts. When they realized that the wall had already reached half its height, they chose to mock and use arguments to demoralize the people from staying committed to the work.
3. The enemy loves to spread fear and rumors. The objective of the enemies (Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites) was to spread rumors and sow fear, threatening to attack in order to stop the work and kill them all. These rumors were circulating, and some neighbors were already becoming fearful of continuing the work and began worrying only about protecting their own families.
4. Those who serve must keep their eyes on God. But Nehemiah reminded them that we should not fear our enemies. Remember that we have a great and awesome God who will protect us. Nevertheless, he also positioned the people by families in the lowest and open places behind the wall, equipping them to defend the wall with their swords, spears, and bows.