But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. "What is this you are doing?" they asked. "Are you rebelling against the king?" I answered them by saying, "The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it." (Nehemiah 2:19-20)

Indeed, opposition came as the Jews began to rebuild the defences of Jerusalem.

We've mentioned the traditional enemies that the Christian tradition has long recognized as those lined up against the journey of faith in Christ: the world, the flesh, and the devil. The opposition that inevitably comes.

It's not always so easy to pull them apart to understand where attacks are coming from in the moment. Certainly all three could have been in play as the taunts came to Nehemiah from Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem. These were representatives of "the world" around God's people. "The world" mocked and ridiculed the Jews for rebuilding the wall, beginning to put social pressure on them to stop the work.

"The flesh" of our internal desires and motivations can indeed become weak and lose resolve in the face of such pressures and taunts from our external "world." And our final enemy, "the devil" seeks to enhance and exploit both these forces to just that end. His work is all about helping the "world's" external taunts and pressures to find just the right internal insecurities, doubts, and weaknesses within our "flesh" so as to knock us out of faith and trust in God.

No doubt the enemies of "the world" and "the devil" were at work against the Jews in Nehemiah's day. But God had strengthened the hands of His people: had strengthened their flesh, their trust, their commitment and surrender to Him, such that Nehemiah could reply without flinching: "The God of heaven will give us success."

And so lest we think that all of these enemies are always bad, we need to remember that this is very much God's work: redeeming through Christ and sanctifying through the Spirit our "flesh" so that our desires become more readily fixed on Him and less swayed by the pressures of "the world" and the prowling opportunism of "the devil." God is continually at work restoring our "flesh" to the image it was meant to carry: His.

So yes, that means that eventually, our "flesh" will cease to be an enemy as the likeness of Christ is restored in us. Eventually, even "the world" will cease to be an enemy as it is set free from its current bondage in the renewal of creation. Eventually, "the devil" will be cast down in defeat. This is the promise whose fulfillment we await with longing in the second coming of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

We will not see it this side of eternity, at least not completely. But every now and then, we catch a glimpse.

A glimpse, like this one in Nehemiah, of God's people standing firm with flesh and hands strengthened in their God: full of trust and full of hope.

There are other glimpses too. A glimpse of beauty in the world around us where creation sings or people live together in reconciled harmony. A glimpse of a person at peace with their God, with themselves, and with the others around them.

Most of us probably aren't there today. And that's ok. The glimpses we catch around us can be enough to remind us that God is trustworthy indeed, bringing about his redemption of this world and our flesh, even now.

Be encouraged. The God of heaven, in the end, will indeed give his people success, for the battle with our enemies will end in redemption, restoration, and victory. Indeed, God is at this work even now.

"Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace." I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me. They replied, "Let us start rebuilding." So, they began this good work." (Nehemiah 2:17-18).

During a war soldiers don't jump up from behind their protective barricades with hurt expressions and ask the other side, "Was it something I said?" That would be silly to the extreme.

Likewise, the spiritual battles we Christians face are not really about us—our enemy is raging against Christ in us. He is opposing Jesus and his church, pitching various weapons and human obstacles against us. Our task is not to take it personally and wonder if we did wrong—our task is to suit up in spiritual armor, show up on the battlefield, and persevere for Christ. We need to know that resistance is just part of the story when we are being obedient to God.

Of course, opposition always makes things more difficult. As Christians, we often need to be prepared to go the extra mile. Reaching the world with the truth and love of Christ will involve inconvenience and personal sacrifice at the best of times, but especially when others are creating obstacles.

Sometimes God allows things to proceed relatively easily, as when Nehemiah makes his requests to Artaxerxes. But other times it is more of a struggle. In chapter 1, everything goes smoothly. As we saw, he was anxious and did significant fearful praying. But God paved the way for him.

When things go well, we tend to get over confident. We might think that, since God is on our side, nothing can go wrong, all obstacles will be removed. Many Christian organizations have become so enamored with their success that they have lost their way. We make compromises because we believe that success is always necessary.

But not Nehemiah. He knows there is opposition to his work. He has not become over confident. At night, in the darkness, with only a few others, he scouts the broken walls around Jerusalem. The rubble and burned out gates were a sign that Jerusalem had been defeated. In ancient culture, this meant that Jerusalem's God had been defeated too. That was the disgrace. A rebuilt wall around the city would be a symbol that God was with them and had not, in the end, been defeated.

Thus, Nehemiah speaks with the Israelite priests, officials and nobles (2:16) inviting them to join him in rebuilding the wall in order to remove this disgrace. Along with this invitation, he tells them all about how God's gracious hand had brought him to this point and how the king had made provision for him.

The NIV then says, "So, they began this good work," which is a fair translation. However, a more literal translation of this phrase would be "And they strengthened their hands for the good." Their starting point was to encourage each other to do this good work.

It's interesting that the opposite happened in Ezra 4:4. In that story, the enemies of the Jews discouraged them from re-building the temple. The phrase translates as "weaken their hands". Later, God changed the attitude of the king of Assyria so that he gave permission and provision for rebuilding. The effect this had on the Jewish settlers was that "their hands were strengthened" or as the NIV says, "they were filled with joy" (Ezra 6:22).

Throughout Ezra-Nehemiah when Israel overcomes opposition to restoration, it is because of the things that God does. But we see the people encouraging each other as well. None of them can go it alone.

The same is still true today. We can expect to face opposition. Satan does not want Christians nor the church as a whole to succeed. One of his great strategies today is causing us to think that we are alone. That we can go it alone. But God calls us to encourage on another. "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing", Paul writes (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

Take some time today to ask God whom you can encourage, whose hands you can strengthen, so that they can continue in the good fight.

By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. (Nehemiah 2:13)

Sunday evening, our high school youth gathered for a (socially-distanced) campfire to worship and talk about Spiritual Disciplines—on this particular night: the discipline of gratitude (click or tap here to learn more about this spiritual discipline!).

We started that Spiritual Discipline conversation by recognizing that the methods of being formed in the Christian faith that we've long relied on, like Sunday worship, are not quite as reliable as they once were. Some might even say they've been broken down.

Just think of all the spiritual disciplines we practiced together in worship as a Christian community pre-COVID-19: Prayer, Scripture Reading, Giving, Confession, Gratitude, Song, Community/Fellowship, Silence, etc. This weekly practice of all these disciplines in worship forms us in the Christian life and in Christian character over the years, it really does! Worship is not only something we offer to God, it's also one of the means through which God forms Christ in us!

But now, this central practice of Sunday worship which once carried so much of the freight of our Christian discipleship has broken down. Not completely of course. We worship, we really do. But it's also not quite what it was. And while technology is a good stand in, some things (like the support, encouragement, and accountability of Christian community) simply cannot be digitally mediated forever.

As the practice of Sunday worship has weakened in our communal life therefore, and all these weekly reinforcements of the Spiritual Disciplines with it, so have our "defences" against our "old enemies" that Pastor Michael mentioned yesterday: namely, the world, the flesh, and the devil.

The World: we get busy and distracted with all the other pressing demands of work, school, life in a pandemic, and the ever-urgent notifications on our devices and eventually we start to slide away from worship and Christian practice—slowly. Never all at once. But, bit by bit, Sundays easily get filled with all the other things that have always been vying for our attention and adoration.

The Flesh: we sleep in on Sundays, don't feel like doing worship, or just plumb forget to engage in worship and the other Christian practices. Discipleship is hard. Lots of other things are easier.

The Devil: as C.S. Lewis reminds us in the Screwtape Letters, there are indeed forces at work in this world that give aid to the seemingly benign churn of our fleshly lives and our world's pressures, helping them to erode our Christian practice with the relentless force of waves that pound the shore.

Perhaps it's time to take a silent walk with God to go out and "examine the defences," as Nehemiah did.

Are the "walls" of Christian habit and discipline broken down in your life? Have the gates to your heart and mind that put a conscious check on what gets in and what comes out been burned up?

The restoration of our spiritual practices starts at just that same place that Nehemiah started his restoration of Jerusalem's defences. First, we have to take honest stock of where we're at, what we've lost, and what we're up against.

Take time to examine just those things in your life today. What spiritual habits and practices have been lost or broken down in your life since the beginning of this pandemic? Take stock, and bring it to God in prayer.

When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites (Nehemiah 2:10).

Nehemiah has finally made it to Jerusalem. He has letters from the king. He is official – coming with the king's authority. And he did not come alone. He came with an escort of officials and cavalry. There is no indication that Nehemiah requested an escort. This appears to be a provision that God supplied through the king.

Earlier, Ezra and his company had fasted and prayed for a safe journey because he did not want to ask the king for military protection (Ezra 8:22). Thus, some have suggested that Ezra showed more faith in God than Nehemiah. However, Ezra was not offered a military escort, and Nehemiah did not ask for one. The point is likely that God provides in different ways in different situations.

His coming did not go unnoticed. His coming as an official of the king was particularly noticed by Sanballat and Tobiah. These two had power in the area. They had been working hard to keep Israel weak, because that secured their positions of power and influence. When they saw that Nehemiah was coming to promote the welfare of the Israelites, they recognized that his coming was a threat to their power in the neighbourhood. So, "they were very much disturbed."

And they would continue to be a thorn in Nehemiah's side, seeking to undermine both the physical and moral progress Nehemiah sought to bring.

We may find this a mere curiosity. We may think that it has no relevance for us today. After all, we are far removed from this story in both time and place.

It seems to me that Sanballat and Tobiah are included in Nehemiah's story to edify us as well. They remind us that there has always been resistance to God's kingdom. And that resistance will continue until Jesus returns. As he said to his disciples, "Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy" (John 16:20).

He also taught us to pray, "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." Sometimes we may face people like Sanballat and Tobiah: people who really do not what to see God's church grow and thrive. More often our enemies are not physical. That is why the Heidelberg Catechism includes the line, "our sworn enemies-the devil, the world, and our own flesh-never stop attacking us" (Answer 127).

The truth of this is seen in the exposure of hidden sins committed by Christian leaders. The church as a whole, bears the shame of such things and many have given up on the church, and even on God, because of these failures.

But we, who fly under the public radar, are no less afflicted by 'our sworn enemies'. There is some evidence already that churches have lost members during COVID. Where are they? No one knows yet, but they are not responding to the invitation to come back to worship services.

How about you? How have you experienced the attacks of our enemies? Has your faith weakened in the preceding months? If so, are you going to do something about it?

Nehemiah keeps writing that 'the gracious hand of God was on him.' Here is the key. As the Catechism says, "By ourselves we are too weak to hold our own even for a moment." So, when I ask, "are you going to do something about it?', I'm asking the wrong kind of question.

The Catechism gives us a better avenue when it teaches us to pray, "And so, Lord, uphold us and make us strong with the strength of your Holy Spirit, so that we may not go down to defeat in this spiritual struggle, but may firmly resist our enemies until we finally win the complete victory."

Like Nehemiah, we can do no better than to trust in God, and pray to him to strengthen us.

The king said to me, "What is it you want?" Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king… (Nehemiah 2:4-5a)

Not all prayers are long and eloquent.

This second prayer of Nehemiah's certainly wasn't.

Now, I suppose it is possible that Nehemiah heard the king's question, ran home to get on his knees beside his bed, prayed sincerely for half an hour, then ran back to the palace to give the king his response. But, probably not.

The way this is written, it sure would make it seem like this was a prayer in real time in the king's presence, offered mid-conversation without Nehemiah so much as skipping a beat. It no doubt happened silently then—a blink of the eyes and a deep breath before plunging into a response.

When I think of the kind of "praying without ceasing" that Paul talks about in his letter to the Thessalonians, this kind of breath-long Nehemiah prayer is exactly what I think of.

It's not necessarily about the length or formality of the prayer or about the words. It's also not necessarily about the continuity of praying throughout days and weeks even. It is, I think, about an unceasingly prayerful posture that defines our approach and our reaction to all of our lives.

What do I mean by that? Well, there's something about Nehemiah's posture throughout this book so far that speaks to someone who took a prayerful posture toward their life. And that's just a different way of saying that Nehemiah was unceasingly aware of, and actively attentive to God.

This is nothing that we haven't said before in these past few devotions, except that now I'm connecting the dot to prayer. Nehemiah's attention to God pervaded his life. He knew that he belonged to God. He knew that God ultimately held the power over the nations and over history. He knew that it was with God that he had to do. And that naturally meant that Nehemiah prayed, that he connected all of his life, his thoughts, and his conversations to God in prayer.

When a deep sorrow washed over him at the plight of his people, he talked to God. As he pondered what action to take, he talked it over with God. As he prepared to enter the king's presence with his request, he inquired of God. As he responded to the king in the moment, he prayed to God. Nehemiah was constantly aware of and attentive to God, such that his in-the-moment responses had turned into prayer. His life posture, was a prayerful posture.

They say that our character is what pops out of us when we hit a bump in the road. Well, what popped out of Nehemiah was prayer.

Maybe not always big or eloquent prayer—but prayer none-the-less.

Prayer is just talking with God. Sometimes nothing more than a "please, God" or a "thanks, Jesus" mid-sentence across our day is exactly the sort of thing that speaks to a prayerful posture. It's not that that's all our prayer lives should be, but that is part of it. A part of it that says: yes, throughout my day, I remember and am aware of the presence of God that actively pervades my every moment.

And, maybe that's just part of what it means to pray continually. To be always attentive to and ready to respond to God. In the big moments, and the in small ones. In dedicated times of attention and devotion, as well as in the passing moments.

So, what's your posture to life? To God? What pops out of you when you hit a bump in the road of life? Pay attention today and see. Then, let it remind you to pay attention to God as you breathe a little "thanks for the reminder, God" prayer.

"And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests" (Nehemiah 2:8).

There is much to like and learn in the opening story of Nehemiah 2. We should pay attention to the things it says about God. Perhaps most obviously, it demonstrates God's power: that he is the King over all other kings. King Artaxerxes was the most powerful king of the day in the ancient Near East. But we see that God stands above him. The decisions he makes fulfil God's plans and purposes.

We like to sing about this. "Who has held the oceans in His hand, Who has numbered every grain of sand, Kings and nations tremble at His voice" (Behold our God) or "Gentiles and Jews his laws obey. All lands and nations offerings bring and, unconstrained, their homage pay to their exalted God and King" (Shout, for the blessed Jesus Reigns). These lyrics are derived from such stories.

The passage also illustrates God's presence with his people in the midst of the turbulence of life. When Nehemiah perceived that he might be in danger, his emotions and his adrenaline were running high. As Pastor Anthony said yesterday, the king could see his distress and that was dangerous. God was aware of Nehemiah's situation and responded. Here we have a close up visual of what Jesus meant when he said, "I am with you to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).

We should also pay attention to Nehemiah's commitment to God's plan. He understood what God was doing and his response in the middle of this crisis showed his dedication to it. He trusted that God would bring it about. Likewise, we need to think carefully about God's revealed plans for the world and what he wants to accomplish in it. When we are making plans for our own lives, we ought to begin by leaning into God's purposes so that we can be personally involved in them. Then when difficult and frightening circumstances arise, we will be more likely to move in the best direction.

Christians today like to say that an event has been "bathed in prayer." I think this story gives us some insight into what that might mean. Nehemiah has spent about four months praying. But now that he is in front of the king, he still prayers. It was probably a very quick prayer, something like, "Lord, don't let me screw this up." Notice that it was effective.

Matthew records Jesus as saying, "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves" (10:16). It seems to me that Nehemiah offers us an example of what this might look like. We should learn from the tact and respect Nehemiah displayed. Pursuing God's purposes often involves dealing with unbelievers. Christians should always be honest and sincere; not pushy, critical, or whining.

But honesty does not always mean we need to say everything. Nehemiah was completely honest with Artaxerxes but did not mention that the city's name was Jerusalem. Further, he probably did not explain that God planned eventually to have a son of David rule the whole world from there. God's people are not to deceive, but they are to use good judgment about what information to share and when to share it. Shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

This story shows the depth of Nehemiah's commitment and how that shaped his thoughts, behavior, and speech. As he acted in faith, God brought good results, beyond what he could have foreseen.

What conclusions should we draw? Here's a tagline I came across: "Align your desires with God's intentions—amazing things will happen".

It's a great tagline for a VBS or Sunday School curriculum.

Its also very misleading. It doesn't say, but it certainly strongly suggests that if only we can align our desires with God's, everything will turn out great. This is the kind of theology that dominates Christian publishing.

Was Stephen not aligned with God's will in Acts 7 which ends with him dead by stoning? Was the apostle Paul not aligned with God when he was shipwrecked and lashed several times? Was Jesus not aligned with God's will when he was crucified?

All three were very much in line with God's will, yet bad things happened to them.

We shouldn't make big claims about God based on one passage. We need to read the whole Bible. Then we will see that God's purposes will be accomplished. Sometimes his people will suffer, even when they are fully within his will. But that is the true test of discipleship: are will willing to suffer for God?

In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart." I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" (Nehemiah 2:1-3)

In the days of the Persian Kings, there were some rules about emotions: namely, you didn't show them in front of the King. At least, not all of them. Happiness was ok. But sadness or anger or any other of the non-feel-good emotions were off limits. The King's palace was to be a place of joy and merriment where all were simply delighted to be in his presence, whether they actually were or not.

So when the King asked Nehemiah about the sadness on his face, Nehemiah was very much afraid! What would happen next? Punishment or a conversation? There was no way of knowing.

Nehemiah's prayer from chapter one had ended with a simple request, that God might grant him favor in the presence of this man (notice Nehemiah didn't call the Persian ruler a king when talking to the real King, God).

Would God, the true King, grant Nehemiah's request? There was no way of knowing.

But the time had come to find out. Nehemiah took the step of faith and trust by allowing the sadness to be seen on his face. But his faith and trust was not in the good relationship he had curried with the Persian king as a trusted royal official. His faith and trust was placed in God, the true King.

We know that's true because of what pastor Michael mentioned yesterday. Regardless of what the Persian king might or might not do, Nehemiah knew who he was and whose he was: and he was not ultimately at the mercy of the Persian king. Nehemiah was part of the people of God, the people that God had redeemed for Himself. It was with God that Nehemiah had to do. It was God who would grant success and favor or not. And it was Nehemiah's assurance of where he stood with God that granted him the boldness to defy the mask of courtly joy and seek action from the king of Persia.

In that way, the people of God have always acted strangely relative to the norms of the society in which we live. Because while we are people of our own culture and lands, we are also citizens of a different country. We claim allegiance to a different government. The kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ. It is with Him we have to do. But He assures us too, that because of his mighty work of redemption in Christ, we may know who we are and whose we are. We are God's people, the people of the King.

We don't have to choose an identity, earn one, act one, or buy one—our identity is in Christ, and cannot be lost. This gives us freedom to live fully with all of our humanity, emotions and all, and to face the challenges of our days with an odd sense of peace, even when we are afraid.

"They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name" (Nehemiah 1:10-11).

In Genesis 2, the Lord God says, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him" (2:18). And before that, in Genesis 1, we read, "So God created human beings in his own likeness. He created them to be like himself. He created them as male and female" (1:27).

Beginning with these two passages, God's people have long understood that we humans were created for community. That's why solitary confinement is considered a form of punishment and many people are voicing concern that it does way more harm than good. We also understand that we find our self-identity not in isolation but in the context of our community. There is evidence that the rise of anxiety in our culture is, at least in part, due to the lack of community shaping us. Individualism, apparently, does not form healthy people.

The church understands this. That's why we have always made efforts to include children and youth in church life. We all need community and we need that community to shape us and help us form our identity. Each us of also, whether young or old, needs to shape the identity of that community. Identity is not static, but constantly shifting due to the people and the circumstances.

Well, let me hasten to rephrase that. The core of our Christian identity does not change, but how we live that out and express it as congregations does change and hopefully mature. Nehemiah gives us the essence of our identity. Let me paraphrase, "we are God's servants and God's people, whom God redeemed by his great strength and his great hand."

Nehemiah was referring back to God delivering his people from Egypt. We, of course, refer back to Christ's death and resurrection. That was the great act of God's delivering us. Because of Christ, we belong to God. We are his servants.

But we have difficulty remembering this. On the one hand we are just forgetful. On the other hand, there is a constant barrage of information tempting us to see ourselves differently.

I love the prayers of God's people recorded in the Bible. They are more daring than most of our prayers. Did Nehemiah think that God had forgotten? "These are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed…" Did God need reminding? Not likely.

But we forget. We need the Christian community to remind us of who we are. That is one reason why we gather for weekly worship services. Its also why seminarians are constantly told, "Preach Jesus." One Sunday afternoon, an elderly parishioner called me with this, "everything you said this morning was true, but a Jewish rabbi could have preached that." He had nothing against Jewish Rabbi's; he was just reminding me, with all kindness, that I was called to preach Jesus. That was a long time ago, but I won't forget.

In these lonely days of COVID; in this week after a Thanksgiving celebrated with less people than normal, we need to remember that we belong to Jesus. And here is the wonder of it, we belong to our Heavenly Father, not because we decided, but because he decided. He wanted us enough that Jesus died for us. No. He will not forget.

This prayer also reminds us of what we do. We serve God. We serve him on Sundays. But we especially serve him in the days between Sundays, in our work and our play, among our family members and among our co-workers, employers and employees.

As you journey on, remember, "We are God's servants and God's people, whom he redeemed by his great strength and his mighty hand." He will hear our prayers.

A special, extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Matthew 20:1-16 from the New International Version of the Bible.

Discussion questions for this message can be found in the bonus content!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube once the live stream is up (10am, Sunday). Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca