Enemy at the Gates
Nehemiah 4:1-23
Have you ever started something only to then find yourself overwhelmed by the task? Maybe it made perfect sense at the beginning. You knew it was necessary. You were convinced then end result would be worth all the hassle. You were even prepared for it to be hard, but this hard..?  There’s always a moment when a challenge (if it is a genuine challenge) seems too overwhelming; when a voice whispers in your head, throw in the towel. Give up. Surrender. What were you thinking? Did you really think you could pull this off? 
2,500 years ago, that’s where the people of Jerusalem had got to. And all this by just Chapter Four.
After their period of forced Exile, the City was vulnerable, the walls were breached, the gates destroyed, and “out there” powerful forces were circling – enemies at the gate. One of those Enemies at the Gate was Sanballat, a Samaritan leader in modern day Iran. The last thing he wanted was a confident, effective Jerusalem. So long as the people sat, polarised by the broken walls, rumble, and fear of “out there”, Sanballat need do nothing. The City, and its future, would remain vulnerable.
But, accepting their situation wasn’t going to improve by doing nothing, the people of Jerusalem had ‘cracked on’.
Sanballat’s first tactic was to ridicule them. This wasn’t just a fun bit of banter, it had an edge. It was designed to dig, to pull down, belittle and undermine the people of Jerusalem. Banter is only ‘banter’ when it’s said with genuine affection and respect, and in relationship. It’s only ‘bants’ when it leaves the recipient feeling better about themselves, more valued, more loved. If the only person who’s left feeling better about themselves is the one making the comments, then it’s not banter – it’s bullying. And Sanballat was a bully.
Sanballat belittled them. He called them feeble. He undermined their ability to pull this off.  He had a ‘dig’ at their plan, methodology, schedule. He underlined the scale of the challenge – these heaps of burned rubble. His motive was to throw the people of Jerusalem off the task of re-building, repairing; to take their focus off their hope in God and on to the hopelessness of their situation. 
Sanballat even said, will you ever be able to get back to worship?  The answer, of course, was that they hadn’t ever stopped.  Their city, their temple, their building might have been closed, but their mission and ministry had continued. It had just been a bit different. Sound familiar? That’s been the same for us too over this past 14 months. So, remember, in Chapter 3, the first task was for the priests to repair the Sheep Gate so worship could continue - despite the banging, sawing.
Nehemiah didn’t retaliate, lash out. Instead, he took it to God. In verse 4: “Hear us, O our God, for we are despised.”  He then went on to pray a very heart-felt, raw, unrefined prayer: “Turn their insults back on their own heads.” Even, 	“Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity.” 
Today, with Christ’s example of forgiveness and grace, we might have preferred Nehemiah had prayed a less blunt, pointed prayer.  But that’s easy to say when we’re not in ‘the moment’. Maybe, you’re in a ‘moment’ – and polished, refined prayers just don’t cut it.  Maybe you’re not religious but, faced with such an overwhelming, dreadful situation, there’s something within you that wants to call out, shout out… The Bible, the Psalms are full of such raw moments.
When we’re ridiculed or belittled, let’s ‘rise up and build’. The people responded ‘with all their heart’ and rebuilt the wall to half height.
This only made the Enemy at the Gates even more determined, even more angry. And we shouldn’t be surprised. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Like a roaring lion. But Job 4:10 reassures us, “The lions may roar and growl, yet the teeth of the great lions are broken.” Picture the Enemy at the Gates roaring but with no teeth – all roar but no bite.
The people were tired. The Message puts verse 10 like this:  “Soon word was going around in Judah, The builders are pooped, the rubbish piles up; We’re in over our heads, we can’t build this wall.”  Maybe Sanballat was right? The task ahead was huge.  What the people of Jerusalem were starting to see saw was rubble, bricks – and lots of them.  Nehemiah didn’t see bricks, he saw a wall. What are you seeing, bricks or a wall? A problem or a solution?
Even Verse 12, “Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”  We all know someone who lives under their own rain cloud. They bring down the atmosphere and the faith in the room with their constant stream of negativity and pessimism.  And if it was only their moany, whiny voice we listened to, then they’d eventually be proved right! A self-fulfilling prophecy. The safest thing is always to do nothing – to keep things just as they are. Except, of course, that plays into the hands of the Enemy at the Gates.
Once again, Nehemiah brought leadership. He assessed the risks and called the people together. Verse 14: “Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” This was as much about protecting the future as the present. Not just their immediate needs, but their children’s future, and their children’s children’s future. In other words, think of the grandchildren. 
On a personal level, “fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your partner, your home..” Has the Enemy at the Gate ridiculed your example, belittled your faith, spoken lies that it’s inevitable that young people will drift from the faith… Don’t buy into the negativity of the Enemy of the Gate. Fight for your family, your household. The Enemy at the Gate used also sorts to stop the people of Jerusalem: ridicule, lies, anger, intimidation, violence… 
Nehemiah and the people were alert, wise to the threat. Through their faith and works, they pressed on. Verse 20: “Our God will fight for us!” The Enemy at the Gate didn’t go away. But their focus was not on the wall, not the bricks, on God, not the Enemy at the Gates.
For sure, we are in a spiritual battle, a battle between good and evil. But, we must remember, as Paul says in Ephesians 6:12:
“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” 
We fight, not against each other, but against at the Enemy at the Gated – the spiritual forces that seek to thwart the things of God.
The Enemy created an unholy alliance against the people of Jerusalem. An assortment of enemies, who’s only shared connection was their individual desire to stop the rebuilding, the strengthening of Jerusalem.
First the Enemy mocked them. Then, when that didn’t work, the Enemy showed his anger. And when that didn’t work, the Enemy threatened them. 

                					DannyBrierley@ChesterRoadBaptist.org.uk