Rebuild Your Life - Renounce Your Naysayers
- Paul Downie
- Jun 18
- 14 min read
Nehemiah 2:19-20 NIV
[19] 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?” [20] 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.”
Every sign of progress or change is often met by people who oppose it.
Sometimes they have a point. Sometimes their input is needed to make sure the change is the right one.
Other times it’s wrong. Often it’s very wrong.
I’ve even seen situations when it was downright idiotic, without any semblance of reality to it.
In my last year as a missionary, my team was involved in preparing young people for missions and outreach work in their churches. One young man was causing a lot of issues in the training sessions. He was loud, opinionated and stubborn. He argued every step of the way.
One thing that particularly inflamed him was... puppetry.
Now, I have no idea why puppets were such a problem for him. I know of no church, even in highly conservative Romania, where puppets were considered as sinful.
But for this young man, they were.
I have to say, my colleagues showed patience beyond what I could have. They allowed him to sit out the class while they taught everyone else puppetry: how to hold them, how to set up the screen so the kids didn’t see the puppeteers, how to operate the puppets, and so on.
Still this stubborn lad sat out the class.
That weekend, the whole class took part in an outreach in a local village using the puppets.
The puppeteers did a grand job explaining the Gospel using their puppets.
It was then that the stubborn young man had an epiphany.
The children were quizzed on the content of the puppet show. They remembered everything: every last bit of the Gospel message.
The stubborn young man was dumbfounded. He was stunned that the Gospel message had been understood so clearly.
From that moment on, he became the most enthusiastic proponent of puppetry in children’s evangelism.
Some people come across as all stubbornness and bluster, but when you win them over, they are your biggest supporters. They just need to be convinced.
Others, like those who opposed Nehemiah, were never going to agree with him. They flat out opposed his vision from the off and were never going to agree with it.
It is these people we will examine more closely in this post and the next one: not just who they are, but what they did and how Nehemiah counteracted it.
Before we begin, we need to reiterate again that these people were not going to be open to be convinced. They opposed the rebuilding of the wall because they saw it as a zero sum game: if the Jews rose, then they believed they would fall. Both could not succeed together.
These are not just constructive critics or even NIMBYs. These are more like determined saboteurs, who are doing all they can to undermine the restoration of Jerusalem.
They are not just common garden naysayers. They are way worse than that.
But we can learn vital principles on how to deal with people whose minds cannot be changed and whose hearts cannot persuaded.
Let’s look at the first weapon in their arsenal, that of Derision.
Derision
Nehemiah 2:19 NIV
[19] But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us.
There is a type of mocking or derision that is utterly necessary and, indeed, part of the exercising of democratic rights. That mocking comes from a position of knowledge, where the satirist who is ‘in the know’ is mocking someone in power who has taken a decision seemingly in ignorance, or perhaps with corrupt intentions. Satirical publishers such as ‘Private Eye’ in the UK or ‘The Onion’ in the US, while their content often goes beyond what we Christians would call decent, fulfil this role.
However, there is a form of mocking that comes from a position of ignorance where someone is mocking someone who is ‘in the know’ because they want to manipulate them and cannot convince them through intellectual means because their argument is weak or non-existent. So instead they subject them to cruel, heartless taunts in order to communicate that who they are or what they are doing is unacceptable.
Most Christian young people will face this at some point in their lives.
Even more so when our culture takes a decision to turn away from Scriptural norms.
When I was at school, I lived in a society strongly divided along sectarian lines. So when I refused to be a part of it and said I was ‘Baptist’ rather than Protestant or Catholic, I was mocked.
When I took a stand against sex outside of marriage, I was mocked.
Do you see how it works?
No attempt to understand. No desire to understand. Fear of the unknown.
So rather than dealing with it, people mock.
God has a lot to say about such people:
Psalms 1:1 NIV
[1] Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,
Proverbs 9:7-9 NIV
[7] Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults; whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse. [8] Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you. [9] Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.
2 Peter 3:3 NIV
[3] Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
Why should we not spend our time around such people?
Because they are wilfully ignorant and offer no solutions to anything – they just promote themselves by trying be funny.
In short, they are pathetic, weak bullies.
I know the old adage to children being bullied at school that ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me’ just isn’t true. I know that the constant barrage of teasing and mocking and name-calling is hurtful. I know that children with no social graces and a head full of ignorance can be extraordinarily hurtful.
I know all that from first hand experience.
I also know that adults whose heads are empty often have mouths that are never done talking. I know that from first hand experience.
But what we see here, and will continue to see, is that Nehemiah and his workers may have been affected by this nonsense, but their rebellion is simply in keeping on working. They use the frustration to fuel the work.
That is the very best reaction.
So yes, mocking will come because we follow Jesus. Jesus Himself said as much:
John 15:18-21 NIV
[18] “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. [19] If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. [20] Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. [21] They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.
And do you know something? It happened:
Mark 15:31-32 NIV
[31] In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! [32] Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
So it should come as no surprise at all when we are mocked. However, we should use the energy from the frustration and the rage at being mocked for doing good to make us more determined to follow Jesus.
Apart from derision, we also see that Nehemiah’s enemies also resorted to Accusation.
Accusation
Nehemiah 2:19 NIV
[19] 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?”
Nehemiah clearly could not complete this grand project on his own. He needed help.
The whole purpose of mocking the efforts of the people working with Nehemiah was to make them think twice about it and want to step back. It was designed to erode his support from the people.
This accusation, however, is much more serious, and potentially more effective. It is designed to erode his support from the king.
Remember: Nehemiah has gone to Jerusalem with a mandate from the king and with resources from the king. Openly defying Nehemiah is to openly defy the king.
But this accusation is much more insidious.
As we saw earlier, Jerusalem was a city known for sedition, plotting and rebelling against its overlords (2 Kings 24:1; Ezra 4:12-16). Nehemiah’s building project was to restore Jerusalem’s formidable defences.
The accusation was completely false, but, like the worst of lies, it had a ring of credibility about it.
In today’s super-heated echo chamber, all sorts of accusations are made against all sorts of people. Most are nonsense and only believed by the most gullible and ill-informed.
These we can ignore. They are just background noise.
King Solomon said as much:
Proverbs 26:4-5 NIV
[4] Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him. [5] Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.
In other words, a sign of wisdom is showing when it’s better to let a fool witter on and look foolish, or when it’s better to intervene and shut down their foolishness.
Nehemiah shows great wisdom here. He recognises that this entirely false accusation must receive a response. It questions his relationship with the king. It could potentially have an effect on the mandate he possesses.
And so he responds. He has faced derision and accusation. Now he responds with Determination.
Determination
Nehemiah 2:20 NIV
[20] 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.”
The Irish pop band Boyzone once sung a song called ‘It’s Only Words’. A good friend of ours used to put some quite interesting content online and then add at the bottom ‘I’m just saying’. When I was growing up, it was the fashion to say something heartlessly cruel and demeaning and then, as the target of your bullying burst into tears, callously tell them that you were only joking.
None of that is right.
Proverbs 26:18-19 NIV
[18] Like a maniac shooting flaming arrows of death [19] is one who deceives their neighbor and says, “I was only joking!”
Proverbs 21:23 NIV
[23] Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.
Luke 6:43-45 NIV
[43] “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. [44] Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. [45] A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Our mouth is controlled by our brain. We don’t ‘just say’ anything.
Our words count.
But our mouth is often so hard to control, which is why James says this:
James 3:2 NIV
[2] We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
What we say is important.
Which is why Nehemiah cannot let the derision and accusation go without a response. He has to say something.
And boy, does he say something!
His reply speaks of authority – who it was who authorised and supported the work, and identity – who it is who should carry it out. This leads to exclusivity – who will not be a part of this glorious vision. The meaning of his words could not be missed. They are sharp, concise and to the point.
But we must understand them correctly.
Firstly, let’s look at authority.
Nehemiah had arrived in Jerusalem with a mandate and resources from the king (Nehemiah 2:6, 9). That mandate was clear that he was the king’s representative and should therefore be given safe passage.
Nehemiah perceived – correctly – that the baseless allegations against him were designed to undermine that authority and potentially have him removed back to Persia, or even killed.
So he gives them short shrift.
However, he states where his real mandate comes from, and it isn’t the king:
It is God Himself.
Now, that is a very bold statement. He believes that He is on a Heavenly mission and that this mission will not fail because God is with them.
You too are on a Heavenly mission. When you seek to become like Christ, you are doing God’s will:
Romans 8:28-29 NIV
[28] And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. [29] For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
You will succeed in this. Probably not here. Definitely in Heaven. But you will succeed.
Because you are doing God’s will.
Secondly, identity, in that the Jews in Jerusalem were the servants of God.
The word that is used here emphasises not only that Jews served God, but that they worshipped Him. Their relationship with God was the differentiating factor between them and their enemies. It was not their ethnicity. It was not their nationality.
It was their God.
And that was always the way. It was always God and His presence that set them apart:
Exodus 33:15-16 NIV
[15] Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. [16] How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
The walls had not yet been built. Yet at the centre of that war-ravaged city, one building that had been restored stood which told the world who they were and set them apart from the rest of the world:
The Temple.
The place where God was worshipped.
No matter the challenge you face, no matter how ruined your life is, no matter how desperate your situation seems, there is something you can do that will assure you that one day you will recover.
Do you know what it is?
Worship God. Give Him His place as Lord of your life.
That will make the difference.
Lastly, we see that this led to Exclusivity.
Nehemiah 2:20 NIV
[20] 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.”
This is not the first time the post-exile occupants did this to their enemies. We see the same thing happening in Ezra:
Ezra 4:3 NIV
[3] But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.”
Nowadays, this might seem a little bigoted and counter-productive. After all, rebuilding both the Temple and the city walls were massive jobs. Surely the Jews needed all the help they could get.
Why turn it away?
This is where it becomes really important to understand who it is that wants to help and why they want to help.
The decisions made by both the first settlers in Jerusalem under Zerubabel and by Nehemiah were not done out of a desire for racial purity, but religious purity. All of these groups (the early Samaritans, the Moabites, Ammonites and Arabs) were idolaters. They were also seeking to keep Jerusalem down. It was not in their interests to allow it to rise.
The reason for this exclusivity was firstly because it has been commanded by God (Deuteronomy 23:3-6), secondly because they did not worship God and thirdly because their intentions were not pure.
It was clear that hese people and the Jews would be thoroughly uneasy bedfellows.
Both Nehemiah and Ezra did the right thing to cut them off.
We rarely come across as deep seated and ancient a rivalry as Nehemiah and his fellow Jews did. That much should be clear.
There are also situations when people who are not our natural supporters either ally themselves to us and support what we are seeking to achieve or don’t oppose it in any way.
These people should treated as ‘friendlies’, according to Jesus:
Luke 9:49-50 NIV
[49] “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.” [50] “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”
However, when someone’s intentions are concealed, opaque or downright in opposition to ours, when their wishes are clearly to lead us away from Jesus, when they are seeking to use power plays to control us then, no matter who they claim to be, they are our enemies and it’s time to cut bait (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).
The opposition that Ezra and Nehemiah faced might surprise us. We might even, as many likely do, blame them for stirring up opposition by being so contrarian.
But the reality is that the opposition was there even before they arrived. They did nothing to stir it up. They simply headed off risk when it arose, and kept right on doing God’s will regardless.
And for that, they should be commended.
Conclusion
2 Timothy 3:12-13 NIV
[12] In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, [13] while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
Perhaps this verse surprises you.
It doesn’t surprise me.
You see, the Bible presents our life as a battle between two polar opposites: darkness and light, the flesh and the Spirit, good and evil, God and the devil.
Human beings are generally caught in the middle, or vacillate between the two.
Some find themselves attracted to one of those poles. The vast majority do their best to try to stay in the middle ground, but they cannot.
(Please note that I am not associating either with a political group. It is wrong and completely harmful to do so. Since no humans are perfect, every political movement is wrong somewhere. We need to be aware of that.)
We should not be at all surprised then at negative reactions should we decide to step out of the middle ground and head towards the right side. People will, in the words of the old show tune from ‘Guys and Dolls’, tell us to ‘Sit Down, You’re Rocking The Boat’.
Only, unlike in the show tune, their boat isn’t bound for glory.
Doing things God’s way is bound to upset some people. We shouldn’t go out of our way to do upset them – that’s completely against the very essence of what it means to be a Christian – but the way we live will likely annoy someone, particularly nowadays, when Western culture has largely turned its back on Biblical values.
Rebuilding our life God’s way is good. In fact, it is excellent. It is what we were created to do. There is nothing better. It is absolutely what is best for us. All the time. No question.
But we should never expect everyone to agree with us. Doing what’s right in God’s eyes will always ‘rock the boat’ when the people around us are concentrating on doing what’s right in their eyes.
Opposition, and even persecution, should not be sought, but should be expected.
In my next post, we will have a look specifically at Nehemiah’s reactions in detail to see how we should react when it happens to us. However, what we see here is that Nehemiah received derision, as his enemies mocked him and the people of the Lord for doing what they had to do, they subjected him to outright false accusation, but this did not defeat him.
In fact, it gave him fresh determination to complete his mission.
There are many today who would like to muzzle the church and prevent us from carrying out our God-given mission. There are many who seek to turn us back into someone they can manipulate and control.
But if we take our stand like Nehemiah in the knowledge that we will be successful, there is little they can do to stop us.
Because we are on the Lord’s side. And He will finish His work (Philippians 1:3-6).
Prayer
Lord Jesus, opposition from other people, and especially from those closest to me, is painful and discouraging. Help me to be strong and determined like Nehemiah and to not let these people drag me down. I know that You will finish the work You began in me. Amen.
Questions
Is it still true that all who want to live a godly life will be persecuted? Why? Who will persecute them?
What two techniques did Nehemiah’s opponents use to try to discourage him? Why didn’t they work?
Is the completion of the work God is doing in us always guaranteed? How does this make you feel?
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