In 1787 the young MP William Wilberforce first proposed the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade in the UK parliament. Over the next twenty years he would submit this same bill fourteen times. On each of the first thirteen times the bill was rejected and Wilberforce was subjected to vitriolic opposition, both to his character and his cause. A famous example of this opposition came in April 1791, when the (ornately-named) Colonel Banastre Tarleton described the horrendous conditions of slave ships as ‘hideous phantoms of imaginary woe’ and ‘descriptive flights of a towering imagination.’ Eventually, in 1807, the bill passed, and his biographer notes the extraordinary atmosphere in the House of Commons, as ‘quite out of order, three hurrahs echoed and echoed while he sat, head bowed, tears streaming down his face.’
Most great tasks for the kingdom of God will face opposition. It is notable how this opposition develops to Nehemiah’s remarkable work: from initial anger (2:10) to accusations of disloyalty (2:19) and now to outright ridicule: (v2) ‘What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble – burned as they are?’
We’ll see tomorrow how the final stage of this growing opposition was actual physical threat; today, though, we’ll focus on the power of words, and particularly scorn, as a tool of discouragement. Just as with Wilberforce, notice how the verbal opposition attacked both their character (‘feeble’) and their cause (‘heaps of rubble’).
These voices were from actual opponents; however, it’s worth observing that for many of us, such voices come from within. We question whether we are up to the task; whether we have the resources to manage it; whether we will fail and bring shame upon ourselves and perhaps more importantly, upon God.
Nehemiah’s approach was twofold: first he prayed: (v4) ‘Hear us, our God for we are despised.’ In the light of the New Testament, we may not be able quite to echo the sentiments of this particular prayer, but the key point is that Nehemiah asked God to intervene on their behalf. We are not to be agents of judgement; we leave that to God, and trust both our protection and prevailing to Him.
Second, to prevent the people getting discouraged, he set an achievable target, something to aim for as a first stage: ‘So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height.’ The result was encouraging: ‘the people worked with all their heart.’
When we face voices of opposition, either within or without, it’s easy to be discouraged. Today, let’s take heart from Nehemiah’s example, asking God to uphold us, and setting ourselves a manageable target. Great buildings are built, one brick at a time.