The Yale expositor., 1917-11-29

GOLDEN TEXT-The Lord is my
Helper and / will not fear what man
shall DO unto me-Hebrews 1876.
The lesson of November Is spoke OF
Nehemiah journeying to Jerusalem.
After his arrival he spent three days
In looking over the work; then he
told the priests and other leaders his
plans. Enthusiasm was awakened, all
classes were aroused, the work Of the
building of the wall of the city was
apportioned among the people, and
soon half Of the wall was completed
"for the people had mind to work"
I. The Wrath Of the Enemy, w. 10.
The progress of the work kept up
the anger of Sanballat the Toronto
and HIS friends who formed an ALI
ance to hinder the wall being built
wv. z, 81. When God begins to work
through his people, Satan is aroused
and tries to interfere. 1t is no sign
that Caristian is out of the will
Of God when opposition is felt. The
enemy will always be on hand to try
to hinder whenever real work for
God Is going forward. Dead formal
Christianity runs smoothly and with
deadly mOnotony and Satan lets 1t
alone, but as soon as some results or
real work are seen, opposition is at
once felt. Thus 1t was when God
sent his Son into the world, and so
1t has been in every movement for
God In the church, and so it will be
in the individual Christian life. From
the next verse (9) we would almost
think that Nehemiah had heard our
Lords injunction to swatch and pray"
Many do much watching and fail;
many do much praying and fail; but
none ever turns to watching and pray
ing without finding victory. Prayer
alone means sloth; watching alone
means pride; but watching and pray
ing victory.
II. Internal Opposition, Wv. 1914
Sanbalat and his friends were not
the only ones Nehemiah had to con-
tend with. Among those that worked
on the wall were some shirkers and
grumblers. They had become discour-
aged In the work and began to say
they could never complete 1t ". 1O)-
If Satan fails to hinder the work
from the outside, he will attempt to
create dissatisfaction on the inside.
Internal confusion Of the church is
more to be dreaded than open opposi-
ton from known enemy. Dissension
and confusion in the church can usu-
ally be traced to workers becoming dis
couraged. The plot of the enemy to
make surprise attack was dis
covered by the Jews who lived out
side the city. They reported 1t not
once, but ten times, with the sugges-
ton that the work on the wall be
stopped, and safety sought by leav-
ing the city altogether wv. IL, 12).
When the enemy's open opposition
fails and encouragement has been
tried, an attempt is made to bring fear
upon the workers. But the Bible is
full of exhortations for Christians to
"fear not" Could these workers on
the walls of Jerusalem have seen the
unseen. IL would have made little diff
ferences to them whether the enemies
were numbered by tens or thousands,
and could Christians today realize that
God is for them, all opposition would
be as nothing. q Cor. 10:13; Rom.
8 :31; Phil. 4:13). Nehemiah at once
proceeded to allay the fears (13,
14). Armed forces we're arranged
about the walls to guard against the
reported surprise attack. The warri-
ors were placed so that in the event
Of battle they would he protecting
their own particular families. Then
Nehemiah made short speech of en-
enlargement to the people, the heart
Of which was Remember the Lord
which is great and terrible" Remem-
bering him would drive the fear away.
They who are on the Lords side are
already victors even before the bat
tie has begun. Someone said to a
great general before certain bat
tie began: 81 hope the Lord is on our
side" The reply was: 81 trust we
are on the Lords side" When this Is
true, there need be no fear whether
the enemies be few or many. Nehe-
miah then exhorted them to fight for
their families and their homes. This
two-fold secret of the victory is pre-
sented to us over and over in this book
of Nehemiah, and nowhere is so prom
inent as in this lesson. Victory for
the Christian depends on two things:
We must trust In the Lord as though
all depended on him, and we must
work and fight as though all depended
on us. This Is the secret of the sue
cess of Nehemiah.
~. The Progress Of the Work, wv.
15-21). The speech of Nehemiah hav-
ing quoted the fears of the people and
the enemy having heard that their
plans were known and that God had
brought their counsel to nought, all
the people returned to the work with
venewed enthusiasm and purpose Q5).
There wa. a Encouragement Of forces
t16-21). Half Of the people worked;
half f,7lI armed otOod ouQrd frIm-