The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1917-11-29

hlter ms arrival he spent three davs
III looking over the work; Their no
tolu the priests and other leaders his
planS. enthusiasm was awakened. nil
classes were aroused, the work of Tho
building Of the wall Of the city wos
apportioned among the people, and
soon half Of the wall was complcted
Tor the people had n mind to work"
-. The Wrath Of the Enemy, Wv. 10.
me progress Of the work kept up
the anger of Sanballat the Toronto
ana his friends who formed IN alli-
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 a Christian Is out Of the Will
or God when opposition is felt. The
enemy VIII always be on hand to try
70 hlnuer whenever a real work for
Gou is going forward. Dead formal
christianity runs smoothly and with
deadly mOnOtOny md Satan lets It
alone, but as soon as some results of
real work are seen, opposition Is Mt
once felt. Thus it was when Cod
sent his Son into the world. md an
1t has been in every movement for
God In the church, and so IT will he
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.
u. Internal Opposition, w. 1914.
Snnballat and his friends were not
the only ones Nehemiah had to con-
tend with. Among those that worked
on n wall were some STRIKERS and
grumblers. They had become discour-
aged In the work and began to say
they could complete 1t ". 10Y.
If Satan falls to hinder the work
from the outside, he will attempt to
Great dissatisfaction on the inside.
Internal confusion Of the church Is
more to be dreaded than open opposl-
ton from n known enemy. Dissension
and confusion in the church can usu-
ally be traced to workers becoming dis
S'"hNSSN. IA plOl Vi TIE enemy TO
make II surprise attack was dis
covered by the Jews who lived out
side the city. They reported it not
once. hat ten times. with the sugges-
ton that the work on the wall be
stopped, and safety sought by leav-
ing n 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 tho workers. But the Bible Is:
full of exhortations for Christians to-
fear not" Gould these workers. on
the walls Of Jerusalem have. seen the
unseen, 1t 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 MS nothing. q Cor. 1913; Rom.
8:31; Phil. 4:13). Nehemiah Mt once
proceeded to allay the fears (13,
14). Armed forces were arranged
about the walls to guard against the
reported surprise attack. The wnrri-
orS were placed so that in the event
Of battle they would be protecting
their own particular families. Then
Nehemiah made a short speech Of en-
courngcmcnt to the people, the heart
OF which was Remember the Lord
which Is great and terrible" Remem-
bcring him would drive the fear away.
They who are on the Lords side are
already victOrs even before the bat
tic has begun. Someone said to q
great general before q certain bat
tie began: "I hope the Lord Is on our
,;l,, Ubn norlv yync. ct fr,,ot 1.r
are on the Lords side" When this is
true, there need be no fear whether
the enemies be few or many. Nchc-
miah then cxhorted them to fight for
their families and their homes. This
two-f0ld secret Of the victory Is pre-
scented to us over and over In this book
Of Nehemiah, and nowhere is so prom
incnt as In this lesson. Victory for
The Christian depends on two things:
We must trust in the Lord as though
nll depended on him, and VIC must
work and fight as though all depended
on us. This is the secret Of the sue
cess Of Nehemiah.
III. The Progress Of the Work, wv.
1920. The speech of Nehemiah hay
ing quictcd the fears Of the people and
the enemy having heard that their
plans were known n that God had
brought their counsel to nought, all
tho people returned to the work with
yenewcd enthusiasm and purpose (15).
There was n Encouragement Of forces
16-21). Half Of the people worked;
half. full armed, stood guard. A trum-
peter was beside Nehemiah. 50 that Mt
the first alarm from outside all the
wnrEc,o op1 warriors Gould NO ,ollo1