Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1917-11-30

LESSON rExT-Nehemiah 4:7-21.
GOLDCN TExT-The Lord Is my
Helper and will not fear what man
snail DO INTO me.-Hebrews 1876.
The lesSn of November IS spoke Of
Nehemiah journeying to Jerusalem.
After his arrival he spent three days
m looking over the work; then he
told the Priests and other leaders his
plans. Enthusiasm was awakened, all
classes Were sroused, the work Of the
building ,or thu wall OF the city was
apportioaed ansng the people, and
soon half Of the wall was completed
Tor the people had mind to work"
J. The Wrath Of the Enemy, wv. TO.
Inc progress Of the work kept up
the anger Ct Sanballat the Toronto
ana ms frhnds who formed an alli-
ance to hiider the wall being built
WV. z, ~. When God begins to work
tnrougn MS people,I Satan is aroused
anu tries iSdferfere. 1t Is no sign
mat Cnr lstian is out of the will
VI uod "nen opposition is felt. The
enemy VIII always be on hand to try
ny hinuer Whenever a real work for
pou as eoiitg forward. Dead formal
yuf.suahity runs smoothly and with
vauly ohotony and Satan let's 1t
J 4vne. puf as soon as some results of
orx are seen, opposition is at
Thus 1t was when God
hts Son into the world, and so
~ Been IN every movement for
y m the church, and so 1t will be
lie Individual Christian life. From
~ next verse (9) we would almost
! link that Nehemiah had heard our
sard's Injunction to swatch and pray"
Iany do much watching and fail;
iany do much praying and fail; but
| ,one ever turns to watching and pray
q without finding victory. Prayer
lone means sloth; watching alone
means pride; but watching and pray
Ing victory.
II. Internal Opposition, w. 1914.
Sanballat 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 ". 10).
II 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 a surprise attack was dis
covered by the Jews who lived out
side the city. They reported it 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, it would have made little diff
were numbered by tens or thousands,
and could Christians today realize that
God is for them, all opposition would
be as nothing. Il Cor. 10:13; Rom.
S:31; Phil. A :13). Nehemiah at once
proceeded to allay the fears (13,
14). Armed forces were 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 be protecting
their own particular families. Then
Nehemiah made a short speech of en-
couragement 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
great general before certain bat
tie began: II hope the Lord is on our
side" The reply was: II 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 L. the secret Of the sue
cess of Nehemiah.
III. The Progress Of the Work, wv.
1921. The speech of Nehemiah hav-
Ing quieted 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
posn oxuod optt,ryoi an, and v,s,rx,eco f1Sl