Royalty and Ruin

God’s Servant Sees Through the Plot

Nehemiah understood the true intent of his counselor. “I perceived that God had not sent him at all,” he says, “but that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him ... that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report.” RR 232.2

More than one of Nehemiah’s “friends” who were secretly in league with his enemies seconded Shemaiah’s counsel. But Nehemiah answered fearlessly, “Should such a man as I flee? And who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in!” RR 232.3

Despite the enemies, in less than two months from Nehemiah’s arrival in Jerusalem the builders could walk on the walls and look down on their defeated and astonished foes. “When all our enemies heard of it,” Nehemiah wrote, “they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.” RR 232.4

Yet even this evidence of the Lord’s controlling hand was not enough to restrain rebellion and corrupted loyalties among the Israelites. “The nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came to them. For many in Judah were pledged to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah.” A Judean family had intermarried with the enemies of God, and the relationship had compromised their commitments. Others had done the same. These were a source of constant trouble. RR 232.5

The nobles of Judah who had married idol-worshipers and who had held traitorous correspondence with Tobiah now represented him as an able and perceptive man, someone with whom the Jews would do well to make an alliance. At the same time they betrayed Nehemiah’s plans to him. In this way they gave opportunity to misinterpret Nehemiah’s words and acts and to hinder his work. RR 232.6

Satan has always directed his assaults against those who advance the work of God. Though often repulsed, he renews his attacks with fresh vigor, using new approaches. But the attack we should fear the most is when he works secretly through the “friends” of God’s work. Open opposition may be fierce and cruel, but it carries far less danger to God’s cause than does the secret scheming of those who, while professing to serve God, are at heart the servants of Satan. RR 232.7

The prince of darkness will use every trick that he can suggest to persuade God’s servants to form an alliance with his agents. But, like Nehemiah, they should reply, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.” God’s workers must refuse to let threats or mockery or falsehood divert them from their work. Enemies are continually on their track. They must always “set a watch against them day and night.” Nehemiah 4:9. RR 233.1

As the time of the end draws near, Satan will use human agents to mock and condemn those who “build the wall.” The builders should work to defeat the plans of their adversaries, but they should not allow anything—not even friendship or sympathy—to call them from their task. Those who discourage their fellow workers by any unguarded act bring a stain on their own character that they cannot easily remove, and they place a serious obstacle in the way of their future usefulness. RR 233.2

“Those who forsake the law praise the wicked.” Proverbs 28:4. When those who are uniting with the world urge joining with those who have always opposed the cause of truth, we should shun them as firmly as did Nehemiah. We should resist such counsel resolutely. We must strongly withstand whatever influence would tend to unsettle the faith of God’s people in His guiding power. RR 233.3

The reason Nehemiah’s enemies failed to draw him into their power is that he relied so firmly on God. Evil finds little foothold in the life that has a noble aim, an absorbing purpose. God’s true servants work with a determination that will not fail, because they depend constantly on the throne of grace. God gives the Holy Spirit to help in every difficulty. If His people are watching the signs of His leading and are ready to cooperate, they will see mighty results. RR 233.4