Fear of Man or Fear of God?

Nehemiah  6-7 Principle #1 When you are in leadership, there will be opposition. Principle #2 Fear is our biggest enemy. Principle #3 Believers need discernment. Nehemiah had learned all three as he served the pagan king. He successfully rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem because he honed those skills in his service to the king.  God uses any time we serve to learn the skills we need for future kingdom work.

Opposition comes from outside as well as inside. When Satan cannot achieve from the outside, he turns to the inside where he expects we will cave because others are not the apparent enemy; they are part of the holy huddle community. So, he turns to his arsenal of the deadly d’s of distraction, discredit, and deception, but we have a more significant “d,” in our arsenal and that is discernment. Nehemiah knew he had the king’s directives and permission. As a man of integrity, Nehemiah would not be distracted or discouraged from the work. If he caved to their requests, his integrity and place before the king and outside before the workers would be forever changed.

 Nehemiah knew that the truth of the opposition: “there is no fear of God before their eyes” [Rom 3:18]. Instead, he trusted in the words of  Ps 118:6 “The Lord is on my side; I am not afraid!”   Is this true of “me” and “you?”