WEDNESDAY, 3 February, 2021 “Ridicule”

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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

Have you ever experienced the pain and power of RIDICULE? Perhaps a bully on the school playground, or maybe someone trying to shame you on social media? Maybe it was office gossip or a business competitor spreading lies about you. Sadly ridicule, slander, malice is now mainstream and a pandemic of destruction in the world in which we live. So how do you respond when ridicule, especially public ridicule is poured out on you?

Yesterday we walked through Nehemiah chapter 3 and the power of teamwork as Mr. Nehemiah recounted for us the names of many people who worked shoulder to shoulder to start rebuilding the broken down city walls of Jerusalem. Are you doing life alone or are you part of a group of God honoring friends encouraging each other as we face the challenges of life in 2021?

I wonder if you’ve ever been part of a life saving teamwork movement? For several years my wife Dawn and I lived in Fargo, North Dakota. The Red River winds its way alongside Fargo, and you may not know this but the Red is a north flowing river, thus in the spring it is still frozen up north while it thaws down south, and guess what happens? Folks who live in Fargo or it’s sister city across the river, Moorhead, MN, have learned the power of teamwork in sandbagging their properties to protect them from the annual spring ‘rising Red flood’. All it takes is one gap in the sandbag wall, and entire neighborhoods can be flooded, homes destroyed, even lives lost.

It must have been a remarkable sight in 445bc as hundreds of people were working together clearing the rubble of the broken down Jerusalem wall and with great effort, beginning to rebuild. But then came ridicule. Listen to Nehemiah’s report in Nehemiah chapter 4: “When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, ‘What are these feeble Jews doing…Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble…?” (Nehemiah 4:1,2)

Sanballat was evidently the governor of the region of Samaria, immediately to the north of Jerusalem. You’ll remember Samaria had been the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel, from the days of Israel’s civil war following King Solomon, when Israel divided into two kingdoms, until Samaria was destroyed by the conquering Assyrian army in 722bc.

I wonder if you remember that the king of Assyria had taken away thousands of Jews from Samaria as captives and replaced them with captives he had taken from other lands, thus the people now living in and around rebuilt Samaria 300 years later, were the mixed races of peoples from many nations. Sanballat, their leader. was strongly opposed to anything that would help the Jews rebuild Jerusalem or regain their land which had been promised by God to the descendants of Abraham more than 1500 years before! You’ll find that promise in Genesis 13:14-17.

Sanballat wasn’t alone in his ridicule. The record says: “Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at Sanballat’s side, said, ‘What they are building is so weak, even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!” One voice of ridicule, especially from a powerful or popular person inflicts great pain, but when that one powerful voice is joined by others oh my, it can destroy a person, a family, a business, a church, even a movement of good work and progress.

In our day, with the power of internet social media, they call it ‘assault going viral’ and horrifically did you know that is now causing hundreds of suicides around the world, as people go to the extreme to escape public ridicule, and they end their lives! What is your response my friends, when you feel ridicule aimed at you?

Nehemiah was appalled but not intimidated. He was leading a movement! He was living a God given assignment, leading people in accomplishing a God given vision for rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem Nehemiah understood there will ALWAYS be people opposed to God, God’s Truth, God’s people and God’s vision. Do you understand that my friends? Do you see those in your city, maybe even your extended family and friends, and probably in the governmental leadership of your country? Do you see RIDICULE is one of their powerful tactics? And what is your response to ridicule aimed at you because you are a follower of Jesus Christ?

Look at Nehemiah’s response my friends, and let’s take encouragement from Nehemiah’s example. Nehemiah looked up, lifted up his heart, hands and voice to God and he prayed, I believe out loud, so the workers could hear him: “Hear us, O God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads…for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.” (Nehemiah 4:4,5) My friends, do we understand the power of prayer? And can we both pray and work at the same time? Look what they did: “So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.”

Ridicule is powerless when the people being ridiculed keep their hearts focused on the Almighty God who has commissioned them to do His work! I’ve seen it all over the world as I’ve had the privilege of visiting God’s people in Asia, Africa, Central Asia, Europe and the Islands. You know what I’ve discovered? The deeper God’s people have rooted their lives in God’s Word, the more their hearts are filled with worship of Holy, Almighty God, the more their eyes are fixed on whatever vision God has given them, the more they are certain the Holy Spirit of God is alive and empowering them. . .THEN the more resistant and victorious they are over ridicule and other such tactics of the dark kingdom.

These people of God hold tightly to this truth: “…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…Consider Him (Jesus) who endured such opposition, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:1,2,3)

Sadly, I can confidently say that opposition against Christians all around the world, especially in America, will intensify in 2021. Ridicule will become rampant, let’s be ready. Build your defenses now my friends, not by building a list of attorneys to defend you in court, but by deeply rooting your life in God’s Truth. I advise you to start collecting a long list of those parts of Scripture which embolden you and encourage you. Take steps to strengthen your personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and nurture your worship and prayer relationship with Almighty, Holy God. Also, let’s regularly look closely to see if anything of the evil darkness is finding a foothold in our lives and let’s seek frequent revival of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives. That’s how we can stand against ridicule!

I’m reminded that today is February 3rd, the 51st anniversary of the day the Holy Spirit of God came in power into a chapel service of college students at Asbury College in Kentucky, and from that campus, that week, a student revival spread all across America, touching hundreds of campuses!

I wonder what the Holy Spirit would like to do today, in your life and mine, as the schemes of the dark kingdom intensify all around us. Arise my friends who are the People of God, the battle is raging against us!! Here’s a song I’ve given you before, but it’s so appropriate on this February 3, 2021. . . Oh Lord Jesus Christ our Commander in Chief, empower your Church around the world today and would you do again what you did 51 years ago this day? Let’s worship my friends . . .

Today’s Scripture is Nehemiah 4.

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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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