by Scottie Joines
Nehemiah chapter four begins to describe how the builders are ridiculed and demoralized, which is just what the enemy will do when you start to make progress building the gates and walls of your family.
“And it happened, when Sanballat heard that we built the wall, he was angry, and it was greatly enraging to him, and he mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria and said what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they bring to life the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? And Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, even that which they build, if a fox goes up, he will even break down their stone wall.”(Neh 4:1-3) They were beginning to make progress and that angered the enemies once again. The very first thing scripture says that they did once again, was pray!
“O our God, hear. For we are despised. And turn their curse on their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity. And do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You. For they have provoked You to anger before the builders.”(Neh 4:4-5)Once again, when the enemy begins to attack, we do not get offended at our family members; we recognize it and pray against it immediately! This has been one of the hardest things to overcome in my marriage because there is such a generational predisposition to almost “want” to be offended. It seems as if people are looking for things to be offended about because it’s just easier to be mad and shut down than to do the hard work of submitting to Christ’s authority and rebuilding relationships.
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