OUR GOD, REMEMBER INCIDIOUS PLOTTERS OF RUSSIAN-UKRAINE CRISIS!
For the past few weeks the U.S. has been pushing Russia into war, and in answer to the U.S. and their ally, which initially started a rumour of war, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed on to Russia's recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk...
When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it – though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates – Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: ‘Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.’ But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: ‘I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?’ Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer. Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his assistant to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter in which was written: ‘It is reported among the nations – and Geshem says it is true – that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: “There is a king in Judah!” Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.’ I sent him this reply: ‘Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.’ They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, ‘Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.’
But I prayed, ‘Now strengthen my hands.’ One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, ‘Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you – by night they are coming to kill you.’ But I said, ‘Should a man like me run
away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!’ I realised that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me. Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophet Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophets have been trying to intimidate me. NEHEMIAH 6：1-14.
This passage from Nehemiah Chapter 6 illustrates how wisely Nehemiah discerned his opponents’ repeated plots and escaped a crisis. He is one of the best leaders of ancient Israel, from whom we can learn how to show godly and strong leadership in times of difficulty.
Nehemiah was a high official at the Persian court and he served ArtaxerxesⅠas cupbearer. His deeply dedicated heart to God moved him to return to Jerusalem with the news of various evils that had crept in during his absence since around 432BCE. In his day, the exiles from Babylon in the tiny size of Judah were surrounded on every side by hostile people, who caused them to abandon their project of rebuilding the walls in Jerusalem.
When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem the Jewish people of Judah had been discouraged and had lost hope for the future. He boldly called on them to return to the work of restoration and they immediately responded. The opponents were also quick to oppose the completion of the restoration project by setting the doors in the gates, and attempted to halt the work.
Planning to take Nehemiah’s life or destroying his credibility as a leader, they tried three different attacks. At the first attack the opponents called for him to come to meet them on the plain near the border of Samaria, a day’s journey from Jerusalem. They maybe pretended to have a peace conference but discerning their hidden motive, Nehemiah sent a simple message of denial and patiently repeated it four times until they revealed their motives with their fifth response.
When they realised that Nehemiah would not leave Jerusalem they tried the second tactic. They sent him an unsealed letter, which reported an alleged rumour that Nehemiah was trying to set himself as the king of the Jews, which could be a threat to Artaxerxes whom he served.
Although they wanted to get him to respond out of fear, Nehemiah found out their falsehood. Discerning that they must have forged the letter to frighten him, he outrightly denied such false accusation.
After Nehemiah asked God for His strength by prayer, the opponents attempted their third attack by hiring Shemaiah, who must have been Nehemiah’s reliable acquaintance. A self-professed prophet, Shemaiah purposely locked himself in his house, supposedly due to ritual defilement or else, called Nehemiah to his house and suggested they should meet in the temple behind closed doors.
However, Nehemiah again discerned two flaws in this plan because Nehemiah was sure that God would never let him stop work at a brink of completion and also that if he had entered the sanctuary of the temple where only priests were allowed, he would have desecrated it.
So he was convinced that Shemaiah was a false prophet, and he prayed once again and asked that God would remember all his opponents and judge them for their evil scheming.
We are living in such a terribly deceptive era in all domains of the world as Nehemiah experienced. In the end, godly and prayerful Nehemiah accomplished the rebuilding project in Jerusalem under a very hard situation after Babylonian captivity. Likewise, what is most required for believers in Christ now is a sincere intercession for world leaders, so that they could discern which way would accord with God’s will and make decisions for the welfare of the world.
For the past few weeks the U.S. has been pushing Russia into war, and in answer to the U.S. and their ally, which initially started a rumour of war, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed on to Russia's recognition of the individual states of two disputed regions in eastern Ukraine: Donetsk and Luhansk, both of which had existed as part of Russia in her past history.
While the U.S. seems to attempt to exploit this conflict to initiate World War Ⅲ by sanctions, both regions agreed a mutual defense treaty with Russia and asked her for assistance in defending against Ukraine, so it would be natural for Putin to justify himself to dispatch troops into those regions.
We need to learn from Nehemiah and we must now intercede for the Russian-Ukraine crisis.