Nehemiah 6:9 For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that I be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands
There is an old illustration by Norman Rockwell called “The Gossips” that portrays five rows of talking heads. There are two people talking on the phone and then the next frame is one of those people talking to someone else and so on. It is five rows of people and it ends with a picture of the man about whom they were talking confronting the person who first began the gossip.
Nehemiah 6 is kind of that way. It is a long line of chattering people. You have those who hear things, those who say things, those who write letters, those who read letters, those who read the letters, and all of it was intended to stop the building of the wall. One thing you learn as you read Nehemiah 6 is that your perceptions are shaped by whomever you hear. We all hear people all the time and sometimes we are not even aware of who it is that is influencing our thinking. It may be someone we don’t even know, a so-called friend on Facebook or some such thing, but the truth is that all of us are engaged in conversations every day.
What are the shapes of those conversations? In Nehemiah 6 you find several different kinds of conversations that can shape the way we perceive things. The first is craft or deceit. Verse 2 says, “That Sanballat and Geshem [enemies of the wall] sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief.” These enemies didn’t want a conversation; they wanted to do mischief.
These enemies of the wall had an endless bag of ready objections. Sometimes you realize someone is placing an objection not simply for the reason they are giving you. You may answer that question, but they just go to another question. You answer that and they go to another question. You come to the conclusion that they don’t just have a couple of objections, they just don’t like this particular thing. Sanballat and his cohorts didn’t have a problem with rebellion against the king of Persia or with Nehemiah trying to grab power; they just didn’t want the wall built. So, when they had one objection answered, they would just go to another. There was craft or deceit.
Another is gossip. To this point whenever you read about Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshom, it is almost always with these words: “It came to pass when Sanballat [or Tobiah or Geshom] heard…” There was a lot of chattering going on. Sanballat sent a servant to Nehemiah with an open letter. The letter said, “It is reported among the heathen…that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall.” They are impugning Nehemiah’s motives, but they are saying, “People are saying…” It is a sort of gossip. They don’t have the courage to say, “This is what I think. I don’t like what you are doing.” It is someone who throws shame on other people. That is cowardly and cruel. If someone has a problem with another, they need to say it to them directly with God’s grace. Who were the people that said this? Just say it.
Bias is something else you see. When Nehemiah is again approached by one of the enemies of the wall, he said, “Lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.” This is to say there was bias. All of us are speaking for someone and it may be worthy to think, “For whom am I speaking?” Haven’t you talked to a friend and thought, “I’ve heard that exact same argument in the same way from someone else”? So many times, we speak for other people. What we say sounds just like something someone else has said. It gets passed on. For whom are you speaking? There can be bias. You are not speaking for yourself.
Then there is politics. Verse 19 says, “Also they reported his [Tobiah’s] good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him.” They were sending letters back and forth and Tobiah “sent letters to put me in fear.” Tobiah was against building the wall. People said, “Oh, he is a good man.” None of us know hearts, but it is evident from previous verses that Tobiah possibly had some connection to those who were working on the wall. It appears his daughter-in-law was the daughter of a man who may have been working on the wall. What kind of financial, family, or friendship ties might there have been? I’m not sure, but there are a lot of politics in the world today. Sometimes it is hard to discern between politics and friendship, and perhaps what is friendship to me is politics to another. All that to say that your perceptions of anything are shaped by whomever you hear. That is obviously true throughout this story.
To whom did Nehemiah talk? Well, there was a lot of conversation between him and the enemies and friends of this good work, but several times when Nehemiah was confronted by enemies of the work, he goes directly to prayer. For instance, verse 9 says, “For they all made us afraid,” and then he immediately goes into a prayer, “Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.” In verse 14 he prays, “My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works.” He is pretty direct there.
The upshot of all this is that the people perceived that this work was of God. It wasn’t just Nehemiah, the people building the wall, a rebellion from Persia, or for Nehemiah to gain power for himself. They perceived this work was of God. That was because Nehemiah perceived this work was of God and he took his burdens to God. Often, when we are up against craft, gossip, bias, politics, or whatever, we leave God out. Don’t leave God out of your conversations.
Be mindful of what it is you are saying and for whom you are actually speaking. Be direct and honest. When you are in conversation, don’t leave God out. Nehemiah took his needs directly to God and because he did God prospered him and the work. Remember today that your perceptions are shaped by whomever you hear.