In any spiritual journey worth taking there are going to be times of opposition. The discouragement may come from naysayers and the outside.

The people laboring with Nehemiah faced this discouragement. Before the work even began there was opposition. Nehemiah 2:10 “When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard it, they were deeply distressed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel.” Then in 2:19, “But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Gesham the Arab heard of it they laughed at us and despised us, and said, ‘What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king.’?” So people are angry and they ridicule Nehemiah and the laborers, and falsely accuse them of rebellion against the King.

The people began the work anyway, and in Nehemiah 4 the opposition continues and rises to even physical threats. The work continues even to the walls being built to half their needed height by verse 6. There will always be naysayers and opposition but we must stay to the task given to us by the Lord and continue trusting in Him. Tomorrow I will share a little about how to deal with the discouragement that comes from the difficulty of the task.