When the leaders of the Samaritans, Sanballat and the opposers heard that the Jews have gone ahead to build the walls of Jerusalem, they mocked and jeered at them. Sanballat questioned the Jews by asking “what are these feeble Jews doing?” (v2) He then followed with four “Will they” statements.

Will they restore it for themselves?

Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day?

Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?

Looking at the extent of the wall the Jews had to build themselves, their opposers did not expect think they could complete the project on their own. “Will they finish up in a day? ” Sanballat and the opposers sarcastically thought that the Jews had no idea how much they had underestimated the construction of the wall. To a certain extent, they were right. The city of Jerusalem was about four kilometres long and it was surrounded by natural valleys and it was a construction feat to repair walls that were sitting on deep cliff terrain. With limited people and resources, the Jews were feeble as builders and would be a great challenge to complete the repair works on their own. Sanballat hoped through their discouragement, they would give up on their naïve plans.

Discouragement is a temptation that is common to all man. It is a powerful force that strikes us when we feel limited by our circumstances. It causes us to lose motivation and courage. When we give in to those temptations, we slipped into passivity or weighed down by feat and condemnation. We feel defeated, stuck and hopeless. This is not the first sighting of discouragement in the bible. In fact, the Jews had faced discouragements from generation to generations. A famous biblical account of discouragement was when the twelve spies were sent ahead by Moses to examine the land of Cannan which God had promised them. They reported that the land was indeed flowing with milk and honey, but the people who dwell in the land were so strong that the spies looked like grasshoppers in their presence. (Numbers 13:27–28). The other famous example of discouragement was when the Philistines sent out Goliath to challenge the Israelites (1 Samuel 17). In both instances, fear gripped them and they were helpless in both situations. They were greatly discouraged.

My dear brothers and sisters, have you encountered recent discouragement? Recently, someone made an innocent and passing comment about how the church used to be “spiritually healthier”. He had meant it to spur us to strive better to grow the church in our spiritual walk, but those piercing words broke my heart. It felt like no matter how hard we try, things seem to remain status quo. I was discouraged!

What do you do when you are discouraged? What would you do if you were Nehemiah? Nehemiah came on his knees to call upon the name of the Almighty Lord, the one who had called and led him back to Jerusalem to lead in the repairs works. “Hear, O our God, for we are despised” (verse 4). He held onto the promise of an unchanging and powerful God. Not only did he prayed, he led the people to direct their minds and hearts to Yahweh God as well. “And we prayed to our God” (verse 9). He shared these stirring words to the nobles, the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them (the enemies). Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.” They find renewed strength and hope in their great and awesome Lord!

You see, I am reminded once again that we will never fully comprehend God’s thoughts and ways. God calls us to be faithful in our generation to finish what He calls us to do, even when we do not understand what He is up to. What we know and what we are promised is that God’s presence is with us, and He will lead us. It requires us to hope and trust in Him by faith, rather than by what we see or understand. David understands this when he says in Psalms 27:4 “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”

We are all given the perfect plan, seek and dwell in the house of the Lord when we are discouraged.