Groundhog Day

Do you ever feel like your life is the movie “Groundhog Day”? Do you feel like that what you’re facing today is the same stuff you dealt with yesterday? Last week? Last month? Well, I have a sneaking suspicion that Nehemiah’s feeling more than a little like Bill Murray’s character from the movie. I’m not sure if his alarm clock is playing Sonny and Cher, but each day he wakes up he’s facing the same old situation. For the fourth time in just a short period of time, he has to deal with a gang of thugs who are trying to bully God’s people to not rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. In a show of humility, Nehemiah responds with trust and dependance in prayer to God. He then backs up that faith with plan of action. What a great reminder that prayer plus action is prayer in action.

So just how did Nehemiah end up in this repetitive cycle like Murray’s Phil Connors? Well, the scene is Jerusalem. This once spectacular city of God looks more like Beirut, Detroit, or Sarajevo. At one time, dazzling, now destroyed by war. Massive city walls used to protect the citizens from attack but they collapsed under the Babylonian blitzkrieg of Nebuchadnezzar. The pagan king hauled trashed the town and hauled most of the people back to Babylon as slaves. But after 70 years, God orchestrates the return of His people through a succession of Persian dictators. Not too long ago, the man the LORD sent to rebuild the city walls was working as a lowly wine steward to King Artaxerxes (Neh 1:1, 11). God miraculously choreographs the situation so that he’s not only heading up the reconstruction but also has the king’s full resources to do it (Neh 2:1-7). Nehemiah tells everyone who will listen that the only way this is happening is because God has a firm grip on what’s going down (Neh 2:8, 11, 18, 20).

Fast forward a few months and the mammoth rebuilding project is well underway. Just about everybody has grabbed a hard hat and swinging a hammer (Neh 3:1-32). Before you know it, they’ve reconstructed the walls to half of their original height (Neh 4:6). That’s good news to the Israelites but bad news for their enemies. A team of bullies has joined forces to intimidate the Jews and shut their project down. And it’s not the first time. Sanballat and his toadies repeatedly try to terrorize God’s people (Neh 2:10, 19; 4:1). Here we go again. It’s “Groundhog Day” in Jerusalem.

Once again, the bad guys freak out when they get word of the progress of the project. “But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry” (v7). A closer look at the roster of the opposition tells us that it’s growing. Let’s go down their starting lineup for a closer look. Well, leading off is Sanballat. This native of the village of Horonaim in Moab is clearly the leader and evil genius behind the opposition. Batting second is Tobiah, another local ruler who’s consistently a royal pain in the Hebrew backside. Next we see the Arabs. Their leader Geshem has already made his presence known (Neh 2:19). Hitting cleanup are the Ammonites. This is Tobiah’s gang that he’s brought to provide muscle. 

Now we see the newest members of their team, “the Ashdodites” (v7). These are residents of a once proud Philistine city (Josh 13:3). You may remember Ashdod from the “Ark Incident.” After the Philistines stoke the Ark of the Covenant from the Israelites, the put it in Ashdod. It wasn’t long before their idol to Dagon was destroyed and the Ashdodites were growing tumors (1Sam 5:1-8). So you can imagine that folks in Ashdod have a significant axe to grind with the Jews and their God. The list of enemies also tips us off that the city is now surrounded. There’s Sanballat to the north. Tobiah and his Ammonites to the east. Geshem with the Arabs to the south. The Ashdodites to the east. Yeah, those walls are going to come in VERY handy. 

When Sanballat and his posse get a status report on what’s happening in Jerusalem, the get “very angry” (v7). This is the Hebrew term charah, which actually means to burn, kindle, be incensed. The enemy is hot when they hear the news! The latest news stokes the fires of their hatred of the Hebrews. They are totally hot and bothered when the walls hit the halfway point.  Again, this is nothing new. We’ve seen it before. Earlier, Sanballat grew “angry (Heb. charah) and greatly enraged” when somebody told him about Nehemiah’s wall project (Neh 4:1). We also see the author use this very same verb when Nehemiah finds out the Jewish people are acting like loan sharks against their friends and neighbors. He loses his cool and “was very angry (Heb. charah)” (Neh 5:6). You can almost see the steam coming out of the ears of Sanballat and the boys at the latest news.

It’s at this point that enemy makes the decision to amp up their tactics. “And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it” (v8). They come up with a three-point plan. Plot, fight, confuse. Since this will be a clear violation of King Artaxerxes’ authorization of the project, they can’t use overt military force. So they put their evil heads together and come up with a plan. Their conspiracy cooks up a plot to terrorize and confuse the Israelites. It’s almost like they lifted their plot from the lyrics of one of Asaph’s hit songs. “They lay crafty plans against Your people; they consult together against Your treasured ones. They say, ‘Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!’ For they conspire with one accord; against You they make a covenant” (Ps 83:3-5). So Sanballat and his cronies are not just enemies of Jews but their God as well. Let’s just say that things NEVER go well when you poke your finger in the chest of the Sovereign God of the universe. Give it a try. See how it goes.

If you’ve been following along with Nehemiah’s story, his response will come as no shock. “And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night” (v9). He prays. He acts. Just as we see Sanballat and his thugs consistently intimidate God’s people, we see Nehemiah consistently call on the LORD in prayer. He prays when he gets the heartbreaking news from his brother about the crisis in Jerusalem (Neh 1:4-11). He prays when God gives him a divine appointment with King Artaxerxes (Neh 2:4). He thanks God for giving him the passion to rebuild the walls when he faces Sanballat’s opposition for the first time (Neh 2:12). He trusts the LORD when Sanballat’s gang talks trash about the project a second time (Neh 2:20). He prays the third time their enemies taunt and laugh at them (Neh 4:4). 

While Nehemiah is a man of prayer, he gets up off his knees and does something. He “sets a guard as protection against them day and night” (v9). Nehemiah establishes a schedule of overnight security. This apparently was not in place before. This comes as the direct result of prayer. You see, Nehemiah is someone who prays and then takes action. Once again, his prayer is followed by an act of faith. What he does is the direct result of the One he trusts.  Nehemiah humbly responds with a practical demonstration of faith in God as the result of his prayer. He then backs up that faith with plan of action. When faced with the same attack over and over again, Nehemiah prays to the LORD over and over again. It’s Groundhog Day in Jerusalem. Nehemiah knows that God is more than able to handle the same old, same old from the enemy.

Prayer plus action is prayer in action.