The Two Guards Praying and Watching

The Two Guards Praying and Watching

(No. 2254)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MAY 1, 1892.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JULY
24, 1890.

"Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against
them day and night, because of them." Nehemiah 4:9.

NEHEMIAH and the Jews with him were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.
Sanballat and others were angry with them and tried to stop the work.
They determined to pounce upon the people on a sudden and slay
them–and so put an end to what they were doing. Our text tells us what
Nehemiah and his companions did in this emergency–"Nevertheless we
made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and
night, because of them."

These people had not only to build the wall of Jerusalem, but to watch
against their enemies at the same time. Their case is ours. We have to
work for Christ. I hope that all of us who love Him are trying to do
what we can to build up His Kingdom–but we also need to watch against
deadly foes. If they can destroy us, of course they will also destroy
our work. They will do both if they can. The powers of evil are mad
against the people of God. If they can in any way injure or annoy us,
you may rest assured that they will do so. They will leave no stone
unturned if it can serve their purpose. No arrows will be left in the
quivers of Hell while there are godly men and women at whom they can be
aimed. Satan and his allies aim at our hearts every poisoned dart they
have!

Nehemiah had been warned of the attack that was to be made upon the
city. The Jews who lived near these Samaritans had heard their talk of
what they meant to do and they came and told Nehemiah of the plotting
of the adversaries. We also have been warned. As our Lord said to
Peter, "Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift
you as wheat," so has He, in His Word, told us that there is a great
and terrible evil power which is seeking our destruction. If Satan can
do it, he will not only sift us as wheat, but he will cast us into the
fire that we may be destroyed! Brothers and Sisters, "we are not
ignorant of his devices." You are not left in a fool's paradise to
dream of security from trial and to fancy that you are past temptation!

It was well for these people, also, that, being in danger and being
aware of the malice of their enemies, they had a noble leader to incite
them to the right course to be pursued. Nehemiah was well qualified for
his work. He gave the Jews very shrewd, sensible and yet spiritual
advice–and this was a great help to them in their hour of need.
Beloved, we have a better Leader than Nehemiah! We have our Lord Jesus
Christ, Himself, and we have His Holy Spirit who dwells in us and shall
abide with us. I beg you to listen to His wise and good advice. I think
that He will give it to you through our explanation of the text. He
will say to you what Nehemiah, in effect, said to these people, "Watch
and pray." Although the adversaries of the Jews conspired together–and
came to fight against Jerusalem and to hinder the work of rebuilding
the wall–Nehemiah says, "Nevertheless, we made our prayer unto our
God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them."

In the text, I see two guards. First, prayer–"We made our prayer unto
our God." The second guard is watchfulness–"We set a watch." When I
have spoken on these two subjects, I shall take, as my third topic, the
two guards together. "We prayed and we set a watch." We must have them
both if we would defeat the enemy!

I. First, then, dear Friends, think of THE FIRST GUARD–"We made our
prayer unto our God."

Speaking of this prayer, I would hold it up as a pattern for our
prayers in a like condition. It was a prayer that meant business.
Sometimes when we pray, I am afraid that we are not transacting
business at the Throne of Grace. But Nehe-miah was as practical in his
prayer as he was in the setting of the watch. Some Brethren get up in
our Prayer Meetings

and say some very good things–but what they really ask for, I am sure
I do not know! I have heard prayers of which I have said, when they
were over, "Well, if God answers that prayer, I have not the least idea
of what He will give us." It was a very beautiful prayer and there was
a great deal of explanation of doctrine and experience in it, but I do
not think that God needs to have doctrine or experience explained to
Him! The fault about the prayer was that there was not anything asked
for in it. I like, when Brethren are praying, that they should be as
business-like as a good carpenter at his work. It is of no use to have
a hammer with an ivory handle unless you aim it at the nail you mean to
drive in up to the head! And if that is your objective, an ordinary
hammer will do as well as a fine one–perhaps better.

Now, the prayers of Nehemiah and the Jews were petitions for Divine
protection. They knew what they needed and they asked for it
definitely. Oh, for more definiteness in prayer! I am afraid that our
prayers are often clouds and we get mists for answers. Nehemiah's
prayer meant business. I wish we could always pray in this way. When I
pray, I like to go to God just as I go to a banker when I have a check
to be cashed. I walk in, put the check down on the counter, the clerk
gives me my money, I take it up and go about my business. I do not know
that I ever stopped in a bank five minutes to talk with the
clerks–when I have received my change, I go away and attend to other
matters. That is how I like to pray. But there is a way of praying that
seems like lounging near the Mercy Seat, as though one had no
particular reason for being found there. Let it not be so with you,
Brothers and Sisters. Plead the promise, believe it, receive the
blessing God is ready to give and go about your business. The prayer of
Nehemiah and his companions meant business.

In the next place, it was a prayer that overcame difficulties. The text
begins with a long word, "nevertheless." If we pull it to pieces, we
get three words–never the less–when certain things happen, we will
pray never the less. On the contrary, we will cry to our God all the
more! Sanballat sneered, but we prayed, never the less, but all the
more because of his sneers! Tobiah uttered a cutting jest, but we
prayed, never the less, but all the more because of his mocking taunt.
If men make a jest of your religion, pray none the less. If they even
become cruel and violent to you, pray none the less– never the less,
not a word less, not a syllable less, not a desire less and not any
faith less! What are your difficulties, dear Friend, in coming to the
Mercy Seat? What hindrance lies in your way? Let nothing obstruct your
approach to the Throne of Grace. Turn all stumbling stones into
steppingstones and come, with holy boldness, and say, notwithstanding
all opposition, "never the less, we made our prayer unto our God."
Nehemiah's prayer meant business and overcame difficulties.

Notice, next, that it was a prayer that came before anything else. It
does not say that Nehemiah set a watch and then prayed, but,
"nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch." Prayer
must always be the fore horse of the team! Do whatever else is wise,
but not until you have prayed! Send for the physician if you are sick,
but first pray. Take the medicine if you have a belief that it will do
you good, but first pray. Go and talk to the man who has slandered you,
if you think you ought to do so, but first pray. "Well, I am going to
do so and so," says one, "and I shall pray for a blessing on it
afterwards." Do not begin it until you have prayed! Begin, continue and
end everything with prayer, but especially begin with prayer. Some
people would never begin what they are going to do if they prayed about
it first, for they could not ask God's blessing upon it. Is there
anybody here who is going out of this Tabernacle to a place where he
should not go? Will he pray first? He knows that he cannot ask a
blessing on it and, therefore, he ought not to go there! Go nowhere
where you cannot go after prayer! This would often be a good guide in
your choice of where you should go. Nehemiah first prayed and then set
a watch.

Once more, it was a prayer that was continued. If I read the passage
aright, "we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them
day and night," it means that, as long as they watched, they prayed.
They did not pray their prayer and then leave off and go away, as
naughty boys do when they give runaway knocks at a door. Having begun
to pray, they continued praying. So long as there were any enemies
about, the prayer and the watching were never parted. They still
continued to cry to Him who keeps Israel as long as they set the
watchman of the night to warn them of the foe.

When shall we leave off praying, Brothers and Sisters? Well, they say
that we shall do so when we get to Heaven. I am not clear about that. I
do not believe in the intercession of saints for us, but I remember
that it is written in the Book of Revelation that the souls under the
altar cried, "How long, O Lord?" Those souls were waiting for the
Resurrection, waiting for the coming of Christ, waiting for the triumph
of His Kingdom, and I cannot conceive of their waiting there without
often crying, "O Lord, how long? Remember Your Son, glorify His name,
accomplish the number of Your

elect."

But certainly, as long as we are here, we must pray! One lady, who
professed that she had long been perfect, said that her mind was in
such complete conformity with the mind of God that she need not pray
any longer. Poor creature! What did she know about the matter? She
needed to begin at the first letter of the alphabet of salvation and
pray, "God be merciful to me, a sinner!" When people imagine they need
not to pray, the Lord have mercy upon them!–

"Long as they live, let Christians pray, For only while they pray they
live."

The prayer which Nehemiah offered was, next, a prayer that was
homemade. There may be some of you who like prayers made for you and it
may be that, if all the congregation are to join in the supplication,
and every voice is to speak, the prayer must be prepared even as a hymn
is. But ready-made prayers always seem to me very much like ready-made
clothes–they are meant to fit everybody and it is very seldom that
they fit anybody. For real business at the Mercy Seat, give me a
homemade prayer, a prayer that comes out of the deeps of my heart, not
because I invented it, but because God the Holy Spirit put it there and
gave it such a living force that I could not help letting it come out!
Though your words are broken and your sentences are disconnected, if
your desires are earnest, if they are like coals of juniper, burning
with a vehement flame, God will not mind how they find expression! If
you have no words, perhaps you will pray better without them. There are
prayers that break the backs of words–they are too heavy for any human
language to carry.

This prayer, then, whatever it may have been as to its words, was one
the pleaders made–"We made our prayers unto our God."

It is very important to notice that it was a prayer that went to the
home of prayer–"We made our prayer unto our God." You have heard of
the man who prayed at Boston, "the hub of the universe," and the report
in the paper the next morning was, that "The Rev. Dr. So-and-So prayed
the finest prayer that was ever addressed to a Boston audience." I am
afraid that there are some prayers of that sort, that are prayed to the
congregation! That is not the kind of prayer that God loves. Forget
that there is anybody present! Forget that a human ear is listening to
your accents and let it be said of your prayer, "Nevertheless we made
our prayer unto our God."

It is a very commonplace remark to make that prayer must go to God if
it is to be of any use, but it is very necessary to make it. When
prayer does not go to God, what is the good of it? When you come out of
your closet and feel that you have only gone through a form, how much
are you benefited? Make your prayers unto your God! Speak in His ear,
knowing that He is there, and come away knowing that He has replied to
you, that He has lifted up the Light of His Countenance upon you! That
is the kind of prayer we need for our protection against our enemies
both day and night.

Only once more upon this first point. I gather from the words before me
that it was a prayer saturated with faith. "We made our prayer
unto–"God"? No, "unto our God." They had taken Jehovah to be their God
and they prayed to Him as their God. They had a full assurance that,
though He was the God of the whole earth, yet He was especially their
God–and so they made their prayer unto the God who had given Himself
to them and to whom they belonged by Covenant relationship! "We made
our prayers unto our God." Those two little words carry a vast weight
of meaning. The door of prayer seems to turn on those two golden
hinges–"our God." If you and I are to be delivered from the evil that
is in the world–if we are to be kept building the Church of God–we
must have for our first guard, mighty, believing prayer such as
Nehemiah and his Jewish friends presented unto the Lord.

II. I have now to speak to you about THE SECOND GUARD–"We set a watch
against them day and night, because of them."

This setting of the watch was a work appointed. "We set a watch."
Nehemiah did not say, "Now, some of you fellows go and watch," leaving
the post of watchmen open to any who chose to take it. But they, "set a
watch." A certain number of men had to go on duty at a certain point,
at a certain hour, remain for a certain length of time and be on guard
against the adversary. "We set a watch." Brothers and Sisters, if we
are to watch over ourselves–and we must do so– we must do it with a
definite purpose. We must not say, "I must try to be watchful." No, no!
You must be watchful and your watchfulness must be as distinct and
definite an act as your prayer. "We set a watch." Some of you have seen
the guards changed in the barracks–there is a special time for each
company to mount guard. When you go to bed at night, pray the Lord to
guard you during the darkness. In the morning, set a watch when you go
to your business. Set a watch when you go to the dinner table. Set a
watch when you return home. Oh, how soon we may be betrayed into evil
unless we set a watch!

It was a work carefully done, for Nehemiah says, "We set a watch
against them day and night, because of them." Those three last words
would be better rendered, "over against them," that is, wherever there
was an enemy, there he set a watch. They are likely to come up this
way. Very well, set a watch there. Perhaps they may shift about and
come up this way. Very well, set a watch there. Possibly they may come
climbing over the wall in front here. Well, set a watch there. "We set
a watch over against them." One brother has a very hot temper. Brother,
set a watch there! Another is very morose at home, critical, picking
holes in other people's coats. Brother, set a watch there! One friend
has a tendency to pride, another to unbelief. Set a watch wherever the
foe is likely to come! "We made our prayer unto our God, and set a
watch over against them."

It was a work continued. Nehemiah says, "we set a watch against them
day and night." What? Is there to be someone sitting up all night? Of
course there is! If Sanballat had told them when he meant to attack
them, they might have gone to sleep at other times, but as he did not
give them that information, they had to set a watch "day and night."
The devil will not give you notice when he is going to tempt you–he
likes to take men by surprise–therefore, set a watch day and night.

It was a work quickened by knowledge. They knew that Sanballat would
come if he could, so they set a watch. The more you know of the plague
of your own heart, the more you will set a watch against it. The more
you know of the temptations that are in the world through lust, the
more you should set a watch. The older you are, the more you should
watch. "Oh!" says an aged friend, "you should not say that–it is the
young people who go wrong." Is it? In the Old Testament or in the New,
have you an instance of a young Believer who went astray? The Bible
tells us of many old men who were tripped up by Satan when they were
not watching. So you have need to set a watch even when your hair turns
gray, for you will not be out of gunshot of the devil until you have
passed through the gate of pearl into the golden streets of the New
Jerusalem!

You and I, dear Friends, have need to set a watch against the enemies
of our holy faith. Some people ask me, "Why do you talk so much about
the 'Down-Grade?' Let men believe what they like. Go on with your work
for God and pray to Him to set them right." I believe in praying and
setting a watch. We have to guard with jealous care "the faith once for
all delivered to the saints." When you find, as you find now,
professing Christians and professing Christian ministers denying every
article of the faith, or putting another meaning upon all the words
that they must have been understood to bear, and preaching lies in the
name of the Most High, it is time that somebody set a watch against
them! A night-watchman's place is not an easy berth, but I am willing
to take that post for my blessed Master's sake. Those professed
servants of Christ who enter into an unholy alliance with men who deny
the faith will have to answer for it at the Last Great Day. As for us,
Brothers and Sisters, when our Lord comes, let Him find us watching as
well as praying!

But, dear Friends, to come home to ourselves, we must set a watch
against our own personal adversaries. I hope that, in one sense, you
have no personal enemies, that you owe nobody a grudge, but that you
live in peace and love towards all mankind. But there are Christian
people here who will go to homes where everybody in the house is
against them. Many a godly woman goes from the sanctuary to a drunken
husband. Many children, converted to God, see anything but what they
like to see in their homes. What are they to do in such circumstances?
Set a watch!

Dear Woman, how do you know but that you shall be the means of saving
your unconverted husband? If so, you must set a watch–do not give him
a bit of your mind–you will not convert him that way. And you, dear
Children, who have come to Christ and joined the Church, mind that you
are dutiful and obedient, for otherwise you will destroy all hope of
bringing your parents to the Savior. Set a watch. "Oh!" you say, "if I
do a little wrong, they magnify it." I know they do and, therefore, set
a watch–be more careful. Set a watch over your temper, set a watch
over your tongue, set a watch over your actions. Be patient, be gentle,
be loving. May the Spirit of God work all this in you!

But there is another set of enemies much more dreadful than these
adversaries that are outside us–the foes within– the evil tendencies
of our corrupt nature, against which we must always set a watch!
Perhaps you say, "How can I do this?" Well, first, know what they are.
People who are beginning the Christian life should seek to know where
their weak points are. I should not wonder, dear Friend, if your weak
point lies where you think that you are strong. Where you think, "Oh, I
shall never go wrong there"–that is the very place where you are
likely to fall! Set a watch wherever any weakness has appeared and, if
you have, in the past in your Christian life, grieved the Holy Spirit
by anything wrong, set a double watch there! Where you have tripped
once, you may trip again, for you are the same man.

Set a watch, also, dear Friend, whenever you feel quite secure.
Whenever you feel certain that you cannot be tempted in a particular
direction, that proves that you are already as proud as Lucifer! Set a
watch, set a watch, set a watch! Avoid every occasion of sin. If any
course of conduct would lead you into sin, do not go in that direction.
I heard a man say, as an excuse for drinking, "You see, if ever I take
a glass of beer, I seem to lose myself and I must have two or three
more." Well, then, if that is the case with you, do not take a glass of
beer. "But," one says, "if I get into company, I forget myself." Then,
do not go into company! Better go to Heaven as a hermit, than go to
Hell with the multitude! Pluck out your right eye and cut off your
right hand sooner than that these should cause you to fall into sin! Do
not go where you are likely to be tempted.

"Well," says one, "but my business calls me into the midst of
temptation." I grant you that your business may compel you to go where
there are ungodly men, for how could some live at all if they had not
to come into contact with the ungodly?–they would have to go out of
the world! Well, then, if that is your case, put on the whole armor of
God and do not go without being prepared to fight the good fight of
faith. Set a watch, set a watch, set a watch!

Watch against the beginnings of sin. Remember, Satan never begins where
he leaves off–he begins with a little sin and he goes on to a greater
one. When he first tempts men, he does not aim at all he hopes to
accomplish–he tries to draw them aside little by little–and he works
up by degrees to the greater sin he wants you to commit. I do not
believe that, at the present time, a Christian man can be too precise.
We serve a very precise God–"the Lord your God is a jealous God." Keep
out of many things in which professing Christians now indulge
themselves. The question is whether they are Christians at all! If we
must not judge them–at any rate, let us judge ourselves and settle it,
once and for all, that we dare not go where they go–indeed, we have no
wish to do so!

Watch for what God has to say to you. In your reading of the Bible, if
the Holy Spirit applies a text of Scripture to you with special force,
regard it as a hint from your heavenly Father that there is a lesson in
it for you. I am often surprised at the way in which the morning text
will often instruct me through the whole day. Persons who come to hear
the Word of God preached often find that, within two or three days,
there is a reason why the preacher delivered that particular
sermon–and a reason why they were led to hear it.

Whenever you see a professing Christian going astray from the way of
holiness, do not talk about it and so increase the mischief. "It is an
ill bird that fouls its own nest." Instead of speaking of another's
fall, set a watch for yourself and say, "That is where he slipped and
that is where I may stumble if the Grace of God does not keep me."
Remember our Savior's words to the three disciples with Him in
Gethsemane, "Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation."

III. I finish by putting THE TWO GUARDS TOGETHER. "We made our prayer
unto our God, and set a watch against them."

Dear Friends, neither of these two guards is sufficient by itself.
Prayer alone will not avail. To pray and not to watch is presumption.
You pretend to trust in God and yet you are throwing yourself into
danger, as the devil would have had Christ do, when he tempted Him to
cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple! If you pray to be
kept, then be watchful.

Prayer without watchfulness is hypocrisy. A man prays to be kept from
sin and then goes into temptation–his prayer is evidently a mere piece
of mockery, for he does not carry it out in practice.

Sometimes, however, ignorance may lead to prayer without watching.
There are other things which ought not to be omitted. Let me tell you a
simple story. There was a little schoolgirl who did not often know her
lessons. And there was another girl who sat near her, who always said
her lessons correctly. Her companions said to her, "Jane, how is it
that you always know your lessons?" Jane replied, "I pray to God to
help me and so I know them." The next day, the other little girl stood
up, but she did not know her lesson–and afterward she said to her
friend, "I prayed to God about my lesson, but I did not know it any
better than I did yesterday." Jane said, "But did you try to learn the
lesson?" "No," she said, "I prayed about it, and I thought that was
sufficient." Of course she did not know her lesson without learning it!
In the same manner, you must watch as well as pray. There must be the
daily guard put upon tongue, thought and hands– otherwise prayer will
be in vain.

I have known some people run great risks and yet say that they have
prayed to the Lord to preserve them. I have heard, dozens of times,
these words, "I made it a matter of prayer," and I have been ready to
grow angry with the man who has uttered them! He has done a wrong thing
and he has excused himself because he says that he made it a matter of

prayer! A young man married an ungodly young woman and yet he said that
he made it a matter of prayer! A Christian woman married an ungodly man
and when someone blamed her for disobeying the Word of God, she said
that she made it a matter of prayer! If you had really sought Divine
guidance, you would not have dared to do what the Scriptures expressly
forbid a child of God! Prayer without watching is not sufficient to
preserve us from evil.

On the other hand, dear Friends, watching without praying is equally
futile. To say, "I will keep myself right," and never pray to God to
keep you, is self-confidence which must lead to evil. If you try to
watch and do not pray, you will go to sleep and there will be an end to
your watching. It is only by praying and watching that you will be able
to keep on your guard. Besides, watching grows wearisome without
prayer, and we soon give it up unless we have a sweet interlude of
prayer to give us rest and to help us to continue watching.

I will not keep you longer when I have said this, put the two together,
"Watch and pray," or, as my text has it, "Pray and watch." One will
help the other. Prayer will call out the watchman, prayer will incite
him to keep his eyes open. Prayer will be the food to sustain him
during the night, prayer will be the fire to warn him. On the other
hand, watching will help prayer, for watching proves prayer to be true.
Watching excites prayer, for every enemy we see will move us to pray
more earnestly. Moreover, watching is prayer. If there is true
watching, the watching, itself, is prayer. The two blend the one into
the other. Beloved Friends, I send you away with my text ringing in
your ears, "We made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against
them day and night."

But I have not been speaking to all who are here. Some of you do not
pray. Some of you cannot set a watch. The message for you is, "You must
be born again." You cannot attempt Christian duties till first you have
the Christian life. And the only way to get the Christian life is to
have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to the Fountain which He has
filled with His precious blood! Wash there and be clean! And then,
quickened by His Spirit, set a watch. I am looking to see some people
brought to Christ at this service, for although I have been preaching
to God's people, if they will watch for you and pray for you, there
will come a blessing to you through their watching and praying!

The Lord grant that it may come to many of you! "Seek you the Lord
while He may be found, call you upon Him when He is near." May many
seek and find the Lord tonight–and may many call upon Him in truth!
"Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved." God
grant that it may be so to everybody here, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

Portion of Scripture Read before Sermon–Nehemiah 4. HYMNS FROM "OUR
OWN HYMN BOOK"–994, 999, 668.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON NEHEMIAH 4:1-23

Verse 1. But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we built
the wall, he was angry and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.
It was necessary to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem which had been lying
in ruins. They went on pretty briskly, for everyone had a mind to work.
There never was a good work yet but what there were some to oppose
it–and there never will be till the Lord comes! Sanballat heard what
the Jews were doing and he was very angry. "He was angry and took great
indignation." He was all on fire with anger that God's work was being
continued.

2. And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said,
What are these feeble Jews doing? The enemies of God's people generally
take to sneering! It is a very easy way of showing opposition.

2. Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an
end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the
rubbish which are burned? No doubt these questions were thought to be
very witty and very sarcastic. The enemies of Christ are generally good
hands at this kind of thing. Well, if it amuses them, I do not know
that it need hurt us much–for, after all–it is their way of paying
homage to God's power!

3. Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him. Such a man as Sanballat never
lacks friends. If there is a bad man anywhere, there is sure to be
another close at hand. The devil does not make a fire with one stick.
When he has set the first one alight, he can generally find more wood
to put near it. Tobiah the Ammonite, who was tarred with the same brush
as Sanballat the Horonite, was by him.

4, 5. Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach
upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity;
and cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from
before You: for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.
This was righteous indignation, but Nehemiah is not a perfect model for
us. He was not only stern, but he mingled with his severity a measure
of bitterness in his prayer that we must not imitate. Sometimes, when
we have seen men plotting against God, seeking to ruin the souls of
others and trying to stop us in our endeavor to build up the Church of
God, we have felt such language as this trembling on our lips. It were
better, however, for us to bow the knee in humble imitation of our Lord
upon the Cross and cry, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what
they do."

6. So built we the wall. You half expected to read, "So we stopped
building the wall and answered Sanballat and To-biah." Not a bit of it.
They kept to their work and let these two men scoff as they pleased!

6. And all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the
people had a mind to work. They built the wall as high as they meant it
to be, ultimately, but they carried it all round and joined it well
together. If we cannot do all we would like to do, let us do what we
can–and let us endeavor, as far as possible, to finish off the part
that we do, waiting for better times to carry the walls higher.

7. But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the
Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls
of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped,
then they were very angry. They were "angry" before–now they were
"very angry." If a work has no opposition from Satan, we may be half
afraid it is good for nothing! If you cannot make the devil roar, you
have not done him much harm–but the more he roars, the more cause
there is for the angels singing the praises of God before the Throne of
God!

8. And conspired all of them together to come and fight against
Jerusalem, and to hinder it. It is amazing how unanimous bad men can
be. It has always struck me as a very startling thing that you have
never heard of any division among the devils in Hell. There are no
sects among the devils–they seem to work together with an awful
unanimity of purpose in their wicked design. In this one thing they
seem to excel the family of God. Oh, that we were as hearty and united
in the service of God as wicked men are in the service of Satan!

9. 10. Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch
against them day and night, because of them. And Judah said–Judah, you
know, was the lion tribe. Christ is "the Lion of the tribe of Judah."
But Judah, instead of being lion-hearted, made a noise more like a
mouse than a lion, and Judah said–

10. The strength of the bearers of burden is decayed, and there is much
rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall. Poor Judah! He
ought to have been bolder and braver, but he was not. It is the same
today–some who seem to be pillars prove very weak in the hour of
trial–and by their cowardice discourage the rest.

11. And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we
come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to
cease. While some were discouraging the people within the city, their
enemies, outside the walls, were plotting to take them by surprise and
slay them.

12. And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by them came,
they said unto us ten times, From all places whence you shall return
unto us they will be upon you. These Jews ought to have been helping to
build the wall, but they did not come to the help of the Lord's people.
Still, they were sufficiently friendly to tell Nehemiah of the plot
that was being hatched by his enemies. God knows how, when His enemies
are sinking a mine, to undermine them! If secrecy is necessary to the
success of evil, somebody speaks out and tells the story, so that the
plot is discovered.

13. Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the
higher places, I even set the people after their families with their
swords, their spears, and their bows. When Nehemiah knew the danger to
which the people were exposed, he took measures to guard against it. I
like the commonsense of Nehemiah. He kept families together. "I set the
people after their families, with their swords, their spears, and their
bows." Beloved Friends, I have no greater joy than such as I had last
Tuesday when I received five children of one family, all brought to
Christ! May the Lord make our families to be the guards of the Church!

14. And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles and to the
rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not afraid of them. Fear may
waken us, but it must never be allowed to weaken us. We should put on
the armor and take the sword and spear and bow when there is cause for
fear–we should never dream of running away.

14, 15. Remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for
your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your
houses. And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known
unto us, and God had brought their

counsel to nothing, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one
unto his work. There was no fighting, after all! As soon as the enemy
knew that their plot was found out, they did not make any assault. One
commentator says–"Some men, if they had been delivered from danger,
would have returned, every one to the ale-house, but these men
returned, every one, to his work." They went back to their building and
continued still in the service of the city.

16, 17. And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my
servants worked in the work, and the other half of them held both the
spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons; and the rulers
were behind all the house of Judah. They which built on the wall, and
they that bore burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of
his hands worked in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.
The sword and the trowel both guarded the city and built the wall!

18. For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and
so built. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. What the trumpet
was for, we are told directly.

19,20. And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest
of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated upon
the wall, one far from another. In what places, therefore you hear the
sound of the trumpet, resort you there unto us: our God shall fight for
us. That is a grand sentence! The moment you hear the trumpet, you are
to leave your place on the wall and come to the point where the enemy
is attacking us. But Nehemiah does not say, "You shall fight for us,"
he puts it much better, "Our God shall fight for us." So He will!

21. So we labored in the work: and half of them held the spears from
the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. They made long days.
Christian people do not want merely eight hours a day for Christ. We
can sometimes do 18 hours' work for Him in a day–and we wish that we
could do twenty-four.

22. 23. Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let everyone
with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be
a guard to us, and labor on the day. So neither I, nor my brethren, nor
my servants nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put
off our clothes. Nehemiah was a good leader. He did not say, "Go." He
said, "Come"–and he bore the brunt of the service! Like Alexander, who
went with the Macedonians into the rough places, and did the hard work,
so did Nehemiah. He and those with him did not put off their clothes,
even for sleeping.

23. Saving that every one put them off for washing. Which was
necessary, for cleanliness is next to godliness. May the Lord send us
more Nehemiahs and plenty of people to work with them who can endure
hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and who will also be good
builders of the Church of God!