The Value of Faith and Steadfastness Amid Spiritual Struggles
I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I can't come down: why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you? — Nehemiah 6:3
Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. — James 1:3
Author
Faustino de Jesús Zamora Vargas
Summary: Following Christ does not spare us from opposition. Nehemiah faced mockery, threats, and the people’s discouragement without abandoning the work God had entrusted to him. His faith sustained steadfast leadership and united those who were building while they remained ready to defend themselves. We, too, need faith, patience, and perseverance so that the enemy’s persistent efforts do not turn us from our duty. The world we resist is not people, but a system of values opposed to God’s will. Through Christ’s redemptive work, we can close spiritual breaches and build lives; he is the door to salvation.
Challenges and opposition are no strangers to the Christian who decides to follow Christ. This statement might seem contradictory, but I do not believe it is. Nehemiah did not know Christ, but he trusted in his God—ours as well—whose wonders and miracles on behalf of his people, beginning with the exodus from Egypt, were recounted by every generation of Jews.
Nehemiah was not only the leader who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and roused the people from their spiritual slumber; he was also a champion of faith. Spiritual battles are won through faith. Without faith, it is practically impossible to exercise effective and efficient leadership. When the opposition intensified its mockery and death threats, when the people faltered before the immense task ahead of them, Nehemiah refused to be intimidated and pressed on. However hard they tried to frighten him into abandoning the work God had entrusted to him, his steadfastness and faith enabled him to unite a people who built the city walls with one hand at the work of construction and the other gripping a sword to face any opposition from the enemy. “All the men who were doing the work wore a sword at their side” (Neh 4.18 NIV).
Nehemiah’s example as a man of courage and faith certainly inspires us. Our adversary, like Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem—Nehemiah’s enemies and therefore opposed to the will of God—is relentless and tries to unsettle our faith, leading us into inconsistency, frailty, and weakness. Faith instills steadfastness, patience, and perseverance and is, as the apostle John says, the foundation and guarantee of our victory in Christ: “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith” (1 Jn 5.4).
Let us remember that the world is “upside down”; that is, it acts contrary to God’s purposes and plans. The world is the system of values that contends against the will of God. It is not the people; it is the prince of darkness, who has darkened minds with his humanistic prescriptions to captivate us with his empty promises.
When we are occupied with God’s work, faith and steadfastness in fulfilling our duty will give us a sense of constancy and perseverance, so that we do not heed the enemy’s “siren songs,” persistently calling us to stray from the highest goal (Neh 6.3).
In Christ, through his redemptive work, we can rebuild the walls the enemy has managed to crack. Let us close the breaches and set firmly in place the main gate that gives access to the gospel of salvation. That gate is Christ. “I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved; and will come in and go out and find pasture.” (Jn 10.9) The values of a world whose walls lie in spiritual and moral ruin collide with the values of the Kingdom of God. Spiritual battles are faced with the steadfastness that comes from saving faith. My prayer is that, with God’s help, we will continue building walls and building up lives in Christ for his eternal glory.
God bless you!
Suggested reading: Nehemiah 6