Brothers, the love of comfort is killing our courage. Prosperity tells us we can have character without conflict, scars of honor without suffering, medals without warfare. Weak faith, little prayer, and petty distractions warm themselves under the duvet of soft times. Christ has more for us.
If we claim men like Nehemiah as spiritual fathers, we ought to learn from their courage. At the beginning of his book, we find a man weeping, fasting, and praying to God as he sits in a palace of prosperity. He is cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, who one day questions the heaviness of his servant. “Why should not my face be sad,” Nehemiah answers, “when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” (Nehemiah 2:3).
Jerusalem lies in shambles, the walls torn down brick by brick. The graves of his forefathers are exposed to desecration. “What are you requesting?” the king asks (Nehemiah 2:4). “If your servant has found favor in your sight, more vacation days, a raise perhaps, more working remote,” we answer. Too bad for the exiles returning to Jerusalem, but what can a mere cupbearer do from a foreign land?
Nehemiah answers, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it” (Nehemiah 2:5). From raising a cup of wine to raising a wall, from delicacies to danger, from palaces to persecution — this man’s courage renounces comfort. And the Lord of all blesses him. Nehemiah leaves with sufficient resources, but he needs one thing the king can’t give: courage.
Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite, along with the army of Samaria, wait for him. Israel’s rebuild displeases them, offends them, angers them. Nehemiah cannot do the work alone — can the cupbearer stir the people? Nehemiah tells them how the hand of God has been upon him for good. The Jews, priests, nobles, officials, and laborers reply with one voice, “Let us rise up and build” (Nehemiah 2:18). And with that, Nehemiah makes himself a marked man.
As breaches in the wall begin to close, open opposition mounts. Nehemiah and Israel dress for action like men and shoot prayers skyward as helpless children, pleading for protection from those who would seek to stop the work by any means necessary. The threat is ever-present; they stay ever-ready. “Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built” (Nehemiah 4:17–18). Nehemiah reports, “Neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon at his right hand” (Nehemiah 4:23).
Psychology of Courage
The time comes for Nehemiah to be tested from within. The enemy launches psychological warfare, trying to frighten Nehemiah and the people into submission. They have a spy near Nehemiah: Shemaiah the son of Delaiah. He says to Nehemiah, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night” (Nehemiah 6:10).
Nehemiah records his own reply: “But I said, ‘Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in’” (Nehemiah 6:11). He was ready to die on that wall, brothers beside him and sword in his hand. Better to die on his feet than crouched with his tail between his legs in the temple. How would you have responded? Let’s take a look into his mind to help overly cautious men choose bravery over cowardice.
Know who you are.
Should such a man as I run away? (Nehemiah 6:11)
Nehemiah’s courage feeds on a vision — a settled confidence of who he is because of who his God is — in order to meet the fearful moment. God chose him to start rebuilding. God sent him from the palace for this purpose. Should such a man with such a God now run away?
The Lord made him their leader. If others flee, he cannot. Occasions exist for the godly to flee from danger (Matthew 10:23), but Nehemiah knew this was not his calling. The God of heaven put this work into his heart (Nehemiah 2:12). God was with him in the work — he would see the wall completed or die building. Besides, did he not recently charge his men, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes” (Nehemiah 4:14)? Should God’s man on God’s mission now play the coward and faithlessly hide in fear behind the altar?
Neither should we. We who are true Christians are called men of God. The soldier does not flee from battle. The fireman does not hide from flames. The pastor does not run from wolves. We move toward sacrifice and risk as Christ’s men. We are sons of the Most High God, husbands of his daughters, fathers of immortal souls, sojourners in enemy territory, men on mission with a mighty gospel. Let us not smother our lives with an effeminate love of ease. Palaces are no places for God’s sons when walls need building.
Do you lack courage in your home, your community, your moment of testing? Know thyself. Who has God remade you to be? Who do you belong to now? Ask: Should such a one as I flee?
Surround yourself with mighty men.
Who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life? (Nehemiah 6:11 NKJV)
In the moment of testing, Nehemiah does not stand alone but recognizes himself within a fearless squadron. Nehemiah rebuilds the wall to defend the graves of his forefathers, but those graves also defend him.
Nehemiah asks, Who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life? Would Daniel? Would David? Would Joshua or Moses or Abraham? Would the brothers who wore their swords beside him? Murderous Joab and usurping Adonijah hid from Solomon in the temple to save their lives (1 Kings 1:50; 2:28). But Nehemiah belonged to a higher battalion — one that would boast the disciples, the martyrs, and the Messiah himself.
“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm” (Proverbs 13:20). Whoever stands with the stalwart becomes stalwart. So, who are your brothers? Who inflames you to holy service? Which brothers — in your church, your Bibles, your biographies — stir your blood to stand firm in the day of adversity? “We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” (Hebrews 10:39).
Do Not Go In!
Courage arises from knowing who you are, whose you are, and what kind of company you keep. The time of testing is a poor time to answer who you are or whom you belong to.
When the voice welcomes you into pornography, compromise, dishonesty, theft, adultery, forsaking Christ — when that voice promises safety, comfort, and ease — remember who you are and whose you are. Do not flinch; do not equivocate; do not grow limp. Brace yourself now. God has promised to be with us.
But what can we do now? Know yourself now. Know Jesus now. Get a clear view from Scripture of the greatness of God. Listen for his still, small voice sending you out from your palace of comforts into hard things. Shake off the love of softness. Discipline your body; fast; go tell neighbors of Christ. Study the lives of lions — men indwelt by God’s Spirit — and hunt in their pride. Learn what it means for you to be a brother of Christ and a son of God. Go out into the world, live for Jesus, and do so among a cloud of witnesses on earth and in heaven. Turn the sword against everything in your life that displeases him.
Resolve now — God helping you — “I will build, I will fight, but I will not go in — God is with me!”
