Elijah and I have attended a weekly Bible Study at a church here in Murfreesboro for the past year and a half.
A quote was shared in class that says, "circumstances don't make you. They define who you are."
We spent a good part of the winter studying Nehemiah and how real the scripture was to me during that time as we were going through difficult times in the corps and the steadfastness of Nehemiah and his clear leadership abilities--including having a plan in the face of opposition--were great gifts from the LORD for me to digest.
Although there were several forms of external opposition Nehemiah did not get discouraged. He was focused. Rather than listen to the nonsense that was coming at him from nearly all sides he decided to listen to God instead and intensified his prayer (selective listening skills). Even that had strategy. Through prayer is how he received strength and courage. The tactics against him were: ridicule, mockery, insults, slandering, conspiracy, and threats against him. The more the opposition= the more he (they) prayed.
God entrusted him with a tremendous work as a result. Satan pushes against us when God is blessing our efforts. We are to stay faithful and press on. The victory has already been won. Hallelujah!
Something that spoke out to me loudly about Nehemiah was even though he was personally attacked he did not let it get the best of him. Taking up personal offense dishonors God.
Nehemiah was a man of prayer, was obedient, was an encourager, a delegater, a good communicator, generally level headed, responsible, diligent, focused, passionate and thoughtful.
In other words, he was a true man of God.
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