Four Obstacles to Growth

Perched on my kitchen barstool, eyes fixed on my laptop screen, I opened a Word document and prepared to write.

But social media beckoned, Come see what your friends are doing.

Advertisements enticed, Come see what’s on sale.

Click bait urged, Stop and read this article.

An hour later, my Word doc was still blank.

Then, like Eve in the garden, I heard questioning voices. Did God actually say…?

Did God really call me to write? And worse, Is God even real? In my internet surfing, I’d encountered expressions like “The myth of Christianity” and “How Jesus became God,” casting doubt on the truth of the gospel and the divinity of Christ. I recognized the lies, but still, in a world where we often encounter animosity towards Christianity, it’s dangerous to take a stand for Jesus.

Then, a disparaging remark popped into my mind. A friend had implied my writing was boring and not quite ready for prime time. (It’s amazing how one negative comment rings louder than a dozen words of encouragement.) Perhaps, I thought, I’d better spare myself the embarrassment and keep silent. And besides, some of my relatives don’t share my faith. What will they think?

Does this sound familiar? You sense God is calling you to participate in the work of building his kingdom. He’s asking you to step out of your comfort zone and do something risky.

Maybe you want to get involved in a mission. Start a ministry. Build new relationships in your neighborhood and your workplace. Write a book or organize an event. You’ve begun the work and even experienced some success, but you can’t escape the opposition.

You’re in good company. Nehemiah experienced the same kind of opposition when he led the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. His enemies tried four tactics to stop his work. You can read Nehemiah 6 for the whole story.

Distraction

Nehemiah’s enemies, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Gesham, were unhappy with Nehemiah’s progress on the walls. Since their efforts to attack had been thwarted, they tried a different tactic: distraction.  Four times they issued an invitation: “Come and meet with us.”

Have you ever started a project, even reserved time in your schedule to pursue it, only to find numerous distractions pulling you off-task, eating up those precious minutes you planned to use wisely? When confronted with these same obstacles, Nehemiah employed a “just say no” strategy.

“And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” (Neh. 6:3 ESV).

Like Nehemiah, we can identify the things that distract us. We can recognize the distractions when they approach and refuse to allow them to stop our work.

Doubt

Nehemiah’s enemies then circulated an open letter spreading rumors that Nehemiah wanted to lead a rebellion and make himself king. “You’re going to be in a heap of trouble when King Artaxerxes finds out,” they said. “Come talk to us, Nehemiah. We want to help.” But Nehemiah saw through their lies and their plan to frighten him into stopping the work.

“Then I sent to him, saying, ‘No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.’  For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, ‘Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.’ But now, O God, strengthen my hands” (Neh. 6:8-9 ESV).

These verses are a good reminder to pray, pray, pray for God to strengthen us when lies stir up doubts in our minds.

Discouragers

Even other believers and so-called friends can get you off track. Nehemiah’s friendly neighborhood prophet wanted him to lock himself up in the temple and hide.

“For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me” (Neh. 6:13 ESV).

Beware of people who claim to speak for God and yet try to discourage you from fulfilling your calling. (Sometimes they have their own agendas or selfish motives.)

Detractors

Recognize that you can’t please everyone. Sometimes opposition comes from people close to you. They may be believers, but they may also keep close ties to the modern culture which values prosperity, people-pleasing, and “politically correct” stances. Nehemiah had a few of those detractors in Judah. These people had intermarried with the enemy, so they had divided loyalties.

Have you ever run into well-meaning statements like these?

• “How could you give up a good job to go into ministry?”
• “You want to go WHERE to serve God?”
• “You know you might lose your job if you talk about Jesus.”
• “People will be offended if you mention your beliefs.”

What do we do when the path to obedience is littered with obstacles?

Despite facing all these obstacles, Nehemiah and his team succeeded in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Here’s what I learned from Nehemiah’s example:

• Stay focused.
• Recognize and refute the lies.
• Pray that God will strengthen your hands.
• Pray he will also give you discernment to know whose opinion to trust and whose to ignore.

Don’t stop doing your part to build God’s kingdom, brick by brick, word by word, relationship by relationship.

Margaret Kemp spends most days teaching a classroom full of lively five-and six-year-olds. She’s attracted to be fragrance of vanilla, the printed word, and all things blue and white. She delights in spending time with her husband and family, singing praises with her church choir peeps, and traveling. Her heart’s desire is to know God better and learn to trust him more. You can read more of her writing at MargaretKemp.com.

Photograph © Annie Spratt, used with permission