Where do enemies come from? I wonder why other people ever get so upset over some things. Nehemiah is just building a wall and he starts to collect enemies like trading cards. What the heck, why are they so bent on destroying him? What did he do to them anyhow. All he wants to do is to protect, comfort and encourage the Jerusalemites.

It seems that the building up of Jerusalem was a hot topic back then as well as now. Nehemiah was lied about, cursed, threatened, hated, vilified, called a traitor and threatened with black mail, bodily harm and worse. His new found enemies were simply out to get this guy. And what did he do? He prayed. And prayed some more. He started a security force as things got worse.

But most importantly, he faced his enemies by continuing his building project. In a sense, he could have become his own worst enemy. His story if anything tells us that his enemies were not the worst of his trials, but he himself was potentially the biggest opponent to a successful venture. His failure under pressure would have been his enemies biggest success. The text makes it clear that he did not fail though. He steered clear of self opposition by not falling victim to their hatred.

There are plenty of naysayers in the world. They seem to come out of nowhere sometimes. They may oppose us with mild words, discourage us with thoughtless comments or even take a violent course against us. But none of them are as damaging to us as a self convinced against itself and it's dreams.

God gave Nehemiah the dream, the vision, the hope. God gave him the strength to carry on in the face of opposition and not succumb to fear. In the end, Nehemiah faced his own worst enemy in the mirror and overcame him, Going to God in prayer always does this. Always.