![]() It would be nice if everyone was on your team... all the time. Can you imagine how much you could accomplish in life if everyone supported you? What if no one ever opposed your ideas or actions. You could really be successful if everyone simply agreed with you and put in to help you do what you want to do. Now... back to reality. We don't live on that planet. There is no idea that everyone on which everyone agrees. I mean... literally not one. I don't care how good it is, there will always be someone who finds fault with it. If you said, "We should all love our children," someone would say, "Well, you can't love some children." It doesn't matter your idea or plan, someone will oppose it. I'm not saying opposition is always bad. Sometimes opposition is good. It can keep us from doing good stuff. My point is that there is no such thing as a world without opposition. Unfortunately in a world where the pattern is broken by sin, there is a lot of opposition to the things of God. In fact, if you seek to follow Jesus, you will experience great opposition. The elements are against you, so to speak. Serving God should be easy in a world He created. But the world is in a state of rebellion. So things that should be easy are now more difficult. One who serves God will face spiritual opposition from Satan and his forces, as well as human opposition from people, and even natural opposition in the form of sickness, and other things that have come into our world through sin. I don't like it. But it is true. And I like truth more than I dislike the bad stuff associated with truth. Because at least if I know truth, I can deal with it. The Bible is full of stories of people of God who were trying to do God's will but ran into opposition. One of those stories is Nehemiah, who was charged with the task of rebuilding the city of Jerusalem which was in ruins after being attacked. So the story begins with God's 'city of peace' in ruins. Obviously there is opposition in play already. The city was in ruins because God's people had opposed Him for generations, and He finally sent in oppressors who would take His people away into slavery. So people opposed God, then God sent people in to oppose them. So much opposition. Welcome to Earth, right? God raises up a man named Nehemiah to go back to the homeland and rebuild the city. You would think everyone would be happy, right? Well, no. There were people there who had an interest in not seeing this project go forward. Here is what Nehemiah recorded, "I said to the people, 'You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been burned down. Come, let’s rebuild Jerusalem’s wall, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.' I told them how the gracious hand of my God had been on me, and what the king had said to me. They said, 'Let’s start rebuilding,' and they were encouraged to do this good work. When Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they mocked and despised us, and said, 'What is this you’re doing? Are you rebelling against the king?' I gave them this reply, 'The God of heaven is the One who will grant us success. We, His servants, will start building, but you have no share, right, or historic claim in Jerusalem.' (Nehemiah 2:17-20) Throughout the project Nehemiah and the people faced opposition. They ended up building the walls with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. But they pushed through because they believed their mission was more important than the mission of those who would stop them. End of story... the city was rebuilt. If you want to know about opposition for someone seeking to do God's will, just look at Jesus. He told His disciples, who were on a mission to save the world, "If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you." (John 15:18-19) The apostle Paul, who basically faced opposition in his mission every day said, "In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (2 Timothy 3:12) This is not to discourage you. This is to let you know that you aren't alone or messed up simply because you are being opposed. Now, you may be opposed because you are doing things in a dumb way. But the fact that people are opposing you as you serve God does not mean you are wrong. It means you are a restored person in a world that is still broken. So stand. Do not let brokenness break you. Stand... and after you've done all... stand. As a believer today, you will face opposition. But remember, you don't need the world to be in agreement with you to be successful, but you do need to be in agreement with God to succeed. The world is not in opposition to you. It is in opposition to God. So if you are in alignment with God, you will be opposed. This is an absolutely free resource. If you would like to support us, you can give via the above link. The video below is associated with the topic. Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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AuthorMy name is David, and I want to know God more, and help other people find Him. Archives
March 2019
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