Road Trippin With Rachael

If you ever have the opportunity to work for a company that is working to grow, you are likely going to hear talk about a strategic plan. Many organizations have some kind of plan to both manage and plan for their growth. When I was working for a small Christian liberal arts university, the Strategic Plan is a regular part of discussion. Admissions, which as many could guess, has an important role to play with the Strategic Plan and how the number of students we could bring in, and how that number is able to grow from year to year is necessary for how the plan is able to continue so that the university’s goals could be reached.

Another example that almost everyone would be familiar with, would be a financial planner. Financial Planners help their clients figure out their goals for their finances, and how to achieve those goals in both short term and long term, and how to diversify investments so that there is money for whenever an individual or a couple is able to retire.

Strategic planning is not only for the corporate world, nor is it necessarily something that is specific to finances. If we were to talke a look at scripture, we would be able to see examples of how a strategic plan is put in place even during biblical times. All one needs to do is take a look through the Old Testment and they will be able to see that there is connsistantly plans put in place. 

1. Creation (Genesis 1)
2. The destruction of Jericho (Joshua 6)
3. The construction of the Temple (II Chronicals 3)
4. The plan of salvation (Romans)

Planning is a part of scripture. That means that it is good, and we should be a willing participant in God’s plan. However, if we are able to plan and make strategies, that means that Satan is also scheming to keep us from doing the will of God. As we work our way through Nehemiah 6, we are able to see four strategies Satan puts into play to deter us from doing what God calls us to do.

Strategy 1: Make Something Wrong Appear To Be Good

Come, let us meet together in the village of Ono Valley – Nehemiah 6:2a (CSB)

Any time I am able to speak with college students about what they are planning on doing after college, I always suggest one book to them besides the Bible: The Prince.

Now, if you haven’t read The Prince, I suggest that you do so, because it is a treatise on how to deal with people. Written as a letter from an anonymous politician to an anonymous “Prince,” the politician gives advice on how to deal with people, and how to get your goals met. As a whole, the overall idea is about how nobility needs to be planning out their moves years in advance, so that they are able to keep the people happy, but they are also able to maneuver the people and the government in the direction they want it to go over the course of years. Although, written in the 16th century, the idea of playing the long game (as I like to call it) still applies today.

One of the examples that comes through The Prince, is that you can get your way in certain situations based on how you present it. For example, you present all the good points for the option that you want, and all the negative consequences for the other options offered. I could go on about what else needs to go on here to make this work, but that would be a rabbit trail that we don’t actually need to go down.

Basically, not only does this work with the nobility, politics, the corporate world, or even with your kids during those pesky teenage years, but it is also the concept that we see being used in Nehemiah 6. The men who are opposed to the construction of the wall, and as we have seen through the reading of Nehemiah,  have made life hard for the Jewish people as they have been working on the construction, are now offering to “talk” with Nehemiah. 

At first reading, it sounds like it is a good thing. They want to talk about their issues and come to a mutually agreeable solution to what they obviously regard as being a problem – the construction of the wall surrounding Jerusalem. If we continue reading the second half of the verse, we see that there is Nehemiah making the aside comment “They were planning to harm me.” What was presented as a good thing, was in fact a way for them to do harm. In the same way, we see this strategy that is often used by Satan to derail or attach Christians. Something is presented as being good, while it is actually contrary to the will of God.

Lest we think that this is only something that is happening with Nehemiah, let’s take a look at some other examples that are throughout scripture. The most obvious example can be found in Genesis 3. Using the form of a serpent, Eve is deceived into thinking that it is a good thing for her to eat the fruit from the tree of good and evil. She knew it was wrong since she was given specific instructions – but Satan made it appear to be a good thing to violate that order.

The previous example came from the Old Testament, but there is another example of this same concept being used in the New Testament – this time with Peter. If you were to turn in the Bible to Matthew 16:23, you would find a moment in time where Jesus was rebuking Peter. Only taking the verse, it could easily be taken out of context. As a note, context is always king! Read the entire section of scripture for yourself so that you see what I am talking about. For our purposes, I’ll give the general gist: Jesus had just finished telling his disciples that he is going to Jerusalem to die, and Peter basically said, like a mother hen getting onto her children, “Oh no, you are not!” Thus, Jesus’ comment about “Get behind me Satan!” Peter would have believed that he was doing a good thing. He was telling his friend and teacher that he didn’t need to go somewhere to die. By this time, it was no secret that Jesus had been making enemies amongst the religious leaders of his day, and it was only going to be a matter of time before the Jews would be bringing the weight of Rome down on Jesus – which we ultimately know 2,000 years later, happened. The point though, is that it seemed like Peter was doing the right thing. He cared for this person, and he tried to dissuade him from doing something that was going to lead to his death. However, Jesus knew his mission from the Father’s will. He knew that he had to go to Jerusalem, he would have to go through the sham of a trial, and that he was going to have to die on the cross, so that he could be raised from the dead – thereby defeating death and sin, so that those who believe can have life in him.

Strategy 2: Attacking Your Integrity

In it was written: It is reported among the nations – and Geshem agrees – that you and the Jews plan to rebel. This is the reason you are building the wall. According to these reports, you are to become their king – Nehemiah 6:6 (CSB)

In the world we live in, integrity is no longer an assumed characteristic. It has become a novelty. Attempting to explain to the younger generation that integrity is doing something because you said that you will do it, that you will keep your word, that you are doing something for the benefit of others not only yourself. It means that you are going to do what is right and God is honoring even if you will not benefit from that action.  

Even though integrity is no longer an assumed characteristic of western culture at large, it is an assumed characteristic for those who claim to be Christ followers. Because of the dichotomy in assumtions, the integrity of the believer is one of the main things that Satan is going to go after. As we have seen, Satan has strategies for attaching believers, and attaching a characteristic that is so interconnected with the understanding of who a Christian is serves as one of his favorite ways to attach and discourage. 

As we work our way through Nehemiah 6, we see this playing out with Nehemiah. He has been working diligenty to build up the walls around Jerusalem, to make the city safe, and to convince the people that they need to take ownership of their city of their own protection. As a result, the surrounding peoples who had grown accustomed to having easy access taking what they wanted from the Jewish people, and they did not appreciate that Nehemiah was there leading the people to beef up their defenses. 

If we keep in mind that Nehemiah was the governor of Jerusalem, put in place by the King of Persia, combined with the fact that Nehemiah himself was a Jew who had been raised in captivity following the Babylonian captivity, circumstatuly he was in what would be considered a tricky position. Although he was greatly trusted by the king, and was a man of God, he was also in a prime position to be accusted of what would be the proverbial nail in the coffin – for him literally and retorically; that would be that he was using his position to stage a rebellion against the king. 

Knowing what we know of Nehemiah, we 2000 plus years later know that was absolutely not something that Nehemiah was even considering. However, we need to keep in mind the culture and the time that Nehemiah was living in. A king always has to appear that they are strong, that they can stand against anyone who would come to take their throne, and they have to be prepared to remove any threat to their rule – even if that means that they kill those who they like. There can be no appearance of weakness. For the people of Canaan to make these accusations, make no mistake that they knew that it was a calculated statement that would have consequences for Nehemiah IF Nehemiah had not been on a mission that was ordained by God.

Nehemiah had a fabulous response to the accusations that were being made.  “Then I replied to him, ‘There is nothing to these rumors you are spreading; you are inventing them in your own mind’” (6:8). You have got to love a person who can say, after the ugly accusations that he is faced with, “you are making things up, and the only place these things are happening is in your imagination.” You can’t get more obvious  in your distaste than calling someone sick in the head. 

Strategy 3: Spiritual Intimidation

When I was at the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was restricted o his house. He said: Let’s meet at the house of God, inside the temple. let’s shut the temple doors because they’re coming to kill you. They’re coming to kill you tonight! But I said ‘Should a man like me run away? How can someone like me enter t temple and live? I will not go.’ I realized tat God had not sent him, because of the prophecy he spoke against me. Tobiah and Shanballt had hired him. – Nehemiah 6:10-12 (CSB)

Another way the Satan likes to intimidate and convince people to forsake the mission that God has given you is to use spiritual intimidation. You might be asking what this is. Essentially, spiritual intimidation is when you are systematically being convinced that what you believe God has called you to do is wrong; it implies that you are not actually acting in God’s will, but are seeking attention for ourself. In other words, you could say this is spiritual gaslighting.

Consider, an example from the Old Testament in Genesis. That’s right, we’re going back to Noah. He was building an ark – and there were definitely those who didn’t believe that he was doing God’s will – if they believed in God at all (you’ll need to read the account to know what I’m getting at). But wait! There’s more: Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Deborah, Isaiah, David,… Do I need to continue? Basically, with each of these of these individuals there are those that doubt them and their leadership. Now, in each their leadership was because they were called by God to be in the positions that they were in, and they were all individuals that for the vast majority of their lives were walking with God (even through there are times where they aren’t – David and Moses are both recorded as having failed to follow God’s will at times of their lives). At the time that I am writing this, my church is working its way through I Samuel on Sunday mornings, so I am very familiar with David at this moment. David had Saul coming after him, and making him question if he was doing the right thing (I Samuel 20-22). In each, we see how Satan tried to make them questions what they were doing, he was trying to undermine their efforts, and he was making them doubt that they were doing what they were supposed to.

We don’t want to make anyone think that we are forgetting about the New Testament, lest we unintentionally let someone think that spiritual intimidation is only something that happened in the Old Testament since we are in the middle of Nehemiah. Very obviously the most notable person who faced spiritual intimidation would be Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus faces temptations from Satan, where he was being encouraged to act against his character (which would mean that he was acting about who he is as God). In other words, it would have never worked – but Satan tried anyway. Another series of individuals that we could look at would be the disciples (Acts 3-9). Scripture records several of the disciples facing discouragement and being made to feel by the world around them that they are not acting in the will of God. We could go further and discuss Paul – that man was constantly being made to feel like he was out of the will of God given the types of things that happen to him. Had he not been firmly rooted in his faith, he would have abandoned his mission, and the church would not be where it is today. You can read all about Paul in the book of Acts.

Strategy 4: Undermining Your Efforts

for many in Judah were bound by oath to him, since he was a son-in-law of Shecaniah, son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah. These nobles kept mentioning Tobiah’s good deeds to me, and they reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me. – Nehemiah 6:18-19

We have now made it to our final strategy that Satan likes to use when it comes to spiritually intimidating Christians, and that is to undermine your efforts. If you are acting in obedience, that means that you are going to be making a concentrated effort to do what God is calling you to do.

Let me personally say, there is almost nothing that is more frustrating than knowing with your whole being that you are doing what God has called you to do, and nothing is going your way. It makes you feel like you are wasting your time, money, efforts, and like you aren’t doing anything for the kingdom of God. However, we also know that God works all things for the good of those who serve him (Romans 8:28). Now this doesn’t mean that I am the person who is going to experience the good, nor does it even mean that the good is going to be experienced during my lifetime by others. What it does mean is that God is using Satan’s attempts to discourage you to bring about something good.

There are characters all through out scripture that we could look at, but one of the main people that I think of from the Old Testament (besides, obviously, Nehemiah) is Moses when he was on Mount Sinai (Exodus 32:19). He had seen God do amazing things, he had been leading the people continuously pointing them towards God, and then the first time he leaves them alone then immediately turn back to worshiping the gods of the Egyptians. The other person that I think of is from the New Testament and that is Paul (I Corinthians 5:1-8). Paul was constantly having his efforts undermined, and he would call the churches out on it – because his efforts were always to bring them closer to God and to have them living a life that is pleasing to God. If anyone was frustrated by having their efforts undermined it had to be Moses and Paul. It just had to be, because I feel frustrated every time I read through these scriptures.

Final Thoughts

Understanding that there is such a thing as spiritual attack is important. It is also necessary to understand that the devil is truly a lion that is looking for someone to devour (I Peter 5:8) and he does that by finding ways to undermine what Christians are doing as they are trying to serve God. Sometimes this is through distracting us from the missions that we have been given by having us look towards doing other things that are good, but not what we are called to. Often it is through attacking the integrity of the individual – if your integrity is questioned that ruins your reputation as well as the reputation of those who are associated with you. Satan will also put spiritual intimidation in our paths in the form of others discouraging us, or even those in some kind of spiritual authority over us abusing that power. Finally, Satan with strategically undermine your efforts by leveling discouragement, disappointment, and outright disobedience