How to Respond to the Haters
You can be doing anything of value—literally anything—and you will face opposition.
If Handel were premiering Messiah this week, someone would write on Twitter:
“Sure, the music was pretty good, but I HATED the part when we had to stand for the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus.”
It doesn’t matter what it is—there will ALWAYS be someone who complains, dishonestly critiques, or otherwise tries to compromise what you’re doing.
Opposition is inevitable, which is why I like Nehemiah so much—he never lets opposition get in his head. In today’s passage (Nehemiah 6:1-14), he gives us three different ways with which to respond to opposition.
First, Stay Focused On What Matters Most
6 Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates), 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm. 3 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?” 4 And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner.
Nehemiah is rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, but the enemies of the Jews want to stop him from completing his project, so they try to distract him with a pretext for a meeting. I love Nehemiah’s response:
“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?”
Stay focused on what you are building; ignore the folks who only want to tear down.
Second, Don’t Feel You Have to Respond to Lies
5 In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. 6 In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports you wish to become their king. 7 And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.” 8 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.” 9 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.
The charge that Sanballat levies against Nehemiah is that the rebuilding is just a cover for a rebellion that Nehemiah wants to lead, with himself as king. This is a serious charge, because presumably the Persian king would not take kindly to rebellion in Jerusalem. And yet Nehemiah doesn’t take the bait:
“No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.”
And he goes on with the work.
Don’t feel the need to respond to every lie that is said about you.
Third, Be Prepared to Stand Your Ground, Come What May
10 Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.” 11 But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.” 12 And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 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. 14 Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.
A false prophet—on the enemies’ payroll—tries to persuade Nehemiah to hide for his life in the Temple. Nehemiah rejects this suggestion:
“Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.”
Nehemiah decides that he has a job to do, and if it costs him his life, so be it. In other words, he doesn’t give into fear.
Fear is a lie, and it never comes from God, so don’t give it undue power in your life today.
As you are engaged in building something beautiful, what opposition are you facing today?