Facing Opposition? Where does your strength lie?
Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more.,
What Is Opposition?
According to thefreedictionary.com, opposition is,
The action of opposing, resisting, or combating.
Antagonism or hostility. Or,
A person or group of people opposing, criticizing, or protesting something, someone, or another group.
There is no one on this planet who does not face some kind of opposition on a regular basis throughout their life. But sometimes we may go through periods where the opposition we're facing seems to be coming constantly from all directions and we feel like there's no end. It's exceptionally painful when the opposition is coming from people you love, or your finances are being attacked. Since we know that opposition will come our way, then as Christians, our challenge is learning how to properly respond to, and deal with it in a way that pleases the Lord. Matthew 5:11-12 says, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The Bible is full of examples of men and women of faith who did not waver in the face of opposition. Considering there was no such thing as rain back then, Noah probably faced opposition the entire 120 years he was building the ark. And then you have other biblical characters such as Moses, Joseph, and Daniel, whose amazing stories are filled with the opposition they faced throughout their lives. Learning how to respond to opposition takes a lot of PPP (patience, prayer, and practice). In the beginning, the apostle Peter was not very good at handling opposition, as he would often just lash out by acting first and thinking later (John 18:10). After receiving the Holy Spirit, Peter became much better at handling opposition and gave us these wonderful scriptures to study and apply to our lives today.
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though something strange were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that at the revelation of His glory you may also rejoice and be overjoyed (1 Peter 4:12-13).
But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled” (1 Peter 3:14).
Considering that I couldn't possibly begin to name all the wonderful Bible characters who pushed through the opposition they faced in their lives, I've decided to pick 5 of my favorites and share in more detail the opposition they faced, how they dealt with it, and how you and I can apply these valuable lessons to our lives today.
Nehemiah
Nehemiah was a cupbearer for the Pagan King Artaxerxes of Persia. It was his job to taste all the food and drink before the King, to ensure it was not poisonous, and to protect the King from assassination attempts. One day while serving in the Persian capital of Shushan, he received word that the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians and the wall around the city had been torn down and lay burnt in rubles. The plight of his people grieved Nehemiah deeply, so he went before the Lord in prayer. After realizing that the Lord had chosen him to return to Jerusalem, Nehemiah went before King Artaxerxes and asked for his permission to return to Jerusalem to help his people rebuild the wall. The King not only gave him permission but also provided letters for safe travel and enabled him to obtain all the necessary materials that he needed (Nehemiah 2:4-8).
As soon as all the work started, the opposition begin to raise its evil head (that's usually the way it works). Nehemiah soon got word that three non-Jewish local governors - Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab heard of his plan to rebuild the wall and were very angry. This threesome was soon joined by more people such as the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the people of Ashdod. They mocked and ridiculed Nehemiah’s entire vision but he just ignored their ridicule and went to God. Afterward, he got back to work on the wall. Repeatedly, the enemy tried to destroy him by trying to lure him to a meeting to harm him. They even tried to lure him into the Temple’s holy of holies, so he would contaminate himself (Nehemiah 6:11-13). Aware of the danger, he came up with a brilliant strategic plan where everyone was armed 24/7 while they worked on the wall, never ceasing to take counsel from the Lord (Nehemiah 4:9).
What did Nehemiah do in the face of opposition? He prayed to God, and then he got back to work. He was spiritual, yet practical. He prayed as if everything depended on God and worked as if everything depended on him. Because faith without works is dead (James 2:20). Through all the opposition that Nehemiah faced, the entire project was completed in only 52 days. Nehemiah kept strong in his faith and never let the opposition stop him from completing his task.
Job
Job was an extremely wealthy, yet godly man who lived in the land of Uz just southeast of Israel (modern-day Jordan). Job 1:3 tells us, “Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household (many servants) so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.” He also had seven sons and three daughters (vs. 2). He was such a well-known, respected, and prominent figure in the region, that in his very presence, people from all walks of life would rise to their feet, step aside, and even refrain from speaking (Job 29:7-16). Even the Lord Himself called Job “My servant” and considered him blameless (Job 1:8).
But even Job was not immune to opposition. The first attack came from Satan himself who approached God and accused Job of worshipping only because of all the Lord’s provisions. God allowed Job to prove himself but kept Satan from taking Job’s life. From that point on, according to Satan, it was “Game On.” Within a short period of time, Job’s life changed dramatically, as Satan's opposition wrapped around his life like a swaddling cloth around a baby.
All his donkeys, camels, and oxen were stolen (Job 1:13-15).
All his sheep and other servants were burned alive in a fire (Job 1:16).
All his sons and daughters were killed in an instant when a mighty wind caused their house to collapse on top of them (Job 1:18-19).
He gets afflicted with painful sores all over his body (Job 2:7-8).
Job’s 3 Friends became “miserable comforters” as they accused him of having unconfessed sin and therefore was being punished by God (Job.4).
And even Job’s wife denied his integrity and told him to “curse God and die” (Job 2:9).
And you think you're facing opposition? Compared to this man, most of our opposition is child's play. On top of Satan’s attacks, Job received opposition from his family and friends. That hurts even worse! Matthew 10:36 says, “A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” Yet, although Job curses the day he was born (Job 3:1), he never cursed God. Job 1:20-22 says,
At this, Job got up and tore his robe, and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.”
In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
It sure would be nice if we could all be as spiritually strong as this man during our times of opposition. God blessed Job for his faithfulness during all the pain, suffering, and loss he endured, by restoring his fortune and giving him twice as much as he had before (Job 42:10-17).
David
According to 1 Samuel, David was the youngest son of Jesse, a man of Bethlehem. Most of us know him as the shepherd boy who killed the Philistine giant “Goliath” and became Israel’s 3rd King. David was also the great-grandson of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 4:13-22). David was renowned for his passion for God. He was a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14 & Acts 13:22). But David was also blessed with many other abilities such as his touching psalms, musical abilities, good looks, and his expertise in warfare. He was also in the ancestral line of Jesus. However, none of these successes or abilities kept him free from opposition, as he experienced it regularly throughout his life.
From the day the Lord anointed David to be the next King (1 Samuel 16:10-12), he became a threat to King Saul’s dynasty, so King Saul set out to kill him. More than once he fled to the mountains fearing for his life, crying out to God so much that his throat was parched and sore. Psalm 69:4 says,
Those who hate me without reason
outnumber the hairs of my head;
many are my enemies without cause,
those who seek to destroy me.
I am forced to restore
what I did not steal.
David spent the better part of 8 years running for his life. During this time he could have easily killed Saul but instead, repaid Saul’s evil with good, by going out of his way to avoid him. One time David snuck into a cave where Saul was relieving himself and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe just to show him that he could have killed him if he wanted to (1 Samuel 24:11), but he knew that it was the Lord's job to take vengeance (Deuteronomy 32:35). He did not want to lay a hand on the Lord's anointed (1 Samuel 26:9-11). David's opposition came from all directions as all the surrounding nations were trying to kill him and destroy Israel. And if that isn’t enough, in an attempt to take over David's throne, his own son Absalom leads a revolt against him to try to kill him and take over the Kingdom (2 Samuel 15-19).
Fighting off the opposition from your enemies is one thing, but when your own lashes out at you, or revolts against you, the sting in your heart can be unbearable. To deal with it, a parent’s heart can grow cold. But David stayed strong in his faith and his example for us can be found in Psalm 56:3-4 where he writes,
When I am afraid,
I will put my trust in You.
In God, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust;
I shall not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
Paul
Paul, better known as “Paul the Apostle,” was a Roman citizen raised in Tarsus (modern-day Turkey) in the early 1st century AD. He was from the tribe of Benjamin. His Jewish name was “Saul,” but since he was a Roman citizen, his Latin name was “Paul” (meaning small). Paul was a tentmaker by trade but lived as a Pharisee and participated in the persecution of the early disciples of Jesus. Shortly after approving the execution of Steven (Acts 7:59-8:1), Paul meets the risen Christ while traveling down the road to Damascus to find more Christians to arrest. Realizing His deity, Paul drops to his knees and calls Him Lord, as Jesus speaks to him saying, ‘Saul, Saul, (his Jewish name) why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4).
Immediately, Paul was converted, commissioned, and sent out (Acts 9:6). The Lord first sends him to Damascus where he meets Ananias, receives the Holy Spirit, and gets baptized (Acts 9:17-18). From that point on “Paul the Apostle” became one of the most powerful and influential figures in the New Testament, proclaiming everywhere that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God. But Jesus promised him in the beginning that he would be facing a lot of opposition during his journey (Acts 9:15-16). And that opposition was both continuous and cruel. He was constantly ridiculed, rejected, lied about, imprisoned, hunted like prey, and flogged.
He's been stoned and left for dead (2 Cor. 11:25).
3 times he was beaten with rods (2 Cor. 11:25).
3 times he was shipwrecked and spent a night and a day in the open sea (2 Cor. 11:25).
Many times he has gone without food and has been cold and naked (2 Cor. 11:27).
And if that isn’t enough,
5 times he received 40 stripes minus 1 (2 Cor. 11:24).
Considering that each stripe inflicts a bloody tear in a person's back, that means that Paul was walking around with 195 permanent stripes on his back. Yet despite his cruel opposition, he made 3 missionary journeys - spreading the gospel to non-Jewish communities all over Greece, Macedonia, Asia Minor, Cyprus, Judea, and Syria. One of the last things that Paul said before his execution was,
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7).
Jesus
Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:3).
Last and most importantly, we have our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The founder of Christianity and the Creator of the universe. He's the only one on this list whose opposition began as soon as He was born, as King Herod gave orders to kill all male children two years and under in an attempt to kill the Jewish Messiah (Matthew 2:16-18). When we look at the life of Jesus, we might have a hard time understanding how anyone can be against someone who did nothing but travel around healing the sick and crippled, giving sight to the blind, feeding the hungry, casting out demons, bringing people to the one true God, and even raising the dead. But Jesus had many enemies during His ministry, that tried to stop Him from doing the work of His Father.
The Jewish leaders slandered Jesus and tried to drum up false evidence against Him and have Him put to death (Matthew 26:59-60).
One of His trusted men betrayed Him for 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-16).
When Jesus was arrested, His disciples all abandoned Him (Mark 14:50).
Even though Jesus was perfect in all His ways, He was constantly criticized. His enemies called Him a glutton and a drunkard (Matthew 11:19), and even claimed that He was demon-possessed (John 8:48). When the Jewish leaders questioned Jesus saying, are you not going to answer? Although accused of blasphemy, spit in the face, struck with fists, declared worthy of death, mocked, and provoked, He chose to remain silent. And like a lamb, He accepted these attacks and prayed for the forgiveness of those attacking Him. Christianity is about being Christ-like as much as possible. And Jesus gives us the perfect example of how we should all handle opposition.
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
So as Christians, let's take these examples to heart, preparing ourselves for the opposition that will come our way. Going before the Lord always and praying for those against us. And then we need to get back to work on the problem at hand, while at the same time allowing the Lord God to take vengeance for us (Deuteronomy 32:35, & Romans 12:17-19).
