THE TWO GUARDS PRAYING AND WATCHING – Charles Spurgeon
THE TWO GUARDS: PRAYING AND WATCHING
“Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.” Nehemiah 4:9.
I. THE FIRST GUARD—PRAYER
Nehemiah and the Jews with him were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Sanballat and others were angry with them and tried to stop the work. They determined to pounce upon the people on a sudden and slay them—and so put an end to what they were doing. Our text tells us what Nehemiah and his companions did in this emergency—“Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.” These people had not only to build the wall of Jerusalem, but to watch against their enemies at the same time. Their case is ours. We have to work for Christ. I hope that all of us who love Him are trying to do what we can to build up His kingdom—but we need also to watch against deadly foes. If they can destroy us, of course they will also destroy our work. They will do both if they can. The powers of evil are mad against the people of God. If they can in any way injure or annoy us, you may rest assured that they will do so. They will leave no stone unturned if it can serve their purpose. No arrows will be left in the quivers of hell while there are godly men and women at whom they can be aimed. Satan and his allies aim at our hearts every poisoned dart they have. Nehemiah had been warned of the attack that was to be made upon the city. The Jews who lived near these Samaritans had heard their talk of what they meant to do and they came and told Nehemiah of the plotting of the adversaries. We also have been warned. As our Lord said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat,” so has He, in His Word, told us that there is a great and terrible evil power which is seeking our destruction. If Satan can do it, he will not only sift us as wheat, but he will cast us into the fire that we may be destroyed. Brethren, “we are not ignorant of his devices.” You are not left in a fool’s paradise to dream of security from trial and to fancy that you are past temptation. It was well for these people, also, that being in danger and being aware of the malice of their enemies, they had a noble leader to incite them to the right course to be pursued. Nehemiah was well qualified for his work. He gave the Jews very shrewd, sensible and yet spiritual advice—and this was a great help to them in their hour of need. Beloved, we have a better Leader than Nehemiah. We have our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and we have His Holy Spirit who dwells in us and shall abide with us. I beg you to listen to His wise and good advice. I think that He will give it to you through our explanation of the text. He will say to you what Nehemiah, in effect, said to these people, “Watch and pray.” Although the adversaries of the Jews conspired together—and came to fight against Jerusalem and to hinder the work of rebuilding the wall—Nehemiah says, “Nevertheless, we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.” In the text, I see two guards. First, prayer—“We made our prayer unto our God.” The second guard is watchfulness—“We set a watch.” When I have spoken on these two subjects, I shall take, as my third topic, the two guards together. “We prayed and we set a watch.” We must have them both if we would defeat the enemy.
II. THE SECOND GUARD—WATCHFULNESS
I have now to speak to you about THE SECOND GUARD—“We set a watch against them day and night, because of them.” This setting of the watch was a work appointed. “We set a watch.” Nehemiah did not say, “Now, some of you fellows go and watch,” leaving the post of watchmen open to any who chose to take it, but they “set a watch.” A certain number of men had to go on duty at a certain point, at a certain hour, remain for a certain length of time and be on guard against the adversary. “We set a watch.” Brethren, if we are to watch over ourselves—and we must do so—we must do it with a definite purpose. We must not say, “I must try to be watchful.” No, no. You must be watchful and your watchfulness must be as distinct and definite an act as your prayer. “We set a watch.” Some of you have seen the guards changed in the barracks—there is a special time for each company to mount guard. When you go to bed at night pray the Lord to guard you during the darkness; in the morning, set a watch when you go to your business. Set a watch when you go to the dinner table. Set a watch when you return home. Oh, how soon we may be betrayed into evil unless we set a watch! It was a work carefully done, for Nehemiah says, “We set a watch against them day and night, because of them.” Those three last words would be better rendered, “over against them,” that is, wherever there was an enemy, there he set a watch. They are likely to come up this way. Very well, set a watch there. Perhaps they may shift about and come up this way. Very well, set a watch there. Possibly they may come climbing over the wall in front here. Well, set a watch there. “We set a watch over against them.” One brother has a very hot temper. Brother, set a watch there. Another is very morose at home, critical, picking holes in other people’s coats. Brother, set a watch there. One friend has a tendency to pride, another to unbelief. Set a watch wherever the foe is likely to come. “We made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch over against them.” It was a work continued. Nehemiah says, “We set a watch against them day and night.” What! Is there to be someone sitting up all night? Of course there is. If Sanballat had told them when he meant to attack them, they might have gone to sleep at other times, but as he did not give them that information, they had to set a watch “day and night.” The devil will not give you notice when he is going to tempt you—he likes to take men by surprise—therefore, set a watch day and night. It was a work quickened by knowledge. They knew that Sanballat would come if he could, so they set a watch. The more you know of the plague of your own heart, the more you will set a watch against it. The more you know of the temptations that are in the world through lust, the more you should set a watch. The older you are, the more you should watch. “Oh!” says an aged friend, “you should not say that—it is the young people who go wrong.” Is it? In the Old Testament or in the New, have you an instance of a young believer who went astray? The Bible tells us of many old men who were tripped up by Satan when they were not watching. So you have need to set a watch even when your hair turns grey, for you will not be out of gunshot of the devil until you have passed through the gate of pearl into the golden streets of the New Jerusalem. You and I, dear friends, have need to set a watch against the enemies of our holy faith.
III. THE TWO GUARDS TOGETHER
I finish by putting THE TWO GUARDS TOGETHER. “We made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them.” Dear friends, neither of these two guards is sufficient by itself. Prayer alone will not avail. To pray and not to watch is presumption. You pretend to trust in God and yet you are throwing yourself into danger, as the devil would have had Christ do, when he tempted Him to cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. If you pray to be kept, then be watchful. Prayer without watchfulness is hypocrisy. A man prays to be kept from sin and then goes into temptation—his prayer is evidently a mere piece of mockery, for he does not carry it out in practice. Sometimes, however, ignorance may lead to prayer without watching. There are other things which ought not to be omitted. Let me tell you a simple story. There was a little schoolgirl who did not often know her lessons. And there was another girl who sat near her, who always said her lessons correctly. Her companions said to her, “Jane, how is it that you always know your lessons?” Jane replied, “I pray to God to help me and so I know them.” The next day, the other little girl stood up, but she did not know her lesson—and afterward she said to her friend, “I prayed to God about my lesson, but I did not know it any better than I did yesterday.” Jane said, “But did you try to learn the lesson?” “No,” she said, “I prayed about it and I thought that was sufficient.” Of course, she did not know her lesson without learning it. In the same manner, you must watch as well as pray. There must be the daily guard put upon tongue, and thought, and hand, or else prayer will be in vain.
I have known some people run great risks and yet say that they have prayed to the Lord to preserve them. I have heard, dozens of times, these words, “I made it a matter of prayer,” and I have been ready to grow angry with the man who has uttered them. He has done a wrong thing and he has excused himself because he says that he made it a matter of prayer. A young man married an ungodly young woman and yet he said that he made it a matter of prayer! A Christian woman married an ungodly man and when someone blamed her for disobeying the Word of God, she said that she made it a matter of prayer. If you had really sought divine guidance, you would not have dared to do what the Scriptures expressly forbid a child of God. Prayer without watching is not sufficient to preserve us from evil. On the other hand, dear friends, watching without praying is equally futile. To say, “I will keep myself right,” and never pray to God to keep you is self-confidence which must lead to evil. If you try to watch and do not pray, you will go to sleep and there will be an end to your watching. It is only by praying and watching that you will be able to keep on your guard. Besides, watching grows wearisome without prayer, and we soon give it up unless we have a sweet interlude of prayer to give us rest and to help us to continue watching. I will not keep you longer when I have said this, put the two together, “Watch and pray,” or as my text has it, “Pray and watch.” One will help the other. Prayer will call out the watchman, prayer will incite him to keep his eyes open, prayer will be the food to sustain him during the night, prayer will be the fire to warn him. On the other hand, watching will help prayer, for watching proves prayer to be true. Watching excites prayer, for every enemy we see will move us to pray more earnestly. Moreover, watching is prayer. If there is true watching, the watching itself is prayer. The two blend the one into the other. Beloved friends, I send you away with my text ringing in your ears, “We made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night.”
But I have not been speaking to all who are here. Some of you do not pray. Some of you cannot set a watch. The message for you is, “You must be born again.” You cannot attempt Christian duties till first you have the Christian life, and the only way to get the Christian life is to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to the fountain which He has filled with His precious blood. Wash there and be clean. And then, quickened by His Spirit, set a watch. I am looking to see some people brought to Christ at this service, for although I have been preaching to God’s people, if they will watch for you and pray for you, there will come a blessing to you through their watching and praying. The Lord grant that it may come to many of you! “Seek you the Lord while He may be found, call you upon Him when He is near.” May many seek and find the Lord tonight—and may many call upon Him in truth! “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” God grant that it may be so to everybody here, for Jesus’ sake! Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON—NEHEMIAH 4.
HYMNS FROM “OUR OWN HYMN BOOK”—994, 999, 668.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON
NEHEMIAH 4:1-23
Verse 1. But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we built the wall, he was angry and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. It was necessary to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem which had been lying in ruins. They went on pretty briskly, for everyone had a mind to work. There never was a good work yet but what there were some to oppose it—and there never will be till the Lord comes. Sanballat heard what the Jews were doing and he was very angry. “He was angry and took great indignation.” He was all on fire with anger that God’s work was being continued.
And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? The enemies of God’s people generally take to sneering. It is a very easy way of showing opposition.
Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? No doubt these questions were thought to be very witty and very sarcastic. The enemies of Christ are generally good hands at this kind of thing. Well, if it amuses them, I do not know that it need hurt us much—for, after all, it is their way of paying homage to God’s power.
Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him. Such a man as Sanballat never lacks friends. If there is a bad man anywhere, there is sure to be another close at hand. The devil does not make a fire with one stick. When he has set the first one alight, he can generally find more wood to put near it. Tobiah the Ammonite who was tarred with the same brush as Sanballat the Horonite, was by him.
4, 5. Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity; and cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before You: for they have provoked You to anger before the builders. This was righteous indignation, but Nehemiah is not a perfect model for us. He was not only stern, but he mingled with his severity a measure of bitterness in his prayer that we must not imitate. Sometimes, when we have seen men plotting against God, seeking to ruin the souls of others and trying to stop us in our endeavor to build up the church of God, we have felt such language as this trembling on our lips. It were better, however, for us to bow the knee in humble imitation of our Lord upon the cross and cry, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
So built we the wall. You half expected to read, “So we stopped building the wall and answered Sanballat and Tobiah.” Not a bit of it. They kept to their work and let these two men scoff as they pleased.
And all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work. They built the wall as high as they meant it to be ultimately, but they carried it all round and joined it well together. If we cannot do all we would like to do, let us do what we can—and let us endeavor, as far as possible, to finish off the part that we do, waiting for better times to carry the walls higher.
But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very angry. They were “angry” before—now they were “very angry.” If a work has no opposition from Satan, we may be half afraid it is good for nothing. If you cannot make the devil roar, you have not done him much harm—but the more he roars, the more cause there is for the angels singing the praises of God before the throne of God.
And conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it. It is amazing how unanimous bad men can be. It has always struck me as a very startling thing that you have never heard of any division among the devils in hell. There are no sects among the devils—they seem to work together with an awful unanimity of purpose in their wicked design. In this one thing they seem to excel the family of God. Oh, that we were as hearty and united in the service of God as wicked men are in the service of Satan!
9, 10. Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them. And Judah said—Judah, you know, was the lion tribe. Christ is “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” But Judah, instead of being lion-hearted, made a noise more like a mouse than a lion, and Judah said—
The strength of the bearers of burden is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall. Poor Judah! He ought to have been bolder and braver, but he was not. It is the same today—some who seem to be pillars prove very weak in the hour of trial—and by their cowardice discourage the rest.
And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease. While some were discouraging the people within the city, their enemies, outside the walls, were plotting to take them by surprise and slay them.
And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times, From all places whence you shall return unto us they will be upon you. These Jews ought to have been helping to build the wall, but they did not come to the help of the Lord’s people. Still, they were sufficiently friendly to tell Nehemiah of the plot that was being hatched by his enemies. God knows how, when His enemies are sinking a mine, to undermine them. If secrecy is necessary to the success of evil, somebody speaks out and tells the story, so that the plot is discovered.
Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. When Nehemiah knew the danger to which the people were exposed, he took measures to guard against it. I like the commonsense of Nehemiah. He kept families together. “I set the people after their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows.” Beloved friends, I have no greater joy than such as I had last Tuesday when I received 8 8 five children of one family, all brought to Christ. May the Lord make our families to be the guards of the church!
And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not afraid of them. Fear may waken us, but it must never be allowed to weaken us. We should put on the armor and take the sword and spear and bow when there is cause for fear—we should never dream of running away.
14, 15. Remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses. And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nothing, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work. There was no fighting, after all. As soon as the enemy knew that their plot was found out, they did not make any assault. One commentator says—“Some men, if they had been delivered from danger, would have returned, every one to the ale-house, but these men returned, every one, to his work.” They went back to their building and continued still in the service of the city.
16, 17. And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants worked in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. They which built on the wall, and they that bore burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands worked in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. The sword and the trowel both guarded the city and built the wall.
- For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so built. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. What the trumpet was for, we are told directly.
19, 20. And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. In what places, therefore you hear the sound of the trumpet, resort you there unto us: our God shall fight for us. That is a grand sentence. The moment you hear the trumpet, you are to leave your place on the wall and come to the point where the enemy is attacking us. But Nehemiah does not say, “You shall fight for us,” he puts it much better, “Our God shall fight for us.” So He will.
- So we labored in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. They made long days. Christian people do not want merely eight hours a day for Christ. We can sometimes do 18 hours’ work for Him in a day—and we wish that we could do twenty-four.
22, 23. Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labor on the day. So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes. Nehemiah was a good leader. He did not say, “Go.” He said, “Come”—and he bore the brunt of the service. Like Alexander, who went with the Macedonians into the rough places, and did the hard work, so did Nehemiah. He and those with him did not put off their clothes, even for sleeping.
- Saving that every one put them off for washing. Which was necessary, for cleanliness is next to godliness. May the Lord send us more Nehemiahs and plenty of people to work with them who can endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and who will also be good builders of the church of God!