Witness mock throughout the Bible: H3932 la'ag--to mock, deride, ridicule
Nehemiah 4:1 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked H3932 the Jews.
The Torah testifies...............
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The prophets proclaim..................
Jeremiah 20:7 O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh H3932 me.
The writings bear witness...........................
Proverbs 30:17 The eye that mocketh H3932 at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.
Job 11:3 Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, H3932 shall no man make thee ashamed?
Prepare to overcome HaSatan’s attack.
One way you can prepare to defend your potential is to make wise choices. Consider carefully with whom you associate and where you spend your time. Examine your reading material and how you fill your day. Be cautious with whom you share your dreams—if you share them at all.
A second priority in preparing to meet HaSatan’s attack is to be sure that your vision is from The Most High. Don’t conjure up your own ideas. If they contradict The Most High’s Word, you know your ideas are not from Him.
The Most High will not deny His Word. False dreams and fake prophecies are sure ways to lose your potential. HaSatan will distract you anyway he can. Prepare for his attack by staying in close fellowship with The Most High and by seeking His knowledge and wisdom. A third method for fortifying yourself against the assault of evil is to seek The Most High’s discipline and direction in your life. Be truthful in your dealings. Act with justice and virtue. Live at peace with others as it is within your power, being careful, however, not to compromise your loyalty and obedience to The Most High and His Word. Seek His chastening when you have failed and “rejoice in [your] sufferings, because...suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us...” (Romans 5:3-5). The Most High will honor your efforts to obey Him and, in so doing, you will guard your potential.
Stand firm in the midst of attack. Sooner or later, HaSatan is going to step over the boundaries of your defense and you are going to be under attack. Then it is time to move from guarding your potential to protecting it. Paul admonished the Ephesians to stand their ground and, after doing everything else, still to stand. Perseverance is the key. You may not win the war in one battle, but you can stand firm in the midst of each assault.
Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Paul—all persevered through numerous battles to emerge victorious. At times they faltered and failed, but they always returned to the battle. You too must persevere when the forces of evil threaten to overwhelm you to destroy your potential. The story of Nehemiah offers some hints on how to do this.
How to Protect Yourself From Attack
Nehemiah, a common man, had a job as the cupbearer of the Persian king in whose land he was an exile. When he heard of the plight of his former countrymen who had not been carried into exile and the sorry state of the city of Jerusalem, he mourned for them and asked The Most High to help him return to Jerusalem so he could rebuild the city. The Most High heard his prayer and granted him favor in the king’s sight so that the king gave Nehemiah both his permission to return to Jerusalem and the resources to begin rebuilding the city.
Not everyone, however, was happy that Nehemiah was taking an interest in the well-being of the city and its inhabitants. When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites (Nehemiah 2:10). Even though Nehemiah was trying to do something beneficial, these fellows were angered by his plans. So they started to make trouble for him.
“What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?” (Nehemiah 2:19)
But Nehemiah was not to be deterred. He gathered workers together and began to rebuild the gates and the walls of Jerusalem. This incensed Sanballat further so that he began to ridicule the Hebrews:
What are those feeble Hebrews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are? (Nehemiah 4:2)
Tobiah joined in his mocking:
What they are building—if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones! (Nehemiah 4:3)
Nehemiah did not reply to their ridicule. Instead, he turned to the Lord in prayer (see Nehemiah 4:4-5) and kept on with the work. This illustrates the first guideline for protecting your potential.
Don’t answer your critics.
There are several levels of anger. At first your critic may be annoyed by you, but if you persist in your work, he becomes incensed. Sanballat, Tobiah, and their associates became incensed by the continued work on the walls of Jerusalem and committed themselves to destroying the potential of Nehemiah and the other workers who were rebuilding the city.
They all [Sanballat and his cohorts] plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we [Nehemiah and the other workers] prayed to our The Most High and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat (Nehemiah 4:8-9).
Nehemiah responded to this new threat the same way he had answered the last one. He prayed to The Most High instead of answering his critics. He also added a second line to his defense. He posted a guard. This is the second guideline for protecting your potential. Post a guard to lessen the likelihood of attack.
When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that The Most High had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work (Nehemiah 4:15).
This reveals a third means of protecting your potential from attack. Allow The Most High to fight for you. The workers stood guard, but The Most High frustrated the plans of the attackers. The Israelites relied on Him to fight for them:
Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our The Most High will fight for us! (Nehemiah 4:20)
For a while, Nehemiah and his helpers worked in peace. Yet, they did not let down their guard.
From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked (Nehemiah 4:16-18).
Thus, they employed a fourth means for protecting their potential from attack. Don’t allow a lull in the battle to convince you that the war is over. Don’t confuse quiet with peace. Finally, when Nehemiah’s enemies received word that the wall had been completely rebuilt, they sent a message to request a meeting:
Come, let us meet together in one of the villages... (Nehemiah 6:2).
Nehemiah wisely countered this as well, recognizing it for a different kind of attack:
But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” (Nehemiah 6:2-3)
This reply reveals a fifth and a sixth means of protecting your potential from attack. First, Nehemiah sent a messenger instead of going himself when his enemies summoned him. Stay away from the opposition. Second, he refused to stop his work to talk. Don’t waste time talking.
Even when Sanballat sent letters four and five times requesting Nehemiah to come to a village to talk, and tried to intimidate Nehemiah by suggesting that he would soon be in trouble with the king in Persia, Nehemiah remained firm in his stance. He again sent a letter instead of going himself, and he accused his opposers of making things up in their heads to create trouble. You too must remain firm in your decisions and refuse to be intimidated by your oppressors. These are the seventh and eighth factors in protecting your potential when you are under assault.
Nehemiah used many methods to fight for his vision. You must employ the same methods to preserve your potential from attack.
Jeremiah 20:7 O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh H3932 me.
The writings bear witness...........................
Proverbs 30:17 The eye that mocketh H3932 at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.
Job 11:3 Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, H3932 shall no man make thee ashamed?
Prepare to overcome HaSatan’s attack.
One way you can prepare to defend your potential is to make wise choices. Consider carefully with whom you associate and where you spend your time. Examine your reading material and how you fill your day. Be cautious with whom you share your dreams—if you share them at all.
A second priority in preparing to meet HaSatan’s attack is to be sure that your vision is from The Most High. Don’t conjure up your own ideas. If they contradict The Most High’s Word, you know your ideas are not from Him.
The Most High will not deny His Word. False dreams and fake prophecies are sure ways to lose your potential. HaSatan will distract you anyway he can. Prepare for his attack by staying in close fellowship with The Most High and by seeking His knowledge and wisdom. A third method for fortifying yourself against the assault of evil is to seek The Most High’s discipline and direction in your life. Be truthful in your dealings. Act with justice and virtue. Live at peace with others as it is within your power, being careful, however, not to compromise your loyalty and obedience to The Most High and His Word. Seek His chastening when you have failed and “rejoice in [your] sufferings, because...suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us...” (Romans 5:3-5). The Most High will honor your efforts to obey Him and, in so doing, you will guard your potential.
Stand firm in the midst of attack. Sooner or later, HaSatan is going to step over the boundaries of your defense and you are going to be under attack. Then it is time to move from guarding your potential to protecting it. Paul admonished the Ephesians to stand their ground and, after doing everything else, still to stand. Perseverance is the key. You may not win the war in one battle, but you can stand firm in the midst of each assault.
Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Paul—all persevered through numerous battles to emerge victorious. At times they faltered and failed, but they always returned to the battle. You too must persevere when the forces of evil threaten to overwhelm you to destroy your potential. The story of Nehemiah offers some hints on how to do this.
How to Protect Yourself From Attack
Nehemiah, a common man, had a job as the cupbearer of the Persian king in whose land he was an exile. When he heard of the plight of his former countrymen who had not been carried into exile and the sorry state of the city of Jerusalem, he mourned for them and asked The Most High to help him return to Jerusalem so he could rebuild the city. The Most High heard his prayer and granted him favor in the king’s sight so that the king gave Nehemiah both his permission to return to Jerusalem and the resources to begin rebuilding the city.
Not everyone, however, was happy that Nehemiah was taking an interest in the well-being of the city and its inhabitants. When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites (Nehemiah 2:10). Even though Nehemiah was trying to do something beneficial, these fellows were angered by his plans. So they started to make trouble for him.
“What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?” (Nehemiah 2:19)
But Nehemiah was not to be deterred. He gathered workers together and began to rebuild the gates and the walls of Jerusalem. This incensed Sanballat further so that he began to ridicule the Hebrews:
What are those feeble Hebrews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are? (Nehemiah 4:2)
Tobiah joined in his mocking:
What they are building—if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones! (Nehemiah 4:3)
Nehemiah did not reply to their ridicule. Instead, he turned to the Lord in prayer (see Nehemiah 4:4-5) and kept on with the work. This illustrates the first guideline for protecting your potential.
Don’t answer your critics.
There are several levels of anger. At first your critic may be annoyed by you, but if you persist in your work, he becomes incensed. Sanballat, Tobiah, and their associates became incensed by the continued work on the walls of Jerusalem and committed themselves to destroying the potential of Nehemiah and the other workers who were rebuilding the city.
They all [Sanballat and his cohorts] plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we [Nehemiah and the other workers] prayed to our The Most High and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat (Nehemiah 4:8-9).
Nehemiah responded to this new threat the same way he had answered the last one. He prayed to The Most High instead of answering his critics. He also added a second line to his defense. He posted a guard. This is the second guideline for protecting your potential. Post a guard to lessen the likelihood of attack.
When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that The Most High had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work (Nehemiah 4:15).
This reveals a third means of protecting your potential from attack. Allow The Most High to fight for you. The workers stood guard, but The Most High frustrated the plans of the attackers. The Israelites relied on Him to fight for them:
Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our The Most High will fight for us! (Nehemiah 4:20)
For a while, Nehemiah and his helpers worked in peace. Yet, they did not let down their guard.
From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked (Nehemiah 4:16-18).
Thus, they employed a fourth means for protecting their potential from attack. Don’t allow a lull in the battle to convince you that the war is over. Don’t confuse quiet with peace. Finally, when Nehemiah’s enemies received word that the wall had been completely rebuilt, they sent a message to request a meeting:
Come, let us meet together in one of the villages... (Nehemiah 6:2).
Nehemiah wisely countered this as well, recognizing it for a different kind of attack:
But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” (Nehemiah 6:2-3)
This reply reveals a fifth and a sixth means of protecting your potential from attack. First, Nehemiah sent a messenger instead of going himself when his enemies summoned him. Stay away from the opposition. Second, he refused to stop his work to talk. Don’t waste time talking.
Even when Sanballat sent letters four and five times requesting Nehemiah to come to a village to talk, and tried to intimidate Nehemiah by suggesting that he would soon be in trouble with the king in Persia, Nehemiah remained firm in his stance. He again sent a letter instead of going himself, and he accused his opposers of making things up in their heads to create trouble. You too must remain firm in your decisions and refuse to be intimidated by your oppressors. These are the seventh and eighth factors in protecting your potential when you are under assault.
Nehemiah used many methods to fight for his vision. You must employ the same methods to preserve your potential from attack.
Shema Selah don't answer your critics!! Pray, guard and watch the Most High fight for you!! https://www.facebook.com/fiveam.prayer/videos/2080864355325003/?l=5278445222839103888
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