Josh Evans never existed. Still, he befriended 13-year-old Megan Meier through an online network. Eventually, he sent this message, “I don’t know if I want to be friends with you. . . . I hear you’re not nice to your friends.” Josh posted increasingly cruel notes until Megan committed suicide. As it turned out, “Josh” was actually the mother of one of Megan’s friends, posing as a teenage bully.

If you’ve ever encountered a bully, you understand the fear and humiliation these power-trippers thrive on. Nehemiah understood it too. When he and the Israelites were rebuilding Jerusalem’s wall, he said his harassers were “just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could discourage us” (v.9).

Sanballat and Geshem sent messages asking Nehemiah to meet with them so they could derail his work. He saw through their device answering, “I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come” (6:3).

After sending their message four separate times, Nehemiah’s bullies changed tactics. They threatened to tell the king that Nehemiah was planning a rebellion. Nehemiah replied, “There is no truth in any part of your story. You are making up the whole thing” (v.8). Nehemiah then prayed, “Remember, O my God, all the evil things that [they] have done” (v.14). Like Nehemiah, we need to call on the One who is “glorious in power” (Exodus 15:6), seeking His strength to complete the work He has for us.

Power-trippers are everywhere—at work, at school, and even at the dinner table. They may pick on us for a while, but no one can ultimately thwart the work God has called us to do (Romans 8:31-33). Nehemiah proved it. When he and the Israelites finished the wall, his bullies were the ones who were “frightened and humiliated” (Nehemiah 6:16).