Near my Chapter 6, we are looking at all of the chapter
tonight, picking up where we left off last week in Chapter 5.
And the title of tonight's message is dealing with
distractions. Dealing with distractions so
that we're finishing strong in God's work, that which he has
called us to. I don't know if you've ever
started and probably with a new year upon us, you have maybe a
project with enthusiasm where that's maybe a home renovation,
perhaps a New Year's resolution, certainly at this time some kind
of a fitness goal or more of a spiritual discipline.
You know, 2026, this year I want to get into God's Word more.
I want to be more more devoted to understanding what God's Word
is saying and then only to find that you can get sidetracked by
distractions, that things will pop up and it's very easy to
begin strong, isn't it? It's more difficult to finish
with grit and purpose and and finishing in such way, a way
requires a determined focus and commitment to that which you
know you've been called to. Because interruptions can come
from every angle and many times they're well meaning.
Many times they can at surface level look and appear good.
But what we as believers need to consider is not necessarily is
this a good thing for my life, but is this a God thing for my
life? And will it distract from that
which God has called me? You.
Us too. I remember reading about a
concert violinist who revealed her secret to mastering this
instrument. And if any of you have had a
child go through such lessons, you know, it's.
Yeah, it's difficult, isn't it? It's putting it kindly.
And she said this. I deliberately planned to
neglect everything else until my practise was complete.
So in other words, what she said was there was this planned
neglect of of everything else and and saw it as a distraction
almost until she had done that which was a priority for her and
focused in on that practising the the essential amid all of
the noise and mayhem, the busyness of life.
All of that to say, in Nehemiah chapter 6 here, the walls of
Jerusalem and and near completion, we find this and
there's been some 52 days of intense labour going on.
If you've been following the story, there's been heavy
opposition from the outside. These fellows, Sam Ballot,
Tobiah Ghesham and others, it seems they won't quit with their
antagonism and opposition against Nehemiah and the people
of Jerusalem as they're endeavouring to build what is
ultimately God's work. You see, the war was very
important in a spiritual sense for the people of Israel.
And so now Sam, Bella and Tobiah and this geisha, they kind of
shift tactics somewhat in chapter 6.
They've they've tried out and out opposition.
We'll get a little bit of that in this chapter.
But now they're trying to distract Nehemiah personally,
aiming to again, same goal, halt God's restorative work at place
here in Jerusalem. There's intrigue, some stories,
some fabrications going on, there's innuendo as they seek to
attack the character of Nehemiah and out and out intimidation and
Satan's schemes through these fellows.
And, and they're the strategy is to try and divert Nehemiah, to
try and disgrace Nehemiah, to try and deceive Nehemiah and the
people, causing a cessation to the work that they put their
hands to. It's the same goal and it's the
same today. Those strategies, the way that
the enemy Satan works against US and against God's work in US and
through us to try and divert us, to disgrace us, to distract us,
to deceive us. And yet Nehemiah, what we'll
see, he'll stay focused, committed to it.
He discerns the traps and he presses on despite them.
So the main idea here for us tonight is this.
And this will be up on the screen.
And if you're the note taking type, you can quickly jot it
down. And that is this, that if you
forget anything else tonight, when distractions threaten to
derail God's work in our lives, we must discern the enemy
schemes, deny their power through prayer and persistence,
and dedicate ourselves fully to the great task God has given to
us. So this chapter isn't just
history for us again, it's not just a, oh, that's a, a neat
little story with some conflict and here's how they dealt with
it. But it's a battle plan for us.
And I hope that we can recognise it because it's very applicable.
We too face distractions in our lives, in our faith, in our
families, in this church, in the ministries that God has called
us to. So we're going to walk through
this chapter, chapter 6, expositionally going through the
verses, and we'll see three key movements.
Again, if you're taking note, they'll be up on the screen in
the 1st 4 verses. The diversion of intrigue.
This is how these fellows now come upon Nehemiah and the
people at work in Jerusalem. And secondly, we'll see the
disgrace of innuendo. Seeing that that doesn't work.
OK, let's, let's put out a smear campaign against Nehemiah, see
how his character goes against that.
And then going back to the good old fisticuffs of intimidation.
And there's a bit of politicking at the end as well, the
deception of intimidation, verses 10 through to 19.
So again, if you haven't opened our Bibles to Nehemiah 6, let's
see how God equips you and I tonight to finish strong in that
which he has called us to considering the first, the
diversion of intrigue here the enemy attempts to cause Nehemiah
to get distracted by focusing on something else other than that
which God has called him to verse one.
Now it happened. I'm reading from the new King
James when Sam Bellot, Tobaya, Gisham, the Arab and the rest of
our enemies. So there's, there's more to it
than just these three fellows. There's all of their minions,
shall we say, heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that there
were no breaks left in it, though at that time I had not
hung the doors in the gate. So man, some impressive progress
and what we'll see is in the space of 52 days, this building
project will be complete. The wall now at this point in
verse one is structurally complete, but only the gates
remain. So this is a a pretty high
stakes moment when you think about it.
It's the the tension of almost there but not yet finished
enough. There's times when you're
committed to a project around the house and you've been
working and labouring and, and you reach that point of
exhaustion and you're near the end and you can kind of see the
finish line insight and you've just got to push through that
last barrier. It's akin to in the Olympics,
the marathon and you've been running out in the suburbs and
now you arrive in the stadium and, and the crowd is cheering
and, and the finish line is there, but you've got 3 or 4
laps of the stadium to finish. Still.
This is where they're at here in near mine.
It's more than just the fact that well that the gates aren't
on. The gates were the most
vulnerable points in the world. That is where the the place
would now most likely come under attack.
So it's pretty important that Nehemiah not be distracted from
the task of finishing the work that they've put their hands to
that they've progressed so far to achieve to this point where
the walls are at their height. But man, we've just got the
gates left to hang on. We can't stop now.
We're we're almost done, but not yet.
Let's push through to completion.
So important to finish right here.
So verse 2, Sam Ballot and Gisham verse 2, sent to me
saying, come, let us meet together among the villagers in
the plain of Oh, no. And you can kind of say it like
that. Oh, no, don't do it, Nehemiah.
We'll stop there for a minute. Suddenly these foes who had
mocked Nehemiah for so long, you know, everything that had come
out of their mouth up until this point was very antagonistic.
Now it's like, hey, buddy, hey, Nehemiah, old power mate.
And Nehemiah's automatically going, hang on a minute, this is
something different going on here.
And they proposed this friendly summit to this place called Ono,
which was a neutral kind of scenic spot about 40 kilometres
northwest of Jerusalem. But the point is that it's far
away from Nehemiah's armed support that he's got around him
at this point in time. And verse 2 reveals their
intent. At the end of it, says they were
scheming to harm me. That's really this goal isn't as
friendly as their invitation might have sounded, and as as
good as it might have sounded, this wasn't diplomacy.
It was a trap that they were setting, perhaps some kind of an
ambush or an assassination plot. The Hebrew here in the language
for scheming implies this malicious plotting.
So at some point in time they've gone back into their, their, you
know, their dungeons, their bedrooms, their, their, wherever
that was that they met. And so how can we, how can we
distract Nehemiah? How can we get this project
halted and stopped? I know.
And in this way it's very much echoing Satan's tactics, where
sometimes he comes as a roaring lion, but other times he comes
what clothed as an Angel of light, to deceive and to
manipulate. Here he's trying to isolate
Nehemiah out, to ultimately devour and to destroy.
What's Nehemiah going to do? How will he respond?
Will he be alert to their schemes and their Wiles?
Verse 3 So I went to them. So I went to Ono.
No, it doesn't say that, it says.
So I sent messages to them saying, and here's their
message, I'm doing a great work so that I cannot come down.
Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?
Nehemiah's response is firm, isn't it?
He doesn't, as I kind of hinted at in my reading of it, he
doesn't debate with them or negotiate with them.
He prioritises what is his focus and what God has called him to.
He calls it a great work. He doesn't even have a response
himself to them. He sends off his messages.
So that's how committed to the task he is that God has called
him is I will. I will craft a message in
response. But the messengers are going to
do it because I can't waste my time even dialoguing with them
right now about this. As one commentator notes, he
says distractions often come disguised as opportunities, even
seemingly good ones like peace talks.
Which is really what? You're not going to come, We
just want to talk peace. Nehemiah.
But Nehemiah discerns here that meeting now would halt the work
and the gates haven't been put on and thus exposing the people
they're vulnerable. Verse 4.
But they sent me this message 4 times and I answered them in the
same manner. Persistence on their part meets
persistence on Nehemiah's part. Come on out.
Nehemiah, come to Ono. Let's meet.
Let's talk Peace. No, I'm busy.
It's a great work that God has called me to.
Come on, Nehemiah, come on out to Ono, Let's meet.
We want to talk peace. No, I'm busy.
God has called me to a great work four times.
They go through this. The enemy presses, but Nehemiah
refuses. I don't know if you can feel the
tension in this, the situation that Nehemiah's in.
It's kind of like a relentless telemarketer phoning.
And you know, you can feel it at once.
The second time you get irritated, but a third time it's
like, look, I've already told you that's how we're responding,
isn't it? Great offer.
Or maybe you have a Co worker repeatingly urging you to join
in with the office gossip or something like that.
Come on, just this once, it won't hurt wearing down your
resolve to just try and tempt you to give in.
We've all been there. It's it's like the Dieter facing
the 4th doughnut push from friends and just have another
doughnut with us. Or the parents holidays fielding
endless pleas from the kids for just five more minutes on the
screens. Spiritually, this is Satan
whispering that lie over and over and over and over again.
You know, skip your devotions today.
I mean, you're too, you're too busy.
You got so much on your plate and it's holidays after all.
And you know, don't bother with church today and hoping that the
4th time or or the 104th time that you'll cave in and
surrender and and crack your commitment in this way.
But Nehemiah's steadfast no here to them.
I think it tugs at our hearts because it's a battle that we're
very familiar with in our lives against compromise.
And it reminds us of of how important it is to stay true to
that which God has called us, particularly near the finish
line when you've covered so much ground and territory and made
such progress that to now compromise would be to
disqualify. Now I remember as a kid watching
and Speaking of Olympics, I'm just thinking off the top of my
head here, I think it was a, an Australian Olympian called Kerry
Saxby who did the walk. Remember that?
Man, I used to do little athletics as a kid and I hated
the walk. It was my worst event because I
could never get the technique right.
And I'd always look to try and get disqualified as quickly as I
could because then I wouldn't have to complete the race and
focus on the next ones. But I remember she, she's made
all this progress. You know, they, they do
kilometres out in the suburbs of, of where the, the city
that's hosting it. And they come into the stadium.
And then just as she was entering the stadium, she gets A
and it was the final quality disqualified disqualification
for a technique and the absolute devastation on her face of
having come so far but not being able to finish through being
disqualified. And and I think of that now in
connecting this to our point in in what Nehemiah think of it, he
has committed so much energy, so much effort to the task that God
has called him and the people of Israel to to rebuild the walls
to re establish the worship of God in Jerusalem.
To come so far to this point would be akin to that
disqualified application coming up at the very end, and such a
waste it would be. And yet I think this ought to
inspire us because God calls each of us to a great work, a
great project that we're privileged to be a part of in,
in the Great Commission that Jesus started and his has
extended to us. To equip people through his
Word, to exalt him in worship as we've done tonight.
To entreat in prayer as we do regularly here in this place and
in our homes. To encourage one another in the
things of the Lord, to evangelise with the gospel of
Jesus and to seek and to save the lost.
And so practically, as we consider these 4 verses at the
very beginning of this chapter, maybe this week, we need to
discern certain distractions that the enemy would send out
when an Oh no invitation comes something pulling you from
priorities that God has placed upon you to be focused and, and
on and considering. And does this advance God's work
or halt it? And it could sound like a good
thing, couldn't it? It could even be a good thing
that, you know, someone's inviting you out to often get
invitations from people from other churches in the area for a
catch up frequently. And let's do this and let's
focus on that and people from others, you know, wanting
counselling or some other things or, or to, you know, say, here's
a good idea for the church. But no, I'm committed to what
God has called me to here to be about the study and priority of
focusing on God's word so that I'm able to teach and to prepare
the the ministries and the service of things here.
And they're good ideas out there, but there are no
invitations for me that would distract from that which God has
called me to, to prioritise and to focus on.
It's been a difficult thing for me to learn to say no to good
things. And sometimes we can get
ourselves saying yes to a lot of stuff that at the surface sounds
good, but it distracts us from the priority of what God has for
us to focus in on and to press into.
If it's not aligned with the great work that God has called
us to, guess what? As good as it sounds, hey, it's
a peace talk, Nehemiah. It's a distraction.
And so like Nehemiah, I think we
need to plan neglect of lesser things to finish strong.
He says, no, I can't come. God has called me to a great
work and I must be busy with that and prioritise that which
God has called me to focus on. So seeing that that doesn't work
for Nehemiah versus 5 to 9, there's this innuendo now and
the disgrace that they try to do in attacking Nehemiah's
character and it escalates. Verse 5.
Then Sam Bellot sent his servant to me as before the 5th time
with an open letter in his hand. So after 4 rejections, they send
out an open letter, now unsealed.
So normally there would be the scrolls sealed and the person
who would write it would stamp their seal on, and the person
who would receive it would know that it hadn't been tampered
with, that that message was private and for them as they
broke open the seal for the first time in reading that.
But now, now it's akin to in today's language that that these
guys, they've they've figured the invitations not work.
So here's what we're going to do.
We're going to post it on a public forum.
We're going to it's like that person that you work with that
bulk emails everybody in, they CCS the boss in.
Ever work with somebody like that?
You know, it's like you've been having private correspondence
with someone via email. Then all of a sudden you see,
hang on a minute, they've CC Ed the boss in what's going on now
this is what these guys are doing.
It's like the the public comment on a church Facebook page or an
Instagram page. So everyone knows now what they
are on about. Verse 6, it's the classic smear
campaign in it was written. It is reported among the nations
and Geesham says, quoting a reliable source that you and the
Jews plan to rebel. Therefore, according to these
rumours, there you are. They call it right, you are
rebuilding the wall that you may be their king.
Now, I don't know how much you know about history, but
Ardixerxes is the king in Persia at this point in time.
And so using this smear campaign, they effectively
accused Nehemiah of treason against King Ardixerxes.
Now Ardixerxes had come to power through the very same thing,
treason against his father and having killed his brother and
others had tried to commit treason against Artaxerxes.
So though a lie here that they fabricated, it's very believable
and a legitimate concern of King Artaxerxes in Persia.
And Gisham says it's true, adding this false credibility.
It's kind of like the the modern gossip who reliable sources say
everybody's saying, let me ask a question that I think
rhetorically you can answer. You know the answer.
Who is the father of lies? This is where it's coming from,
isn't it? This is lies and schemes from
the very pit of hell. Satan is behind this, sowing
doubt here to demoralise Nehemiah and the work that has
taken place. The goal is to disgrace
Nehemiah's reputation, to erode trust that the people have in
him, and to stop the work. They know that as soon as those
gates are on, these walls that are now built, they're as good
as secure. Verse 7.
And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning
you at Jerusalem, saying there is a king in Judah.
Now these matters will be reported to the king.
So come therefore and let us consult together.
It's like you feel like saying to Sam Ballot, the author of
this letter. What are you, 2?
Are you back in primary school now?
This is the I'm telling type thing here, isn't it?
I'm going to go and tell the king and boy look out Nehemiah
when he finds out the threat will tell Ardixerxes, implying
some kind of royal investigation or ultimately they're hoping for
execution of Nehemiah because that's that's what an accusation
if found guilty would end up with Nehemiah his head being
separated from his body, but Nehemiah sees through it.
Verse 8 Then I sent to him saying no such things as you say
are being done, but you invent them in your own heart.
Can I be blunt? In other words, Nehemiah saying
you're an idiot, you're making up lies.
It's a flat denial. There's no elaborate defence
here. These are liars, they've been
invented. And in other words, Nehemiah
saying, you can innuendo all you want, and here he's trusting God
with his reputation. He's not going out.
Well, I've got to, I've got to look at these words that they've
written. I mean, I, I can't believe that.
And he's not underlined or highlighted or, or figured out,
you know, with his lawyers in cahoots, how are we going to
handle this? He just says, no, it's wrong,
it's a lie. And now he's trusting God to
take care of his reputation. Verse 9 indicates that for they
were all trying to make us afraid, saying their hands will
be weakened in the work and it will not be done.
Nehemiah sees the real goal in this unsealed this open letter
in this rumour campaign that you know the whispers have been
going on throughout the area and surrounds.
It's not just to ruin Nehemiah's name, but to try and paralyse
the entire project that they've been working so hard on.
The Hebrew phrase their hands will get too weak literally
means their hands will drop. So picture this body language.
That's the hopes of this letter, that they would slack off, that
they would drop, that they would give up.
They would be like defeated people.
And so it's a vivid picture here in the hopes that the letter
would sow discouragement among the people that like a virus,
would cause the builders to simply stop the work, give up
and go. What's the point be all defeated
in such a way? It's, it's really psychological
warfare, trying to attack the credibility of the leader, to
make him look shady, to make the people doubt him and his
leadership. And then the work collapses from
within as there's this bickering and fighting going on.
And we know exactly what Nehemiah is feeling here, don't
we? Because many of us have lived
versions of this experience for Nehemiah.
Think of the time someone spread 1/2 truth about you at work.
I heard he's only in it for the promotion and suddenly
colleagues give you that funny look in meetings and you you're
sort of second guessing yourself and decisions, your confidence
wobbles. You, you know, you want to try
and spend the whole day proving them wrong.
Well, picture the, the church member quietly whispering and
telling others, you know, I, I don't think the pastor really
cares about such and such. And so, and so, and I mean, look
how much time they're spending on this when I think they should
be spending it on that. And, and, you know, if it's not
his idea, then they're not really interested in it.
And I thought we were supposed to be the church.
And, and so there's this sort of stuff that goes on.
And so, you know, there's fewer smiles and then there's these
nagging voices and, and, well, maybe they're right after all.
Or closer to home, family member or, or close friend repeats A
distorted version of something that you said years ago.
See, you know, she, she always puts herself first.
She's just always just thinking about herself.
Or he always does that. And then, you know, suddenly the
holiday gathering feels pretty intense again.
Conversations become guarded. And you lie awake wondering, how
am I going to clear my name in this?
The sting that Nehemiah is feeling here is real, just as it
is for you and I in similar circumstances.
A reputation. It matters, doesn't it, because
it affects trust. And if you're a part of any
group, trust is so important in the efficacy of that group and
the commitment to the mission. And Nehemiah, again, he could
have launched into a full PR campaign and defend himself and
his character and and rally supporters and and seek letters
from people in Persia and from the government to try and, you
know, just endorse his credibility and so on to counter
every whisper here or to confront the room among us
publicly. But he doesn't do any of that.
He turns straight to God with one of the shortest, most
powerful prayers in Scripture at the end of verse 9.
We haven't read it yet, but he says this now.
Therefore, oh God, strengthen my hands.
We've seen Nehemiah pray some quick prayers in the past.
We've seen Nehemiah labour for months in prayer as well.
But here in, in this instant, it's a, you know, there's no
long explanation, no, no demanding of vindication.
It's just a raw, urgent plea for fresh strength from God to keep
on working despite the opposition.
It's effectively a prayer like this.
God help me, God help me. And I've prayed some of those
prayers and I think you have too.
God, strengthen my hand, give me wisdom right now.
Help me. I pray you know the situation,
you know the circumstance, you know what they've said.
You know what's been done. Just God, will you help right
now, please? I committed to you.
That's that's all wrapped up. And so when lies fly and, and
hands grow heavy and, and people whisper and, and look funny and
you know what to do, Pray. Because pray in this way, it
energises you to to lift that next stone, to be faithful to
that which God has called. Do you feel that the relief in
the simplicity of that God doesn't need us to win every
argument. You know, sometimes we can be
like that, but they're wrong. Yeah.
We know God here has called you and I to stay on task.
And Nehemiah has been called to stay on task.
So this week, maybe innuendo. Innuendo or slander might hit.
We're at work, or online or in the family conversation and
chat. Maybe even in church circles.
Resist the urge to defend or to retaliate.
Instead, echo Nehemiah's prayer out loud.
God help. God, strengthen my hand, or if
you're in the journaling type, you know, write it down.
God, help me now, strengthen my hands and then get back to the
work that God has called you to. Don't be distracted in this way.
Love your spouse, disciple your kids, serve in your ministry,
lead the church, share the gospel, and let God defend your
character while you are busy about the mission.
Lastly, verses 10 through to 19, we'll kind of progress through
fairly quickly. The deception now that comes
through intimidation. Verse 10, afterward I came to
the House of Shamaya, the son of Delia, the son of Hetabel, who
was a secret informer, and he said, let us meet together in
the House of God within the temple, and let us close the
doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you.
Indeed, at night they will come to kill you.
Shamaya, he's this supposed prophet, and he urges hiding in
the temple's holy place, a sanctuary.
Nehemiah, they're coming for you, and they're coming at night
time. You need to hide and come with
me. Let's go to the temple.
That'll be the safest space. And I said verse 11, should such
a man as I flee and who is there such as I who would go into the
temple to save his life? I will not go in.
Now we need to understand something here is it sounds like
a good idea. And no doubt there were people
probably out to kill Nehemiah. And it sounds like Nehemiah you
need to hide. But The thing is, is in the
Bible, in the Book of Numbers, the only people who were allowed
in the sanctuary in the holy place of the Temple were who?
The priests. Nehemiah was not a priest.
He was not able to go into there.
There was no biblical sanctuary for him to enter into this
place, even as a fugitive in this way.
And it turns out in verse 12 that this guy Shamaya knew this
because he was hired to conjure up this story to see if Nehemiah
would come out in this way. It was a trap.
Then I perceived verse 12 that God had not sent him at all, but
that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and
Sam Bella had hired him for this reason.
He was hired that I should be afraid and act that way.
And Nehemiah knew it rightly. Sin.
Nehemiah knew Numbers chapter 18 verse 7 where it indicates that
it's a sin for anybody else but the priesthood to enter into the
place that they were trying to get him to go to.
And thus they were trying to discredit again Nehemiah and his
leadership by sinning so that the smear campaign would have
some legitimacy to hang hold of and spread destroying the
character of Nehemiah verse fourteen.
My God, a prayer again. Remember Tobiah and Sam Bella
according to these their works and the prophetess Noah Dyer and
the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid.
So there's there's a whole group that have come together tried to
smear Nehemiah in such a way. This prayer of Nehemiah here in
verse 14 is effectively saying, God, I don't need to tell you
the details. You know it all.
You know who they are. You know what they've said, you
know what they've done. Nehemiah now is just going, God
remember them. I commit them to you.
Have you ever prayed those prayers?
God, you've said in your word, vengeance is mine, I will repay,
says the Lord. And that might be one way that
God does deal with them. But you know another way that
God might deal with them is God in his grace might change and
transform their lives. There will be a radical
repentance at work in them to 'cause this.
And here's what Nehemiah does. Nehemiah leaves the result, the
method up to God. You just praise God.
You know their names, remember them.
What a great prayer, What a great prayer.
And So what happens verse 15? So the war was finished on the
25th day of LL in 52 days. And it happened verse 16 when
all our enemies heard of it and all the nations around us saw
these things that they were very disheartened in their own eyes
for they perceived that this work was done by our God and
victory has been won. That's what happens when you
give it to God. The enemies are disheartened.
God is glorified. Wow, the God of, of the people
of Israel. And look what's happened in
Jerusalem. And did you hear how long it
took them to rebuild the wall? And it must be God.
Now, I'd like to say that's where the chapter ends, but it
doesn't. We read on, and it's not the
triumph of of those verses that we've just read of the wall
being complete. Instead, Nehemiah closes with
this kind of sobering postscript now that even after the wall
stands strong, there's opposition in their midst.
It hasn't vanished. It says verse 17.
Also in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to
Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came to them.
For many in Judah were pledged to him because he was the son in
law of Shekinah, the son of Arah, and his son Jehonan had
married the daughter of Meshalam, the son of Barakaya.
Also verse 19 they reported his good deeds before me.
Well, did you hear what Tobiah has done in Nehemiah and
reported my words to him? Tobiah sent letters to frighten
me. It seems Tobiah had married into
some prominent families there in, in Jerusalem, in, in Judah.
And so he, he wields a bit of influence and he he uses these
connections to politic and the nobles exchange letters with him
and he's bound by marriage with some alliances and some oaths.
And, and they're praising Tobiah publicly and in in Nehemiah's
earshot whilst feeding Nehemiah's words back to Tobiah.
This is the classic insider betrayal, influential people
playing both sides, kind of leaking information where it
suits here and there, name dropping and undermining trust
and keeping the pressure on Nehemiah all through this.
And again, I think we know what Nehemiah is going through
because we've felt and experienced echoes of it.
You know, it's like the, the walls up in our lives with
something, but the gates are not and the arrows keep coming in
this way, subtle, persistent and from people who should be on
your side. You know, in a, in a church
setting, it can be, you know, things where there's just been
a, a big time of heavy ministry and, and God's been moving and,
and some kind of a, a successful season maybe in the life of a
church and seems like the, the pressure's off.
But then then criticism comes and, and words and, and these
things and, or in your marriage or in your family, you know, it
finally feels like we've been working through a difficult time
and it feels stable right now. Only to learn that there's a
close relative maybe still stirring up old grievances
behind your back and sharing distorted sort of versions of
things. Or at work, you know, there's
been public praise given, but then a colleague who is a part
of that that you trusted has been bad mouthing decisions that
you made to your boss, trying to position themselves for the next
promotion. This is Nehemiah.
There's a weariness in that, isn't there?
52 days been building, labouring under such intense situations at
times with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other and
the likelihood of attack coming and all of these letters and all
of this persistence and, you know, the completion and the
enemies humiliated. But now he's dealing with
disloyal nobles in his midst, whispered reports and
intimidating letters. And that's exhausting.
That's lonely work and contempt, the bitterness in the heart.
But again, notice what he does. There's no retaliation.
He doesn't launch a purge of the nobles.
He doesn't even name them publicly in these verses.
There's some names mentioned, but none of those that were
involved in this. He simply records the facts and
trust again the situation to God.
Just a scene in his earlier prayers and he is keeping his
focus on finishing the work. The V1 already stands and he's
letting the wounds linger in the enemy.
So this week maybe a Tobiah letter arrives.
Lingering criticism inside elites post victory sabotage.
Don't let that steal the joy of the Lord.
Let the joy of the Lord be your strength.
Don't let it derail the calling that God has placed upon you.
We don't dismiss the hurt. Don't get me wrong.
Acknowledge that and it's real. But don't let it.
Here's here's the difference. Don't let it define you.
Prayers Nehemiah did all throughout this chapter and the
book as we've seen. Remember, Oh God, God, you know
their names, you know what they've said, you know what
they've done. And then you keep busy building
and strengthen relationships where you can and set wise
boundaries where needed. But stay faithful to the task
that God has given. Finishing strong often means
enduring the last quiet attacks with grace, knowing that the
wall stands because God helped. So Nehemiah shows some
distractions for us tonight in this chapter.
The diversion through intrigue. We've looked at the disgrace via
the innuendo, the deception and intimidation, but the
discernment that God gave Nehemiah, his ability to take
that which was fuel from the enemy and give it to God in
prayer, it leads to completion of the task and the glory of
God. And again, what I've done with
each chapter is Nehemiah. It's, it's, it's a pretty great
character and a good story. And the temptation is for us to
look at him as the hero of the story.
But Nehemiah is just a a picture that points ultimately to Jesus
Christ, the ultimate finisher. We could say, think and consider
Jesus. He faced distractions, many
didn't. He temptation in the wilderness
40 days. And the enemy came with all that
he could consider the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter,
the mockery at the cross. And yet Jesus prayed not my
will, but yours be done. And endure the cross to be able
to say, to tell us that it is finished, the work is done.
And therefore it's his resurrection power that now
pulses through our veins to help us to endure in similar
situations and circumstances. I pray that this chapter has
been an encouragement to you to be to be wise to distractions,
maybe social media, different fears, false friends, and in
light of this text this week, maybe recommit to the great
work, the great project that God has called you to.
God has called me to a great work.
I cannot come down. I can't be distracted.
This God, help me, strengthen me now strengthen my hands.
God, remember them. You know them.
You know what they've said, what they've done.
Help me now in this to be faithful to that which you've
called me to be busy about. Let's pray.
Lord God, I thank you for each person gathered here tonight for
the call that collectively we have all been given.
And then individually, specifically that which is a
godly focus for us as we've been reading your word and and
hearing and listening from you as to what it is that we need to
be busy about. As a great work of you in our
lives. Whether it be in our homes, in
our families, in our marriages, in our relationships here in
this church, in our ministries, in, in whatever it is that
you've called us to help us to learn from the examples set in
this passage tonight of Nehemiah to trust in you, to commit to
prayer our ways and to allow you to work in and through us.
And ultimately, Jesus, we need your strength in our lives.
We need your help. We need your assistance.
So this is our prayer tonight. And we pray in your mighty,
powerful name, God's people said, Amen.