Nehemiah – Finishing the Job Amid Mortal Danger

Nehemiah 6

                So work on the walls continues under the leadership of Nehemiah but his faithful enemies don’t let up. In fact they plan to kill him. They pretend to want to “meet” and talk about their differences, but their plan is to take out Nehemiah and Nehemiah knows it. His response is genius. Avoid, deflect, and focus. He tells them he is too busy to meet, he has a scheduling conflict, he has to wash his hair at that time (I made that up), and that the Queen is coming for tea (I made that up too). You get the point. He politely refuses their “invitation” four times.

                The fifth time, they switch tactics. They sent an open letter to him, meaning everyone knows what it says. The letter paints Nehemiah as a rebel – that he is building the wall so he may revolt against Persia. He deflects by sending them an email (not really, it was a letter) saying they are spreading nonsense.

                Then (and I must say this was pretty clever) Nehemiah’s enemies hire a “prophet”(someone posing as a prophet) to warn Nehemiah that his life is danger and that he should hole up in the temple. Note: hiding is the temple would be a sacrilege and Nehemiah would lose favor with his people and possibly with God). So Nehemiah refocuses. He asks God to help and he continues working. The incessant bullying doesn’t work because like most bullies, Sanballat and Toibiah are all talk and no action.

                The wall is finished and the people rejoice and praise God. (I encourage you to read the rest of the book if you have time). The whole project was completed in 52 days. This is miraculous! This is 2.5 miles of walls with an average height of 40 feet and 12 feet thick. There were 34 watchtowers and possibly nine different gates. This was the original Operation Warp Speed. It was accomplished because the people worked together – avoiding distractions, deflecting the enemies, and maintaining laser focus on the goal. They combined an abiding trust in God with their faithful action.

                I need to read these stories over and over to remind myself what having a vision from God and vigorously pursuing it looks like. I bet I’m not the only one.

Prayer: God, whatever work you’ve given us to do, help us to pursue it vigorously trusting that in partnership with you, the work shall be accomplished. Amen.

Prayer Focus: Speaking of rebuilding, we need to be in prayer for those devastated by many different weather disasters this summer.

Song: Be Thou My Vision – Celtic Worship