Fears, Lies & Distractions

While Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, a couple of men were trying anything to stop him. Chapter 6 tells the story. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab were the cast of characters.

First they sent him what sounded like a friendly invitation: "Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono." It was like, "let's go down to Starbucks and grab a latte and chat."

But Nehemiah saw through the ruse: "I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?" Four times they resent the invitation. The fifth time they brought an accusing letter, making up all kinds of lies about what Nehemiah was doing.

When that didn't work, Tobiah and Sanballat sent a person to play prophet and make Nehemiah think he was in danger and should hide in the temple. But Nehemiah said: "And I understood God had not sent him."

In our lives, the enemy, Lucifer, will attempt to use three methods to deter us from doing God's work.

Distractions - Those things that seem okay, but their end is to keep us from serving God. Friends can do this, hobbies, jobs, or other tasks. It's not that we don't have friends and jobs and hobbies, but we need to determine if any of those things is actually stopping us from doing what God has called us to do.

Lies - The enemy will spread lies about you to others. If you spend all of your time defending yourself you will also stop the work. Nehemiah answered the lies but kept on working. The enemy wanted Nehemiah to worry more about his reputation than his calling.

Fears - If nothing else works then the enemy resorts to attack. Make us feel that we will be physically or emotionally in danger if we follow Jesus and do his bidding. Nehemiah called out to God, his protector, but did not stop working.

He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world.

Pastor Tom