I continued my reading through Nehemiah this morning and got to a chapter that I have been looking forward to (Nehemiah 6). At this time, the Jews had completed the wall, except for installing the gates. And Sanballat and Tobiah continued their antics in trying to prevent Nehemiah and the Jews from completing their task. Previously, they sent threats of attack on Jerusalem to try to scare the Jews into giving up on the rebuilding the wall. Now they are sending “invitations” to come and “talk.”
Nehemiah was smarter than they thought. He was wise to know that they did not want to “talk” but rather, they wanted to get him away from the work God called him to so they could destroy him. Knowing he was the visionary, they thought (probably correctly) that if they destroyed Nehemiah, the Jews would freak out and stop working on the wall and rebuilding their city.
Nehemiah prayed to God, “give me strength.” He also illustrated another important leadership trait. He told the messenger to tell Sanballat that he was “doing a great work; I can’t come down.”
I get this picture in my mind of Nehemiah standing on top of a ladder in his work clothes just sweating and working on completing his portion of the wall and overseeing the work of those around him. He understood that there are “haters” that don’t want him to succeed and rather than get caught up in arguing with them about how he was right and they were wrong, he didn’t engage them and just worked on and in the vision God gave him. Nehemiah would not have had to go to meet with Sanballat in order for Sanballat to be successful in his attempt to slow down or stop the completion of the wall. If Nehemiah had just stopped working and come down to draft a long letter or to do something else unproductive, Sanballat’s actions would have been a success (just to a smaller degree).
I hope and pray that I can stay focused on the “great work” that God has given me without getting help up by those people and things that do not want me to succeed. Rather than getting off track just by taking my mind off the work, I hope I can remain focused and avoid the temptation to defend myself and my call to those who want to denigrate it.