Nehemiah 6:1-19

Threats and rumors are to be expected when we are striving to please the Lord and being productive in the work that He would have us to accomplish.  As the wall neared completion the people of the region that were opposed to Israel and Nehemiah began to get desperate.  They had tried earlier to prevent the construction of the wall but they had been unsuccessful.  Now their only hope was to attack their leader, Nehemiah, in hopes that once he was out of the way they could overtake the city once again and leave it in destruction.  In Portuguese we have an expression that says: “trees that are bearing fruit should expect to have rocks thrown at them.”  We often think that if we are bearing fruit for the Lord that we will enjoy tranquility in our lives that is rarely the case.  God has promised to provide peace in the midst of the storms of life but not the absence of storms.

NEHEMIAH REFUSES TO BE DISCOURAGED BY THE THREATS OF OUTSIDERS: The enemies of Israel that had been trying to infiltrate the ranks and then threatened to attack Israel had not given up on their plan.  They started by inviting Nehemiah to come out from the protection of the city to talk to them.  Nehemiah knew that they were plotting to take his life.  He refused to meet with them and kept right on working.  These enemies from the outside were persistent in sending these invitations but Nehemiah was even more insistent that he would not go.  When this did not work, the men decided that they would threaten to send rumors back to Persia that the plan of Israel was to rebel and that Nehemiah was establishing himself as a king.  Once again Nehemiah refused to be discouraged by these futile attempts on his life and the false accusations that were being leveled against him.  When we are doing the Lords work, we should not be surprised by this type of opposition.  Rather, we should simply recognize that God is in control and rest in the fact that He is able to protect us from harm if that is His will or that He will use our suffering for His glory and our eternal good.  We must not be discouraged by idol threats from outsiders.

NEHEMIAH REFUSES TO BE DISTRACTED BY THE TRAPS OF INSIDERS: Not only does Satan try to discourage us from the outside, but he will also often find ways to distract us from the inside.  People who presented themselves as friends of Nehemiah that pretended to be concerned for his well-being, tried to convince him to go into hiding.  Nehemiah refused to follow this advice as he knew that it was only an attempt to distract him from the work that God had called Him to do.  He recognized that these people had been influenced by his enemies and were trying to discredit him from within since their plan to destroy him from without was not working.  Sometimes these attacks from within can be the most difficult for us to deal with.  We don’t expect them as we look to the people around us in hopes that they will stand with us and help to encourage us.  However, we must always be prepared to face these kinds of attacks.  Nehemiah turns these people over to the Lord and asks Him to deal with them for their treacherous attempts to keep him from doing what God had called him to do.  Nehemiah realized that God’s work was more important than his own life so he was not vulnerable to the temptation to leave the work in order to protect his life.  It is better to die while striving to accomplish the work of God than it is to live in negligence of God’s work.