Maintain Your Position

Let us take a brief snapshot from the story regarding Nehemiah. He rebuilt the walls in Jerusalem following the exile of the Jews. Nehemiah learned that there was a remnant of Jews, who escaped the exile but were in trouble and distress, because the walls were torn down (Nehemiah 1). He gained the favour of the King who he served as a cupbearer. The King allowed Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem, to rebuild the wall and also provided the equipment, which he needed to do this work.

Nehemiah gathered the people and the work progresses successfully, until he encountered opposition. In chapter 4, Sanballat and Tobiah were angry, that the work progressed and hurled insults at Nehemiah and the Jews. Nehemiah’s response was to pray and carry on building and the work progressed.

Again in chapter 6, when Sanballat and Tobiah heard that Nehemiah had completed the wall, they continue to conspire. This time they sent messengers 4 times to call Nehemiah to meet, but their intention was to harm him. Nehemiah saw through their conspiracy and his response was, “I cannot come down because I am doing a great work.”

When the first plot didn’t work, they wrote letters spreading lies and gossip about Nehemiah, saying that he wanted to be King. They even sent a false prophet to convince Nehemiah, to run to the house of God to hide because they wanted to kill him. On every occasion, Nehemiah saw through the conspiracies and recognised them as schemes, to distract him from the work. He maintained his focus and completed the work of rebuilding the wall, restoring the gates and the doors (Nehemiah 6).

We can learn a lot from this story about Nehemiah. (1) Stay focused on what God has assigned you to do and complete the assignment. (2) Do not entertain every argument or engage in every fight. (3) Not every “Prophet” or “prophetic word” is sent by God. (4) When God has asked you to do something great, expect opposition and persecution to come. (5) Stay in prayer, remain steadfast in your conviction and God will give you the strength to complete what you have started. “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ”
‭‭(Philippians‬ ‭1:6‬).

A.P.-Y.