Stay True To The Task

Producing The Proof

Journey Into The Promised Land

Nehemiah 6:1–19 (CSB)

ATTEMPTS TO DISCOURAGE THE BUILDERS

6 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that no gap was left in it—though at that time I had not installed the doors in the city gates—²Sanballat and Geshem sent me a message: “Come, let’s meet together in the villages of the Ono Valley.” They were planning to harm me.

³So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing important work and cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?” ⁴Four times they sent me the same proposal, and I gave them the same reply.

⁵Sanballat sent me this same message a fifth time by his aide, who had an open letter in his hand. ⁶In it was written:

It is reported among the nations—and Geshem^, agrees—that you and the Jews plan to rebel. This is the reason you are building the wall. According to these reports, you are to become their king ⁷and have even set up the prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim on your behalf, “There is a king in Judah.” These rumors will be heard by the king. So come, let’s confer together.

⁸Then I replied to him, “There is nothing to these rumors you are spreading; you are inventing them in your own mind.” ⁹For they were all trying to intimidate us, saying, “They will drop their hands from the work, and it will never be finished.”

But now, my God, strengthen my hands.

ATTEMPTS TO INTIMIDATE NEHEMIAH

¹⁰I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was restricted to his house. He said:

Let’s meet at the house of God,

inside the temple.

Let’s shut the temple doors

because they’re coming to kill you.

They’re coming to kill you tonight!

¹¹But I said, “Should a man like me run away? How can someone like me enter the temple and live? I will not go.” ¹²I realized that God had not sent him, because of the prophecy he spoke against me. Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. ¹³He was hired, so that I would be intimidated, do as he suggested, sin, and get a bad reputation, in order that they could discredit me.

¹⁴My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat for what they have done, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the other prophets who wanted to intimidate me.

THE WALL COMPLETED

¹⁵The wall was completed in fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul. ¹⁶When all our enemies heard this, all the surrounding nations were intimidated and lost their confidence, for they realized that this task had been accomplished by our God.

¹⁷During those days, the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them. ¹⁸For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, since he was a son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah. ¹⁹These nobles kept mentioning Tobiah’s good deeds to me, and they reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.

Another tactic used by the enemy against Nehemiah and the building project in Jerusalem was sowing division among the Jews themselves — brethren cheating brethren, brethren accusing brethren. What a great negative that is, even today. That is a tactic of Satan, a negative to stop the work of God. It did not work on the Jews building the wall. They solved their problem and the work went on.

However, the devil is not one to give up easily and he had other tricks up his sleeve. You will find that when he is defeated in one area, he will emerge in another area. That is why we must ever be watchful, prayed up, and full of the Holy Spirit. Sanballat and the enemies had another plan ready when the others failed. This time they invited Nehemiah down for a talk. They wanted to “reason” with him.

There is no reasoning with the devil, and Nehemiah knew that. His message back to the enemy was very positive:

I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you? (Nehemiah 6:3)

The enemy came with these negative suggestions not once but five separate times. Nevertheless, Nehemiah continued to work the works of God and continued to speak with positiveness and authority.

Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart. (Nehemiah 6:8)

You would think the devil would quit after all these negatives failed, but he appeared again — this time in the person of a so-called prophet of God who warned Nehemiah to stop building and hide for his life:

…Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee. (Nehemiah 6:10)

Satan often will use even well-meaning religious friends and even leaders to try to discourage us. Nehemiah still held to God’s positives:

And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. (Nehemiah 6:11-12)

Not every prophet comes from God. Some have been hired by the enemy. We certainly need to know the difference! In God’s power, on God’s Word, by God’s revelation, Nehemiah stayed true to his task until he had the victory. The enemy became discouraged. The work got done and the wall was finished (Nehemiah 6:15-16).

Make this declaration:

I will stay true to my task until I win the victory. The work will get done. The wall will get finished.

*Adapted from MCWE email – Journey Into The Promised Land by Morris Cerullo

Stay True To The Task – 6/19

Producing The Proof

Journey Into The Promised Land