If your enemy can't destroy you, he will distract you.
1.God Gives Us His Passion and Conviction to Do His Work, But Expect Distractions
Nehemiah 6:1-2 NLT Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies found out that I had finished rebuilding the wall and that no gaps remained—though we had not yet set up the doors in the gates. 2So Sanballat and Geshem sent a message asking me to meet them at one of the villages in the plain of Ono.
What we call an opportunity, God often calls a distraction.
Don’t say “maybe” when you mean “no.”
If you’re always available to everyone, eventually you’ll have nothing to give to anyone.
Just because you could doesn’t mean you should.
2. Satan Hates Godly Passion and Conviction
Nehemiah 6:5-6 NLT The fifth time, Sanballat’s servant came with an open letter in his hand, 6and this is what it said: “There is a rumor among the surrounding nations, and Geshem tells me it is true, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel and that is why you are building the wall. According to his reports, you plan to be their king.”
You will never do big things if you are distracted by small-minded people!
Nehemiah 6:9 NLT They were just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could discourage us and stop the work. So I continued the work with even greater determination.
3. When Godly Passion and Conviction Hit Roadblocks, Don’t Run.
Nehemiah 6:10 NLT Later I went to visit Shemaiah …. He said, “Let us meet together inside the Temple of God and bolt the doors shut. Your enemies are coming to kill you tonight.”
Nehemiah 6:11-13 NLT But I replied, “Should someone in my position run from danger? Should someone in my position enter the Temple to save his life? No, I won’t do it!” 12I realized that God had not spoken to him, but that he had uttered this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13They were hoping to intimidate me and make me sin. Then they would be able to accuse and discredit me.
Nehemiah 6:3 ESV And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” .
4. Godly Passion and Conviction Achieve Godly Results
Nehemiah 6:14-15 NLT Remember, O my God, all the evil things that Tobiah and Sanballat have done. And remember Noadiah the prophet and all the prophets like her who have tried to intimidate me. 15 So on October 2 the wall was finished—just fifty-two days after we had begun.
Nehemiah 6:16 NLT When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.
You will never finish what you don’t start.
