Unveil by Jon EganSample

Day 4: Nehemiah

Nehemiah 6:1-9

When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that there were no more breaks in it—even though I hadn’t yet installed the gates— Sanballat and Geshem sent this message: “Come and meet with us at Kephirim in the valley of Ono.” I knew they were scheming to hurt me so I sent messengers back with this: “I’m doing a great work; I can’t come down. Why should the work come to a standstill just so I can come down to see you?” Four times they sent this message and four times I gave them my answer.

The fifth time—same messenger, same message—Sanballat sent an unsealed letter with this message: “The word is out among the nations—and Geshem says it’s true—that you and the Jews are planning to rebel. That’s why you are rebuilding the wall. The word is that you want to be king and that you have appointed prophets to announce in Jerusalem, ‘There’s a king in Judah!’ The king is going to be told all this—don’t you think we should sit down and have a talk?” 8 I sent him back this: “There’s nothing to what you’re saying. You’ve made it all up. They were trying to intimidate us into quitting. They thought, “They’ll give up; they’ll never finish it.” I prayed, “Give me strength.”

Nehemiah 8:10b

“This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Nehemiah was doing the steady and faithful work of rebuilding his part of the wall. It was not glamorous. It wasn’t easy. In my experience, work of ministry is often this way.

We have the tools in our hands, the need in front of us, and we get to work. Then the world will come at us and question our motives, manipulate our efforts or wear us down with persistent doubts. It will attempt to move us off of our work — to abandon our post.

Nehemiah said, “I’m doing a great work; I can’t come down…” He refused to leave, though tempted by these messengers. Where there was rubble, Nehemiah saw the potential for a great and mighty wall. Where there was loss of joy, Nehemiah was doing the work to restore shouts of joy.

All may seem lost in your work. Whether you’re in business, full-time ministry, full-time parenting, education, the arts, or some combination of many roles, if you are doing any fortifying work for the Kingdom of God, you’ve probably faced temptation to quit. Maybe you’ve lost sight of the point. You may be looking at pure rubble. But take your place on your part of the wall, and do the great work.

Even Nehemiah questioned whether or not his work was truly “a great work.” He kept asking God to remember Him. Fast forward 500 years after Nehemiah to Jesus himself riding into

Jerusalem on a donkey (Matthew 21). One has to wonder if Jesus stopped and whispered, “Nehemiah, I remember you.”

Pray as Nehemiah prayed, “Give me strength.” Stand strong knowing you have been called, knowing your Father is for you. Do not be swayed by surrounding voices and trends. Do not look over the fence when you have a job to do on your side. The enemy comes like a thief, but believing God has a purpose so much bigger than we are, we can stand in the prophetic joy of Nehemiah and say, “I’m not coming off this wall.”