December 15 Daily Discovery
December 15 Daily Discovery
Read Nehemiah Chapter 6
The Fear Trap
Nehemiah had been give a charge by God to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem and he was doing so with the blessing of King Artaxerxes of Persia.
He had enemies without and enemies within that wanted to see this work stopped. They did their best and could not prevail because Nehemiah responded with faith instead of fear, and therefore they were forced to acknowledge that Nehemiah's success was a result of the blessing of their God.
Enemies Without
Nehemiah's (and God's) enemies sent a message to Nehemiah four times (Neh. 6:4) that included an invitation to meet with them.
We can meet in one of the villages in the plain of Ono, they said.
Nehemiah sent a message back to them. I'm too busy, you know working on this wall. It is a great work, very important, and I cannot come down to meet with you now. Sorry.
Nehemiah knew that they were not being friendly to him. "Let's do lunch" was understood by Nehemiah as "Let's do him in."
Of course, he refused.
Next, Sanballat sent his servant to Nehemiah with a more forceful invitation.
It's been reported by this fellow, Gashmu, that you are building this wall because it is your intent to rebel against the king and become king yourself. It has also been reported that you have hired prophets to proclaim the same in order to get all the Jews behind you. Let's get together so we can sort this out before this word gets back to the king.
Nehemiah replied with a direct, "This is not true, you have made it all up."
Nehemiah knew that they were trying to make him afraid so they would stop working on the wall.
He prayed to God that He would strengthen his hands.
So, the enemy without was stopped by having faith in God and courage, rather than responding in fear.
But their attacks were not over ...
Enemies Within
The enemies without had team members on the inside, too. There were Jews within the city that were conspiring with the enemy on the outside. Even prophets! The enemy was able to hire them to pretend to have received a message from God to get Nehemiah to respond in fear.
What would be the tactic of the enemies within?
The made up a story to tell to Nehemiah that the enemies without were going to come into the city that night in order to kill Nehemiah.
Come on, let's hide in God's house within the temple. You'll be safe there.
But Nehemiah perceived that the message they delivered to him was NOT from God. This one was too easy. He was NOT a priest and he was NOT serving in the temple. It would have been a great transgression for him to run in there and hide.
Should such a man as I flee? he asked. No one in my position in his right mind would hide in the temple to save his life. I will not go in!
Then he prayed that God would deal with Tobiah and Sanballat as well as the prophets that had conspired with them to put him in fear.
Faith won out over fear again.
We also discover that these were only the tip of the iceberg. There were MANY of the nobles of Judah that were in league with the enemy.
Anytime you are attempting to do something for the glory of God the enemy is going to try to stop you.
Read Eph. 6:10-20 and 1 Tim. 6:12
We are in a spiritual battle. Keep your armor on, stand and fight the good fight of faith.
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