Nehemiah 6 p2: Our Defense - Recognising the great work

Bible Study Series on the Book of Nehemiah

Nehemiah 6:2-3 Our Defense: Recognising the great work

by I Gordon

Neh 6:2-3 Sanballat and Geshem sent a message to me, saying, 'Come, let us meet together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono.' But they were planning to harm me. So 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?'

We have seen in the previous studies that Satan can use the world in two ways: 

1. Firstly, through luring us out into a state of compromise. 
2. And secondly, through making us fearful of what they think of us. 

We will now look a bit more closely at what I believe is the answer to combating these problems. And it is found in Nehemiah's first response when faced with Geshem's subtle attack. Every time Geshem sent a message to Nehemiah he responded with  '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.' (Ch 6:3) He recognised the great work! So, question time - what makes something a great work? Is it how big something is? Or how much money goes into it? I don't think so. I believe that the two main ingredients for a great work are: 1) How long it will last. 2) Who it is done for. What I mean is this:

Consider Eternity!

As Christians, our defense against the call of the world is to recognise the great work that we are called to. The work we do is great for it lasts for eternity!¹ Through our testimony and life, people can be 'snatched from the fire' (Jude 23) and saved for eternity. The only time that worldliness can start to take a grip on our lives is when we have lost sight of why we are here and the fact that we are 'only visiting this planet'.

Nehemiah didn't lose sight of the great work! It is interesting that a lot of the major verses warning against worldliness in the New Testament go on to say something about the second coming or the judgement to come². If we can recognise that what we are doing is considered a 'great work' then maybe we won't be so quick in going back to 'Ono'. Jesus said something really important that every Christian businessman (or business woman, well actually all of us!) should remember. He said that 'where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.' It is the attitude of the world to live only for the now, to build our little empires, caring little for the life to come. But our heart and treasure should not be in this world. Consider the great work! It will last for eternity. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul? 

Heaven & Earth - A Dream of Contrasting Fortunes

The importance of eternity was brought home to me again recently through a dream that a friend of mine had. She had been going through various trials and had been quite down when the Lord gave her an incredible dream, showing her (and our) destiny to come. In it she saw herself standing with millions of people and they were talking about the Lord. She said the place was filled with a peace and beauty she cannot describe. And she saw the Lord Jesus presenting the people back to the Father who was seated on a throne. 

The dream carried on and looking down upon the earth, she saw military action and tanks going in every direction upon the earth. Finally she saw people upon the earth, running in fear into forests and woods where hidden camps had been made. Obviously it is the first part of this dream that relates to the topic at hand, but the whole thing shows the reality and awesomeness of our future and the dread for those who will not listen.

Now King David knew of this heavenly hope that guarded his heart and mind. Speaking of the different attitudes between the righteous and the wicked, David wrote:

Psalm 17:13-15 Deliver my life from the wicked with Your sword, with Your hand from men, O Lord, from men of the world who have their portion in this life, and whose belly You fill with Your hidden treasure. They are satisfied with children, and leave the rest of their possession for their babes. But as for me, I will see your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in your likeness.

This passage shows the futility of life for those that don't know the Lord. The best they can do is hope for an easy life, storing up possessions to give to their children when they die. Nothing more. Their portion is in this life. But not so us! We like David, fix our eyes on the eternal where we shall see His face in righteousness! And our satisfaction comes when we awake in His likeness!³

Consider the King!

The second ingredient for what makes a work great is, quite obviously, the person you're doing the work for. If you're working for your boss then there is a certain level of importance. If you're working for your country then you might put a bit more effort in (hope my boss doesn't read this). If you're working for God Almighty, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who has the power of life and death, um well, yeah, put some effort into it! That work sort of takes priority over the other doesn't it??? So how does this help us? Well, if gazing at eternity could help fend off the lure of the world, surely then gazing into the glory and majesty of God can surely cast off the fear of man. Geshem and the world only seem to attack in these two means. Either they work on getting you to compromise your faith and have one foot in the world, or they scare you into inactivity through the fear of man. We shouldn't let it happen. 

I heard a good quote the other day from somewhere... It said, 'If you fear God, you need fear nothing else.' Like that one? Fortunately, Nehemiah had enough reverence and respect for God to carry on with the great work and the attempted compromise, slander and fear tactics didn't put him off. His fear of God overcame the fear of man.

There is a lot that we could learn from Nehemiah!

But Sanballat (Satan) is not through yet. It seems that a change of tactics is in order and that is what we shall look at next!

FOOTNOTES