“When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.”
~ Nehemiah 6:16
Hi James and Ellen,
How focused do you get on a task that you are trying to complete? Nehemiah really focused on the task of restoring the walls that surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Nothing and nobody could stop Nehemiah from finishing the task of restoring the walls that surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem the Arab tried over and over again to stop Nehemiah from restoring the walls that surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah noted in his diary – in what is now Nehemiah 6, that Sanballat and Geshem sent him four different messages for him to meet them in one of the villages that was located about seven miles southwest of Joppa on the plain of Ono. The area where these two guys wanted to meet with Nehemiah was located in the westernmost part of the region that was being resettled by guys and gals who were Jews as they returned after having been exiled to Babylonia. Nehemiah knew that Sanballat and Geshem were scheming to get him away from the city of Jerusalem – and from the guys who were helping him restore the walls that surrounded the city of Jerusalem, so that they could hurt him or kill him. When Nehemiah did not fall for the evil plans that Sanballat and Geshem had, Sanballat sent an unsealed letter to Nehemiah saying that Geshem had heard that Nehemiah was going to make himself king over the guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah – which included the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah had made the long hike to the city of Jerusalem after getting permission from the king of Persia to go there. Sanballat thought they he would be able to get Nehemiah in a lot of trouble with the king of Persia if the king of Persia thought that Nehemiah was planning to make himself king over the guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah. Nehemiah never minced his words in his replies to his enemies. Nehemiah sent a sharp answer back to the guys who were trying to stop him from rebuilding the walls that surrounded the city of Jerusalem – telling the guys that he was not going to do what they were asking him to do, that they were lying and that he was not going to pay any attention to them.
How do you respond to a guy, gal or kid who tries to break your focus as you try to complete a task? Do you continue to focus on finishing the task? Do you get angry? Do you tell the guy, gal or kid to get lost? Do you try to appease other kids – and guys and gals? Do you try to make other kids – and guys and gals, happy with you? Do you worry about how other kids – and guys and gals, feel about you? Do you stay clear of difficult kids – and guys and gals? Do you try to escape being caught in a difficult situation? Tobiah’s friend Shemaiah one day suggested to Nehemiah that they meet together in the temple that had been rebuilt in the city of Jerusalem. Shemaiah told Nehemiah that they could close the temple’s doors to keep Nehemiah’s enemies from coming into the temple to seize him to kill him. Nehemiah told Shemaiah that he was not a coward – that he was not going to hide from any guy who wanted him dead. If Nehemiah had done what Shemaiah was suggesting that he do, Nehemiah would have totally discredited himself and the morale of the guys who were helping Nehemiah restore the walls that surrounded the city of Jerusalem would have plummeted. The guys who were helping Nehemiah were also putting their lives on the line to complete the task of restoring the walls that surrounded the city of Jerusalem. It took Nehemiah and the guys who were helping him just fifty-two days to complete the restoration of the walls that surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Verse 16 says, “When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.”
Do you like to be around a kid – or a guy or gal, who has a ‘spineless backbone’ or is a ‘gutless wonder’ or has ‘weak knees’ or . . . who finds it really difficult to make a decision or who will not hold to a decision that he or she has made? Your grandpaa does not like to have anything to do with those kinds of guys or gals. Your grandpaa is able to focus – like Nehemiah did, on a task. When Nehemiah found out through one of his bros that the walls that surrounded the city of Jerusalem – that Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army had razed, had not been restored, Nehemiah’s first step to do something about restoring the destroyed walls was to pray about what to do. Nehemiah than followed protocol of getting permission from the king of Persia to go to the city of Jerusalem to restore the walls that surrounded the city of Jerusalem. When Nehemiah arrived in the city of Jerusalem, Nehemiah eyeballed the situation, brought key guys into the planning of what to do and found ways to give each guy ownership towards the task of restoring the walls that were surrounding the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah never hesitated to face down the guys who tried to stop him from completing the task of restoring the walls that surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah believed that God had tasked him to be the guy to restore the walls that surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah would not let anything or any guy stop him from doing it. As your grandmaa and grandpaa were leaving in January of 1982 for Concepción, Ñuflo de Chávez to implement the rural resident leadership training center, a field team missionary purportedly said that it was impossible to start a prototype of a Bible education program with two pickups that were filled with tables, chairs, supplies, etc. Ian Perdue and James Davids drove your grandmaa and grandpaa in their pickups to Concepción. There were the logistics of getting eight guys – with their families if they were married, to Concepción to be enabled to be Christ-follower leaders. There was a new paradigm of courses being taught in two week modules. Fifty guys would graduate – each having received 1170 hours of Bible teaching.
Nehemiah 6 (567)