"Dealing with Distractions" | Nehemiah 6 | Sunday PM | Pastor Israel

Near my Chapter 6, we are looking at all of the chapter

tonight, picking up where we left off last week in Chapter 5.

And the title of tonight's message is dealing with

distractions. Dealing with distractions so

that we're finishing strong in God's work, that which he has

called us to. I don't know if you've ever

started and probably with a new year upon us, you have maybe a

project with enthusiasm where that's maybe a home renovation,

perhaps a New Year's resolution, certainly at this time some kind

of a fitness goal or more of a spiritual discipline.

You know, 2026, this year I want to get into God's Word more.

I want to be more more devoted to understanding what God's Word

is saying and then only to find that you can get sidetracked by

distractions, that things will pop up and it's very easy to

begin strong, isn't it? It's more difficult to finish

with grit and purpose and and finishing in such way, a way

requires a determined focus and commitment to that which you

know you've been called to. Because interruptions can come

from every angle and many times they're well meaning.

Many times they can at surface level look and appear good.

But what we as believers need to consider is not necessarily is

this a good thing for my life, but is this a God thing for my

life? And will it distract from that

which God has called me? You.

Us too. I remember reading about a

concert violinist who revealed her secret to mastering this

instrument. And if any of you have had a

child go through such lessons, you know, it's.

Yeah, it's difficult, isn't it? It's putting it kindly.

And she said this. I deliberately planned to

neglect everything else until my practise was complete.

So in other words, what she said was there was this planned

neglect of of everything else and and saw it as a distraction

almost until she had done that which was a priority for her and

focused in on that practising the the essential amid all of

the noise and mayhem, the busyness of life.

All of that to say, in Nehemiah chapter 6 here, the walls of

Nehemiah 6 · chapter mention

Jerusalem and and near completion, we find this and

there's been some 52 days of intense labour going on.

If you've been following the story, there's been heavy

opposition from the outside. These fellows, Sam Ballot,

Tobiah Ghesham and others, it seems they won't quit with their

antagonism and opposition against Nehemiah and the people

of Jerusalem as they're endeavouring to build what is

ultimately God's work. You see, the war was very

important in a spiritual sense for the people of Israel.

And so now Sam, Bella and Tobiah and this geisha, they kind of

shift tactics somewhat in chapter 6.

They've they've tried out and out opposition.

We'll get a little bit of that in this chapter.

But now they're trying to distract Nehemiah personally,

aiming to again, same goal, halt God's restorative work at place

here in Jerusalem. There's intrigue, some stories,

some fabrications going on, there's innuendo as they seek to

attack the character of Nehemiah and out and out intimidation and

Satan's schemes through these fellows.

And, and they're the strategy is to try and divert Nehemiah, to

try and disgrace Nehemiah, to try and deceive Nehemiah and the

people, causing a cessation to the work that they put their

hands to. It's the same goal and it's the

same today. Those strategies, the way that

the enemy Satan works against US and against God's work in US and

through us to try and divert us, to disgrace us, to distract us,

to deceive us. And yet Nehemiah, what we'll

see, he'll stay focused, committed to it.

He discerns the traps and he presses on despite them.

So the main idea here for us tonight is this.

And this will be up on the screen.

And if you're the note taking type, you can quickly jot it

down. And that is this, that if you

forget anything else tonight, when distractions threaten to

derail God's work in our lives, we must discern the enemy

schemes, deny their power through prayer and persistence,

and dedicate ourselves fully to the great task God has given to

us. So this chapter isn't just

history for us again, it's not just a, oh, that's a, a neat

little story with some conflict and here's how they dealt with

it. But it's a battle plan for us.

And I hope that we can recognise it because it's very applicable.

We too face distractions in our lives, in our faith, in our

families, in this church, in the ministries that God has called

us to. So we're going to walk through

this chapter, chapter 6, expositionally going through the

verses, and we'll see three key movements.

Again, if you're taking note, they'll be up on the screen in

the 1st 4 verses. The diversion of intrigue.

This is how these fellows now come upon Nehemiah and the

people at work in Jerusalem. And secondly, we'll see the

disgrace of innuendo. Seeing that that doesn't work.

OK, let's, let's put out a smear campaign against Nehemiah, see

how his character goes against that.

And then going back to the good old fisticuffs of intimidation.

And there's a bit of politicking at the end as well, the

deception of intimidation, verses 10 through to 19.

So again, if you haven't opened our Bibles to Nehemiah 6, let's

see how God equips you and I tonight to finish strong in that

which he has called us to considering the first, the

diversion of intrigue here the enemy attempts to cause Nehemiah

to get distracted by focusing on something else other than that

which God has called him to verse one.

Now it happened. I'm reading from the new King

James when Sam Bellot, Tobaya, Gisham, the Arab and the rest of

our enemies. So there's, there's more to it

than just these three fellows. There's all of their minions,

shall we say, heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that there

were no breaks left in it, though at that time I had not

hung the doors in the gate. So man, some impressive progress

and what we'll see is in the space of 52 days, this building

project will be complete. The wall now at this point in

verse one is structurally complete, but only the gates

remain. So this is a a pretty high

stakes moment when you think about it.

It's the the tension of almost there but not yet finished

enough. There's times when you're

committed to a project around the house and you've been

working and labouring and, and you reach that point of

exhaustion and you're near the end and you can kind of see the

finish line insight and you've just got to push through that

last barrier. It's akin to in the Olympics,

the marathon and you've been running out in the suburbs and

now you arrive in the stadium and, and the crowd is cheering

and, and the finish line is there, but you've got 3 or 4

laps of the stadium to finish. Still.

This is where they're at here in near mine.

It's more than just the fact that well that the gates aren't

on. The gates were the most

vulnerable points in the world. That is where the the place

would now most likely come under attack.

So it's pretty important that Nehemiah not be distracted from

the task of finishing the work that they've put their hands to

that they've progressed so far to achieve to this point where

the walls are at their height. But man, we've just got the

gates left to hang on. We can't stop now.

We're we're almost done, but not yet.

Let's push through to completion.

So important to finish right here.

So verse 2, Sam Ballot and Gisham verse 2, sent to me

saying, come, let us meet together among the villagers in

the plain of Oh, no. And you can kind of say it like

that. Oh, no, don't do it, Nehemiah.

We'll stop there for a minute. Suddenly these foes who had

mocked Nehemiah for so long, you know, everything that had come

out of their mouth up until this point was very antagonistic.

Now it's like, hey, buddy, hey, Nehemiah, old power mate.

And Nehemiah's automatically going, hang on a minute, this is

something different going on here.

And they proposed this friendly summit to this place called Ono,

which was a neutral kind of scenic spot about 40 kilometres

northwest of Jerusalem. But the point is that it's far

away from Nehemiah's armed support that he's got around him

at this point in time. And verse 2 reveals their

intent. At the end of it, says they were

scheming to harm me. That's really this goal isn't as

friendly as their invitation might have sounded, and as as

good as it might have sounded, this wasn't diplomacy.

It was a trap that they were setting, perhaps some kind of an

ambush or an assassination plot. The Hebrew here in the language

for scheming implies this malicious plotting.

So at some point in time they've gone back into their, their, you

know, their dungeons, their bedrooms, their, their, wherever

that was that they met. And so how can we, how can we

distract Nehemiah? How can we get this project

halted and stopped? I know.

And in this way it's very much echoing Satan's tactics, where

sometimes he comes as a roaring lion, but other times he comes

what clothed as an Angel of light, to deceive and to

manipulate. Here he's trying to isolate

Nehemiah out, to ultimately devour and to destroy.

What's Nehemiah going to do? How will he respond?

Will he be alert to their schemes and their Wiles?

Verse 3 So I went to them. So I went to Ono.

No, it doesn't say that, it says.

So I sent messages to them saying, and here's their

message, I'm doing a great work so that I cannot come down.

Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?

Nehemiah's response is firm, isn't it?

He doesn't, as I kind of hinted at in my reading of it, he

doesn't debate with them or negotiate with them.

He prioritises what is his focus and what God has called him to.

He calls it a great work. He doesn't even have a response

himself to them. He sends off his messages.

So that's how committed to the task he is that God has called

him is I will. I will craft a message in

response. But the messengers are going to

do it because I can't waste my time even dialoguing with them

right now about this. As one commentator notes, he

says distractions often come disguised as opportunities, even

seemingly good ones like peace talks.

Which is really what? You're not going to come, We

just want to talk peace. Nehemiah.

But Nehemiah discerns here that meeting now would halt the work

and the gates haven't been put on and thus exposing the people

they're vulnerable. Verse 4.

But they sent me this message 4 times and I answered them in the

same manner. Persistence on their part meets

persistence on Nehemiah's part. Come on out.

Nehemiah, come to Ono. Let's meet.

Let's talk Peace. No, I'm busy.

It's a great work that God has called me to.

Come on, Nehemiah, come on out to Ono, Let's meet.

We want to talk peace. No, I'm busy.

God has called me to a great work four times.

They go through this. The enemy presses, but Nehemiah

refuses. I don't know if you can feel the

tension in this, the situation that Nehemiah's in.

It's kind of like a relentless telemarketer phoning.

And you know, you can feel it at once.

The second time you get irritated, but a third time it's

like, look, I've already told you that's how we're responding,

isn't it? Great offer.

Or maybe you have a Co worker repeatingly urging you to join

in with the office gossip or something like that.

Come on, just this once, it won't hurt wearing down your

resolve to just try and tempt you to give in.

We've all been there. It's it's like the Dieter facing

the 4th doughnut push from friends and just have another

doughnut with us. Or the parents holidays fielding

endless pleas from the kids for just five more minutes on the

screens. Spiritually, this is Satan

whispering that lie over and over and over and over again.

You know, skip your devotions today.

I mean, you're too, you're too busy.

You got so much on your plate and it's holidays after all.

And you know, don't bother with church today and hoping that the

4th time or or the 104th time that you'll cave in and

surrender and and crack your commitment in this way.

But Nehemiah's steadfast no here to them.

I think it tugs at our hearts because it's a battle that we're

very familiar with in our lives against compromise.

And it reminds us of of how important it is to stay true to

that which God has called us, particularly near the finish

line when you've covered so much ground and territory and made

such progress that to now compromise would be to

disqualify. Now I remember as a kid watching

and Speaking of Olympics, I'm just thinking off the top of my

head here, I think it was a, an Australian Olympian called Kerry

Saxby who did the walk. Remember that?

Man, I used to do little athletics as a kid and I hated

the walk. It was my worst event because I

could never get the technique right.

And I'd always look to try and get disqualified as quickly as I

could because then I wouldn't have to complete the race and

focus on the next ones. But I remember she, she's made

all this progress. You know, they, they do

kilometres out in the suburbs of, of where the, the city

that's hosting it. And they come into the stadium.

And then just as she was entering the stadium, she gets A

and it was the final quality disqualified disqualification

for a technique and the absolute devastation on her face of

having come so far but not being able to finish through being

disqualified. And and I think of that now in

connecting this to our point in in what Nehemiah think of it, he

has committed so much energy, so much effort to the task that God

has called him and the people of Israel to to rebuild the walls

to re establish the worship of God in Jerusalem.

To come so far to this point would be akin to that

disqualified application coming up at the very end, and such a

waste it would be. And yet I think this ought to

inspire us because God calls each of us to a great work, a

great project that we're privileged to be a part of in,

in the Great Commission that Jesus started and his has

extended to us. To equip people through his

Word, to exalt him in worship as we've done tonight.

To entreat in prayer as we do regularly here in this place and

in our homes. To encourage one another in the

things of the Lord, to evangelise with the gospel of

Jesus and to seek and to save the lost.

And so practically, as we consider these 4 verses at the

very beginning of this chapter, maybe this week, we need to

discern certain distractions that the enemy would send out

when an Oh no invitation comes something pulling you from

priorities that God has placed upon you to be focused and, and

on and considering. And does this advance God's work

or halt it? And it could sound like a good

thing, couldn't it? It could even be a good thing

that, you know, someone's inviting you out to often get

invitations from people from other churches in the area for a

catch up frequently. And let's do this and let's

focus on that and people from others, you know, wanting

counselling or some other things or, or to, you know, say, here's

a good idea for the church. But no, I'm committed to what

God has called me to here to be about the study and priority of

focusing on God's word so that I'm able to teach and to prepare

the the ministries and the service of things here.

And they're good ideas out there, but there are no

invitations for me that would distract from that which God has

called me to, to prioritise and to focus on.

It's been a difficult thing for me to learn to say no to good

things. And sometimes we can get

ourselves saying yes to a lot of stuff that at the surface sounds

good, but it distracts us from the priority of what God has for

us to focus in on and to press into.

If it's not aligned with the great work that God has called

us to, guess what? As good as it sounds, hey, it's

a peace talk, Nehemiah. It's a distraction.

It's a distraction. And so like Nehemiah, I think we

need to plan neglect of lesser things to finish strong.

He says, no, I can't come. God has called me to a great

work and I must be busy with that and prioritise that which

God has called me to focus on. So seeing that that doesn't work

for Nehemiah versus 5 to 9, there's this innuendo now and

the disgrace that they try to do in attacking Nehemiah's

character and it escalates. Verse 5.

Then Sam Bellot sent his servant to me as before the 5th time

with an open letter in his hand. So after 4 rejections, they send

out an open letter, now unsealed.

So normally there would be the scrolls sealed and the person

who would write it would stamp their seal on, and the person

who would receive it would know that it hadn't been tampered

with, that that message was private and for them as they

broke open the seal for the first time in reading that.

But now, now it's akin to in today's language that that these

guys, they've they've figured the invitations not work.

So here's what we're going to do.

We're going to post it on a public forum.

We're going to it's like that person that you work with that

bulk emails everybody in, they CCS the boss in.

Ever work with somebody like that?

You know, it's like you've been having private correspondence

with someone via email. Then all of a sudden you see,

hang on a minute, they've CC Ed the boss in what's going on now

this is what these guys are doing.

It's like the the public comment on a church Facebook page or an

Instagram page. So everyone knows now what they

are on about. Verse 6, it's the classic smear

campaign in it was written. It is reported among the nations

and Geesham says, quoting a reliable source that you and the

Jews plan to rebel. Therefore, according to these

rumours, there you are. They call it right, you are

rebuilding the wall that you may be their king.

Now, I don't know how much you know about history, but

Ardixerxes is the king in Persia at this point in time.

And so using this smear campaign, they effectively

accused Nehemiah of treason against King Ardixerxes.

Now Ardixerxes had come to power through the very same thing,

treason against his father and having killed his brother and

others had tried to commit treason against Artaxerxes.

So though a lie here that they fabricated, it's very believable

and a legitimate concern of King Artaxerxes in Persia.

And Gisham says it's true, adding this false credibility.

It's kind of like the the modern gossip who reliable sources say

everybody's saying, let me ask a question that I think

rhetorically you can answer. You know the answer.

Who is the father of lies? This is where it's coming from,

isn't it? This is lies and schemes from

the very pit of hell. Satan is behind this, sowing

doubt here to demoralise Nehemiah and the work that has

taken place. The goal is to disgrace

Nehemiah's reputation, to erode trust that the people have in

him, and to stop the work. They know that as soon as those

gates are on, these walls that are now built, they're as good

as secure. Verse 7.

And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning

you at Jerusalem, saying there is a king in Judah.

Now these matters will be reported to the king.

So come therefore and let us consult together.

It's like you feel like saying to Sam Ballot, the author of

this letter. What are you, 2?

Are you back in primary school now?

This is the I'm telling type thing here, isn't it?

I'm going to go and tell the king and boy look out Nehemiah

when he finds out the threat will tell Ardixerxes, implying

some kind of royal investigation or ultimately they're hoping for

execution of Nehemiah because that's that's what an accusation

if found guilty would end up with Nehemiah his head being

separated from his body, but Nehemiah sees through it.

Verse 8 Then I sent to him saying no such things as you say

are being done, but you invent them in your own heart.

Can I be blunt? In other words, Nehemiah saying

you're an idiot, you're making up lies.

It's a flat denial. There's no elaborate defence

here. These are liars, they've been

invented. And in other words, Nehemiah

saying, you can innuendo all you want, and here he's trusting God

with his reputation. He's not going out.

Well, I've got to, I've got to look at these words that they've

written. I mean, I, I can't believe that.

And he's not underlined or highlighted or, or figured out,

you know, with his lawyers in cahoots, how are we going to

handle this? He just says, no, it's wrong,

it's a lie. And now he's trusting God to

take care of his reputation. Verse 9 indicates that for they

were all trying to make us afraid, saying their hands will

be weakened in the work and it will not be done.

Nehemiah sees the real goal in this unsealed this open letter

in this rumour campaign that you know the whispers have been

going on throughout the area and surrounds.

It's not just to ruin Nehemiah's name, but to try and paralyse

the entire project that they've been working so hard on.

The Hebrew phrase their hands will get too weak literally

means their hands will drop. So picture this body language.

That's the hopes of this letter, that they would slack off, that

they would drop, that they would give up.

They would be like defeated people.

And so it's a vivid picture here in the hopes that the letter

would sow discouragement among the people that like a virus,

would cause the builders to simply stop the work, give up

and go. What's the point be all defeated

in such a way? It's, it's really psychological

warfare, trying to attack the credibility of the leader, to

make him look shady, to make the people doubt him and his

leadership. And then the work collapses from

within as there's this bickering and fighting going on.

And we know exactly what Nehemiah is feeling here, don't

we? Because many of us have lived

versions of this experience for Nehemiah.

Think of the time someone spread 1/2 truth about you at work.

I heard he's only in it for the promotion and suddenly

colleagues give you that funny look in meetings and you you're

sort of second guessing yourself and decisions, your confidence

wobbles. You, you know, you want to try

and spend the whole day proving them wrong.

Well, picture the, the church member quietly whispering and

telling others, you know, I, I don't think the pastor really

cares about such and such. And so, and so, and I mean, look

how much time they're spending on this when I think they should

be spending it on that. And, and, you know, if it's not

his idea, then they're not really interested in it.

And I thought we were supposed to be the church.

And, and so there's this sort of stuff that goes on.

And so, you know, there's fewer smiles and then there's these

nagging voices and, and, well, maybe they're right after all.

Or closer to home, family member or, or close friend repeats A

distorted version of something that you said years ago.

See, you know, she, she always puts herself first.

She's just always just thinking about herself.

Or he always does that. And then, you know, suddenly the

holiday gathering feels pretty intense again.

Conversations become guarded. And you lie awake wondering, how

am I going to clear my name in this?

The sting that Nehemiah is feeling here is real, just as it

is for you and I in similar circumstances.

A reputation. It matters, doesn't it, because

it affects trust. And if you're a part of any

group, trust is so important in the efficacy of that group and

the commitment to the mission. And Nehemiah, again, he could

have launched into a full PR campaign and defend himself and

his character and and rally supporters and and seek letters

from people in Persia and from the government to try and, you

know, just endorse his credibility and so on to counter

every whisper here or to confront the room among us

publicly. But he doesn't do any of that.

He turns straight to God with one of the shortest, most

powerful prayers in Scripture at the end of verse 9.

We haven't read it yet, but he says this now.

Therefore, oh God, strengthen my hands.

We've seen Nehemiah pray some quick prayers in the past.

We've seen Nehemiah labour for months in prayer as well.

But here in, in this instant, it's a, you know, there's no

long explanation, no, no demanding of vindication.

It's just a raw, urgent plea for fresh strength from God to keep

on working despite the opposition.

It's effectively a prayer like this.

God help me, God help me. And I've prayed some of those

prayers and I think you have too.

God, strengthen my hand, give me wisdom right now.

Help me. I pray you know the situation,

you know the circumstance, you know what they've said.

You know what's been done. Just God, will you help right

now, please? I committed to you.

That's that's all wrapped up. And so when lies fly and, and

hands grow heavy and, and people whisper and, and look funny and

you know what to do, Pray. Because pray in this way, it

energises you to to lift that next stone, to be faithful to

that which God has called. Do you feel that the relief in

the simplicity of that God doesn't need us to win every

argument. You know, sometimes we can be

like that, but they're wrong. Yeah.

We know God here has called you and I to stay on task.

And Nehemiah has been called to stay on task.

So this week, maybe innuendo. Innuendo or slander might hit.

We're at work, or online or in the family conversation and

chat. Maybe even in church circles.

Resist the urge to defend or to retaliate.

Instead, echo Nehemiah's prayer out loud.

God help. God, strengthen my hand, or if

you're in the journaling type, you know, write it down.

God, help me now, strengthen my hands and then get back to the

work that God has called you to. Don't be distracted in this way.

Love your spouse, disciple your kids, serve in your ministry,

lead the church, share the gospel, and let God defend your

character while you are busy about the mission.

Lastly, verses 10 through to 19, we'll kind of progress through

fairly quickly. The deception now that comes

through intimidation. Verse 10, afterward I came to

the House of Shamaya, the son of Delia, the son of Hetabel, who

was a secret informer, and he said, let us meet together in

the House of God within the temple, and let us close the

doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you.

Indeed, at night they will come to kill you.

Shamaya, he's this supposed prophet, and he urges hiding in

the temple's holy place, a sanctuary.

Nehemiah, they're coming for you, and they're coming at night

time. You need to hide and come with

me. Let's go to the temple.

That'll be the safest space. And I said verse 11, should such

a man as I flee and who is there such as I who would go into the

temple to save his life? I will not go in.

Now we need to understand something here is it sounds like

a good idea. And no doubt there were people

probably out to kill Nehemiah. And it sounds like Nehemiah you

need to hide. But The thing is, is in the

Bible, in the Book of Numbers, the only people who were allowed

in the sanctuary in the holy place of the Temple were who?

The priests. Nehemiah was not a priest.

He was not able to go into there.

There was no biblical sanctuary for him to enter into this

place, even as a fugitive in this way.

And it turns out in verse 12 that this guy Shamaya knew this

because he was hired to conjure up this story to see if Nehemiah

would come out in this way. It was a trap.

Then I perceived verse 12 that God had not sent him at all, but

that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and

Sam Bella had hired him for this reason.

He was hired that I should be afraid and act that way.

And Nehemiah knew it rightly. Sin.

Nehemiah knew Numbers chapter 18 verse 7 where it indicates that

Numbers 18:7

it's a sin for anybody else but the priesthood to enter into the

place that they were trying to get him to go to.

And thus they were trying to discredit again Nehemiah and his

leadership by sinning so that the smear campaign would have

some legitimacy to hang hold of and spread destroying the

character of Nehemiah verse fourteen.

My God, a prayer again. Remember Tobiah and Sam Bella

according to these their works and the prophetess Noah Dyer and

the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid.

So there's there's a whole group that have come together tried to

smear Nehemiah in such a way. This prayer of Nehemiah here in

verse 14 is effectively saying, God, I don't need to tell you

the details. You know it all.

You know who they are. You know what they've said, you

know what they've done. Nehemiah now is just going, God

remember them. I commit them to you.

Have you ever prayed those prayers?

God, you've said in your word, vengeance is mine, I will repay,

says the Lord. And that might be one way that

God does deal with them. But you know another way that

God might deal with them is God in his grace might change and

transform their lives. There will be a radical

repentance at work in them to 'cause this.

And here's what Nehemiah does. Nehemiah leaves the result, the

method up to God. You just praise God.

You know their names, remember them.

What a great prayer, What a great prayer.

And So what happens verse 15? So the war was finished on the

25th day of LL in 52 days. And it happened verse 16 when

all our enemies heard of it and all the nations around us saw

these things that they were very disheartened in their own eyes

for they perceived that this work was done by our God and

victory has been won. That's what happens when you

give it to God. The enemies are disheartened.

God is glorified. Wow, the God of, of the people

of Israel. And look what's happened in

Jerusalem. And did you hear how long it

took them to rebuild the wall? And it must be God.

Now, I'd like to say that's where the chapter ends, but it

doesn't. We read on, and it's not the

triumph of of those verses that we've just read of the wall

being complete. Instead, Nehemiah closes with

this kind of sobering postscript now that even after the wall

stands strong, there's opposition in their midst.

It hasn't vanished. It says verse 17.

Also in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to

Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came to them.

For many in Judah were pledged to him because he was the son in

law of Shekinah, the son of Arah, and his son Jehonan had

married the daughter of Meshalam, the son of Barakaya.

Also verse 19 they reported his good deeds before me.

Well, did you hear what Tobiah has done in Nehemiah and

reported my words to him? Tobiah sent letters to frighten

me. It seems Tobiah had married into

some prominent families there in, in Jerusalem, in, in Judah.

And so he, he wields a bit of influence and he he uses these

connections to politic and the nobles exchange letters with him

and he's bound by marriage with some alliances and some oaths.

And, and they're praising Tobiah publicly and in in Nehemiah's

earshot whilst feeding Nehemiah's words back to Tobiah.

This is the classic insider betrayal, influential people

playing both sides, kind of leaking information where it

suits here and there, name dropping and undermining trust

and keeping the pressure on Nehemiah all through this.

And again, I think we know what Nehemiah is going through

because we've felt and experienced echoes of it.

You know, it's like the, the walls up in our lives with

something, but the gates are not and the arrows keep coming in

this way, subtle, persistent and from people who should be on

your side. You know, in a, in a church

setting, it can be, you know, things where there's just been

a, a big time of heavy ministry and, and God's been moving and,

and some kind of a, a successful season maybe in the life of a

church and seems like the, the pressure's off.

But then then criticism comes and, and words and, and these

things and, or in your marriage or in your family, you know, it

finally feels like we've been working through a difficult time

and it feels stable right now. Only to learn that there's a

close relative maybe still stirring up old grievances

behind your back and sharing distorted sort of versions of

things. Or at work, you know, there's

been public praise given, but then a colleague who is a part

of that that you trusted has been bad mouthing decisions that

you made to your boss, trying to position themselves for the next

promotion. This is Nehemiah.

There's a weariness in that, isn't there?

52 days been building, labouring under such intense situations at

times with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other and

the likelihood of attack coming and all of these letters and all

of this persistence and, you know, the completion and the

enemies humiliated. But now he's dealing with

disloyal nobles in his midst, whispered reports and

intimidating letters. And that's exhausting.

That's lonely work and contempt, the bitterness in the heart.

But again, notice what he does. There's no retaliation.

He doesn't launch a purge of the nobles.

He doesn't even name them publicly in these verses.

There's some names mentioned, but none of those that were

involved in this. He simply records the facts and

trust again the situation to God.

Just a scene in his earlier prayers and he is keeping his

focus on finishing the work. The V1 already stands and he's

letting the wounds linger in the enemy.

So this week maybe a Tobiah letter arrives.

Lingering criticism inside elites post victory sabotage.

Don't let that steal the joy of the Lord.

Let the joy of the Lord be your strength.

Don't let it derail the calling that God has placed upon you.

We don't dismiss the hurt. Don't get me wrong.

Acknowledge that and it's real. But don't let it.

Here's here's the difference. Don't let it define you.

Prayers Nehemiah did all throughout this chapter and the

book as we've seen. Remember, Oh God, God, you know

their names, you know what they've said, you know what

they've done. And then you keep busy building

and strengthen relationships where you can and set wise

boundaries where needed. But stay faithful to the task

that God has given. Finishing strong often means

enduring the last quiet attacks with grace, knowing that the

wall stands because God helped. So Nehemiah shows some

distractions for us tonight in this chapter.

The diversion through intrigue. We've looked at the disgrace via

the innuendo, the deception and intimidation, but the

discernment that God gave Nehemiah, his ability to take

that which was fuel from the enemy and give it to God in

prayer, it leads to completion of the task and the glory of

God. And again, what I've done with

each chapter is Nehemiah. It's, it's, it's a pretty great

character and a good story. And the temptation is for us to

look at him as the hero of the story.

But Nehemiah is just a a picture that points ultimately to Jesus

Christ, the ultimate finisher. We could say, think and consider

Jesus. He faced distractions, many

didn't. He temptation in the wilderness

40 days. And the enemy came with all that

he could consider the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter,

the mockery at the cross. And yet Jesus prayed not my

will, but yours be done. And endure the cross to be able

to say, to tell us that it is finished, the work is done.

And therefore it's his resurrection power that now

pulses through our veins to help us to endure in similar

situations and circumstances. I pray that this chapter has

been an encouragement to you to be to be wise to distractions,

maybe social media, different fears, false friends, and in

light of this text this week, maybe recommit to the great

work, the great project that God has called you to.

God has called me to a great work.

I cannot come down. I can't be distracted.

This God, help me, strengthen me now strengthen my hands.

God, remember them. You know them.

You know what they've said, what they've done.

Help me now in this to be faithful to that which you've

called me to be busy about. Let's pray.

Lord God, I thank you for each person gathered here tonight for

the call that collectively we have all been given.

And then individually, specifically that which is a

godly focus for us as we've been reading your word and and

hearing and listening from you as to what it is that we need to

be busy about. As a great work of you in our

lives. Whether it be in our homes, in

our families, in our marriages, in our relationships here in

this church, in our ministries, in, in whatever it is that

you've called us to help us to learn from the examples set in

this passage tonight of Nehemiah to trust in you, to commit to

prayer our ways and to allow you to work in and through us.

And ultimately, Jesus, we need your strength in our lives.

We need your help. We need your assistance.

So this is our prayer tonight. And we pray in your mighty,

powerful name, God's people said, Amen.