8/17/2011 7:44:29 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Compromise: We will help you
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Nehemiah 6:1-4
Message of the verses: “1 ¶ Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, to Geshem the Arab and to the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall, and that no breach remained in it, although at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates, 2 then 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. 3 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?" 4 They sent messages to me four times in this manner, and I answered them in the same way.”
In Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on Nehemiah entitled “Be Determined,” he writes about spiritual leaders in the beginning of the sixth chapter. He entitles this chapter “We Have Heard The Enemy, And He Is A Liar.” As mentioned in earlier SD’s Warren Wiersbe give a prelude of what the chapter will cover at the end of his introduction, and in this sixth chapter’s introduction he writes, “Satan used four strategies in attacking Nehemiah, strategies that he still uses against spiritual leaders today.” In today’s SD we will look at the first strategy of Satan.
In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians he describes what is actually going on in this sixth chapter of Nehemiah, for at first the enemies of Nehemiah began to try and defeat them by force and now they are trying to creep into their domain in order to defeat them from within. “13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds 2Cor. 11:13-15).”
Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem could not stop the walls from being built, so they decided to try and trick Nehemiah into meeting with them in order to do harm to him. The village that they wanted to meet him in was half way between Jerusalem and Samaria, so in a sense they were saying to him “meet us half way.” Nehemiah did not fall for this maneuver as he answered four of their letters in the same manner and that is he was doing a great work and did not have time to come down to meet them.
Nehemiah had three convictions in answering them in the way that he did. 1. He realized that they were lying to him and wanted to kill him (V-2). 2. Nehemiah was convinced of the greatness of the work that he was doing for the glory of the Lord (V3). Nehemiah’s third conviction was actually given in chapter two and verse twenty, “20 So I answered them and said to them, "The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem.’” “20 I shot back, "The God-of-Heaven will make sure we succeed. We’re his servants and we’re going to work, rebuilding. You can keep your nose out of it. You get no say in this—Jerusalem’s none of your business! (Message)’”
Dr. Wiersbe writes at the end of his commentary on this section the following, “Nehemiah had both discernment and determination: He refused to be influenced by their repeated offers (6:4; see 4:12). If their offer was wrong the first time, it would be wrong the fourth time or the fiftieth time; and there was no reason for him to reconsider. Decisions based only on opinions might be reconsidered, but decisions based on convictions must stand unless those convictions are changed. Otherwise, decision becomes indecision; and the leader who ought to be a guidepost becomes a weather vane.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: If there is something that I can learn from this section it would be to have better shrewdness or discernment in making decisions for my life and the life of my family.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Continue to learn contentment.
2. Luke 16:1-8
8/17/2011 8:39:18 AM
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