MEDITATIONS FROM NEHEMIAH

 

July 11 , 2007

Reading: Nehemiah 6:1-14

 

"I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down” Nehemiah 6:3

 

My soul, here in this passage of scripture is presented a thought that, if heeded, will make you wise concerning the devil’s desired influence on you. Nehemiah was dedicated to his work of building the wall around Jerusalem, work to which he believed God had called him. Just because God had called him to that work did not mean he would not face many and various interruptions aimed at disrupting his work.

The work to which every true Believer is called of God is to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” Philippians 2:12. Your enemy, the devil, will not cease in his efforts to disrupt this work. He will utilize his wiles, the world and your natural tendencies to interrupt your pursuit of divine things. Your enemies from within and without; the world, the powers of darkness, and your own corruptions, are all in league to bring you down off the wall you are constructing.

When the Sanballats and the Geshems invite you to the villages, here is what your answer must be, “Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?” Why should the body, with all its corrupt affections, drag down your soul? Is it reasonable, is it proper to be concerned for the things of a day, and disregard the things of eternity? Will you be as a little child in Christ, easily distracted with the world’s toys and playthings, when Jesus is calling you to be strong?

“Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong” 1 Corinthians 16:13.

Be watchful, my soul, and drive away anything that would bring you down from that to which God has called you. Be like Abraham when the vultures would eat the sacrifice, “And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away” Genesis 15:11. Be like your Master who drove the money-mongers out of the temple, “Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, ‘It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves'" Matthew 21:12-13.

O Lord, take my whole heart and soul, and all my affections, and fix and centre them all on Yourself. Every vanity, every robber, like Ba­rabbas of old, will be preferred to You, dear Savior, unless Your grace enables me to take Your strength to myself. Help me to deter all that would call me from Your side. Oh! let Your grace make its way through all the swarms of vain thoughts and interruptions which surround me, and make my soul strong and victorious. Let no longer the “little foxes spoil the vine” of faithfulness to You. Oh! for grace, that, like my Lord, I may not suffer the higher claims of my God and Saviour to pass by, nor the work of the Lord and the concern of my soul to cease, whilst I come down to them!