When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates—Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer. (Neh.6:1-4).
Nehemiah had been given favor by God with King Artaxerxes, King of Persia, to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls and restore the gates of the city that had been decimated by the Babylonians. The surrounding tribes who had been enemies of the Jews were alarmed and angry that Jerusalem might be rebuilt and repopulated. Although Nehemiah arrived with letters from the King commissioning the restoration, the leaders of these tribes tried numerous ploys to keep the work form succeeding.
In the text above, Sanballat and Geshem the Arab, leaders of these hostile tribes, asked Nehemiah to leave his work and come meet with then under the guise of making peace. As you read through the Old Testament, you will discover the character of Satan in many of the hostile tribes that opposed Israel as well as in the character of wicked kings who ruled over Judah and Israel from time to time. We become what we worship and these tribes and wicked kings worshipped idols that represented demonic spirits. You will discover that Satan uses the same strategies against you that he used against God’s people then, in an effort to defeat them.
One of his great strategies is revealed here. It is the strategy of distraction. Satan doesn’t employ this strategy against the ungodly or the uncommitted, but rather against the godly who are committed to their relationship with God. Ultimately, Satan’s goal is to keep us from salvation but if he fails in that, he turns to making us ineffective in accomplishing the things that God has called us to do.
Nehemiah was given one assignment – rebuild the walls of Jerusalem which included resetting and strengthening the gates as well. Satan had tried threats, intimidation, and slander to halt the projects but Nehemiah maintained his focus. Finally, these men who had threatened to attack the city, who had ridiculed the Jews’ attempts to rebuild, and who had publically accused Nehemiah of plotting rebellion against the king tried one more distraction – peace.
Think about how appealing peace would have been. The workers had been forced to carry a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other because of the threats of war. Because they had to post guards around the city, fewer men were able to be part of the work force. It is simply hard to do good work when you have to keep looking over your shoulder. Peace would have blessed both the work and the future of the city after the work ended. It would have been tempting to take a break from the building and to sit down with these “heads of state” to carve out a truce.
However, Nehemiah saw it for what is was – a distraction that ultimately would not bring peace but delay and that would remove his presence from the people who were already fearful and discouraged about the mission itself. Satan doesn’t always attempt to destroy the godly with sin. Often he presents numerous “good things” to draw us away from our primary tasks as believers. The “good things” either shift our focus from the main things or spread us so thin that we do nothing with excellence or simply leave many things half done.
The first essential is to know the primary things that God has called you to do and to know the priorities for each. It will be a narrow focus. Your first priority will always be to grow in your love for God and his kingdom. Jesus told us, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you” (Matt.6:33). The second priority will always be to grow in your love towards others. Remember, the two great commandments are to love God and to love others.
Primary among others will be your family. However, loving your family is not the same thing as providing more than your family needs or giving your children everything they want or think they want. Many godly men have put providing for their families ahead of loving God. They have put careers above bringing their children up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. To provide they have given so many hours to the job that they have been an absent parent. Fruitful ministries in church and in the community have slipped into the shadow of great jobs. I’m convinced that “great job opportunities” are not always from the Lord. Like the offer of peace in Nehemiah’s context, these careers can seem like a blessing from God if you don’t stop to count the cost and determine how it fits into your primary mission of seeking God and his kingdom. Affluence, which comes with great jobs, has also taken many servants away from the church on Sundays as the family heads to the lake house every weekend.
Sometimes, the distraction is not to leave but to keep doing more for the church, the community, and our families – more ministries, more volunteerism, more good things – even godly things. Then we become spread so thin that we do none of them well, and eventually burn out as individuals and families. Or we allow our children to be involved in so many things that we lose connection with the main things – all in the name of giving our children opportunities. Opportunities for what? To excel in sports, in education, in social networking? Each of those can be beneficial but often we are distracted by more for our children and find ourselves equipping them to succeed in the world but not in the kingdom. The underlying message for chasing every opportunity for our children is self-actualization (being all that I can be), rather than Christ-actualization as our priority in life.
It takes wisdom to sort out the distractions when they all are wrapped in “godly” packaging. Hearing from God about these things is essential. If you think about it, many of the things in which we involve our families and ourselves are attempts to make peace with the world – to fit it, to belong, and to succeed in the realm that will all burn up sometime. As you step into the New Year, ask God to show you your primary focus. What walls are you called to build for the kingdom? What gates are yours to restore? What territory are you to take back from the enemy? Once you have discovered your assignment, don’t be distracted. Keep your focus narrow and be found faithful in those things. Then you and your family as well as the kingdom of God will be blessed in eternal ways.