BE WISE
Sunday, 18th September 2016 (Trinity 17)
Nehemiah 6: 1-16 (NKJV)
Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemiesheard 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 gates), 2that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they thought to do me harm. 3So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?” 4But they sent me this message four times, and I answered them in the same manner. 5Then Sanballat sent his servant to me as before, the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand. 6In it was written: It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; therefore, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall, that you may be their king. 7And 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. 8Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart.”9For they all were trying to make us afraid, saying, “Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will not be done.” Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. 10Afterward I came to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, 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.”11And I said, “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!” 12Then I perceived that God had not sent him at all, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.13For this reason he was hired, that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me. …
Nehemiah was wise. He was sensitive to know that all the invitations given to him by Sanballat and Geshem were plots to harm him in order to stop the work. The consistent efforts to lure him out showed how desperate the enemies were in their attempt to destroy the child of God and the work of God. When their deception failed, they resorted to false accusations (v. 6). Don’t be distracted by false accusation when you are doing the right thing. It can be Satan’s ploy to frustrate you.
The invitations came in a friendly way but the real intentions were hidden. The devil is using so many friendly ways today to extend open invitation to Christians. So many Christians are destroying their spiritual lives through their romance with social networks, exposure to pornographic displays, quest for wealth and suspicious relationship with the opposite sex. In Judges 16:20, the Word of God says: “Samson woke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as before, at other times and shake myself free! But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him”. Be wise. Watch your interactions.
Prayer: Help me oh Lord not to fall into the hidden traps of the enemy.