Confession time. I’m easily distrac…look, a bird! Sorry ‘bout that. It never fails when working on a project that I get derailed by something that steals my focus off the end result. I can be in the middle of cleaning out desk when I run across an old magazine. Two hours later, my desk is still a landfill but I’m all caught up on a 15-year-old issue of Sports Illustrated. Something tells me that Nehemiah didn’t have the same problem with distraction. Over and over again, his enemies try ever trick in the book to get him off his game and sabotage the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem (Neh 6:1-9). Over and over again, Nehemiah keeps a laser lock on his God-given mission. He refuses to get sidetracked. He keeps his eyes on the prize. A couple of thousand years later, a dude named Stephen Covey drops a quote that sums up Nehemiah’s focus: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” The governor of Judah never owned one of Covey’s books but he is unbelievably focused. And what makes him so highly effective? He’s doing a great work and can’t come down.
Everything Nehemiah does goes through filter of his goal of rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls and bringing the glory back to that fateful day at the palace back in Susa. He was pulling his regular shift as the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes when his brother Hanani was fresh back from Jerusalem (Neh 1:1-3). He tells Nehemiah about the crisis back in Judah. The people are in big trouble. Jerusalem has become a joke. The walls are rubble. The breaking news about the broken walls break his heart. He prays for days (Neh 1:1-11). God places a burden on his heart to do something about it. The next thing you know, the pagan king of Persia is giving his servant a leave of absence and all the resources his cupbearer needs to make things right (Neh 2:1-8). There’s no question in Nehemiah’s mind that God has a kung fu grip not only on this entire project but his heart as well (Neh 2:8, 18). It was his faith in God that gave him the focus he desperately needed to stay on mission.
But don’t get the idea that this rebuilding project is all rainbows and unicorns. There are obstacles, challenges, and opposition everywhere he turns. He runs into Sanballat, Tobiah, and their toadies the moment he arrives in the Promised Land (Neh 2:10). They are not happy campers when they realize Nehemiah’s come to help the people of Jerusalem. Once in Jerusalem, the newly appointed governor takes a midnight ride for a look at the extent of the damage to the walls (Neh 2:12-16). It’s bad. REALLY bad. Despite incredible enthusiasm for the project, he still has knuckleheads like the nobles from Tekoa who won’t lift a finger to help (Neh 3:5). When they hit the halfway point on the walls, people run out of gas and hit the wall (Neh 4:10-11). If that’s not bad enough, there’s the great mortgage crisis and famine (Neh 5:1-5). And don’t forget about Sanballat and his thugs. They try ever trick in the book to intimidate and sidetrack the rebuilding of the walls (Neh 4:1-3; 7-9; 6:1-7). But Nehemiah never allows anything to distract him from the original mission God gave him.
Fast forward to near the end of the project. The walls are just about done and it was time to hang the massive doors at each gate (v1). Here come our old friends Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and the rest of gang. Don’t these guys ever quit?!? They invite Nehemiah to a meeting. “Come let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono” (v2). This is about 30 miles northwest of Jerusalem near the coast. They were tempting the governor to a beach retreat. Not only would the meeting take him away from his work but Nehemiah could smell a rat. “But they intended to do me harm” (v2). From his work high on the wall, he yells down to Sanballat’s messengers that he’s declining the invitation. “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?” (v3). The gov’s got a job to do. He can’t stop now. This is no time to take a couple of days off for some pointless meeting that he knows is an ambush. What he’s doing is WAY more important than anything they have to offer.
But here’s the deal. They didn’t ask just once. They didn’t ask just twice. They invited Nehemiah FOUR TIMES! Talk about Groundhog Day!! And each time the conversations went something like this.
The messengers ask, “Let’s meet at Hakkephirim and chat.”
Nehemiah replies, “I’m doing a great work and I cannot come down.”
The messengers ask, “Let’s meet at Hakkephirim and chat.”
Nehemiah replies, “I’m doing a great work and I cannot come down.”
The messengers ask, “Let’s meet at Hakkephirim and chat.”
Nehemiah replies, “I’m doing a great work and I cannot come down.”
The messengers ask, “Let’s meet at Hakkephirim and chat.”
Nehemiah replies, “I’m doing a great work and I cannot come down.”
Even if his enemies weren’t setting a trap, Nehemiah wasn’t going to be distracted from what God dropped on his heart. He had something important on his plate. He had an assignment straight from God. If you were to take a peak at Nehemiah’s “to do” list, “rebuild the walls” is at the top. And it’s also the ONLY thing on it. He’s doing a great work and he cannot come down. Not for Sanballat. Not for Tobiah. Not for Geshem. Nehemiah is not stopping unless God Himself taps him on the shoulder and tells him to come down. In the words of Jake and Elwood Blues, he’s on a mission from God.
While we may not have arch enemies like Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem (and does anybody outside of a superhero really have an arch enemy?), we certainly have distractions. Has Jesus given you a passion for something that must get done? Has He dropped a holy dissatisfaction on your heart that wakes you up at night? Has Christ called you to a specific mission or ministry? If so, stay focused. Don’t fall for the distractions. You’re doing a great work and you can’t come down. Here’s the hard part. Sometimes life will bring some wonderfully shiny objects into your field of view. They’re not evil. As a matter of fact, they might not be bad. They may simply draw your attention away from the mission God has given you. Remember, the good is the enemy of the best. Stay focused. Don’t get sidetracked. You’re doing a great work and you can’t come down.
Meanwhile back at the job site in Jerusalem, Sanballat pulls a new trick out of his evil sleeve. “Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand” (v5). Instead of sealing so that only the recipient could read it, he leaves the leaves it open for the world to see. Nehemiah’s enemy wants to start a whisper campaign among the Jewish people by starting rumors about what the governor is REALLY up to. Take a look at the letter yourself. It’s right there in black and white. The note says that the rebuilding of the wall is just the first step in the Jewish plot to rebel against the Persian Empire (v6). They make it clear that none other than Nehemiah plans to be the new king (v6). The accuse the governor of appointing crooked prophets that will tell everybody that God approves of Nehemiah and the revolution (v7).
At this point, the governor has heard enough of this nonsense and sends a VERY stern message back to Sanballat and the boys. “Then I sent to him, saying, ‘No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind” (v8). Cut the crap, boys. You’re totally making up this garbage. This stops right here and right now. Nehemiah knows this is all part of their scare tactics to sabotage the project (v9). At this point, the king’s wine steward turns his attention from his enemies and to his God. He prays for strength. “But now, O God, strengthen my hands” (v9). About the only thing Nehemiah is as focused on as the wall is prayer (Neh 1:4-11; 2:4; 4:4-5, 9). Then again, maybe the reason is stays focused on the wall is because he’s focused on prayer.
