God Finishes
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Where Am I Going?
Where Am I Going?
I have shared w/ you that I am directionally challenged.
GPS has saved me so many times.
Of course, if it’s wrong I’m up a creek!
In my defense, I grew up in Wichita. It’s flat. Every street runs either N and S, or E and W.
There’s a stop light every mile. Check your odometer.
There are side streets.
If you miss your turn, take the next on and double back.
Left, right? turn around easy.
I learned early on that men don’t stop and ask for directions.
It’s innate. We don’t.
We will drive lost for hours trying to convince everyone in the car we know a short cut. We know where we’re going.
Even if I’m the only one in the car.
Men are wired to compete. Everything is a competition.
We will win.
Like w/ the remote control and the TV. We will not ever get caught watching the 2nd best thing on TV.
Which is a real challenge w/ satellite and cable b/c of all those obscure channels that come w/ the service we’ve overpaid for.
Stopping to ask for directions is admitting defeat!
We won’t do that.
Complicating my life is my wife was born w/ and internal GPS. She just knows how to get where we’re going.
Left, right, north, south mean nothing to her.
Just go this way, she says.
I can be absolutely certain I’m supposed to turn left.
She’ll say, “Where are you going?” “It’s this way.”
I don’t know.
I once had a college english professor tell me very creative people don’t know how to spell.
Well, maybe we aren’t confined to one way home.
And then, once I learn how to get to your house, I have to get home.
How does that work? I remember turning right onto your street. Right again? No, left this time. What?
Eventually, we always get where we’re going. I’ve never had to stop at a hotel on my way home.
I get home eventually, I just tend to make it harder on myself than it needs to be.
We’re in a series called Do-Over. Ezra and Nehemiah.
Isreal got a great, big do-over.
We need do-overs, b/c we take wrong turns in life.
Then, when God gives you a do-over, what are you going to do w/ it?
God promised Israel they’d live in the land.
That is, unless they were horribly unfaithful and disobedient. Then, He’d remove them for a time to discipline them.
But, He promised, they’d get to go back.
This promise is still in effect today for Israel. Understand why they are having so much trouble w/ their homeland.
They did, and they will again, in the end times.
The first time it should have been a short trip, straight in the land. But, on the way they messed up bad.
So, they wandered for 40 years and that entire generation died out, except for 2 men; Joshua and Caleb.
They didn’t mess up God’s plan. He planned all along that Israel would live in the land. He didn’t promise those individuals. But, he did promise the nation.
They didn’t mess up God’s plan. They only messed up their own lives.
They didn’t make things harder for God. They made things much harder for themselves.
God finished what He started. Well, He’s finishing it, and He will.
That is true for Israel and it’s true for us.
We can’t mess up God’s plan for us. He will finish what He starts in our lives.
The question is, what will happen between now and when He’s finished?
We can, however, make things harder. We don’t have to, but too often we take wrong turns b/c we think we know the best way to go in our lives when God is leading us to go a better way.
We can’t mess up God’s plan. We can only mess up our own lives.
God is going to finish what He has started in your life. How much easier, or how much harder, are you going to make your life until He does?
Today in , we are going to look at 3 ways he was tempted to make a wrong turn which would have complicated his life unnecessarily.
We face those same intersections regularly in our lives.
The enemies of Israel and Nehemiah had tried to stop the work on the wall by threatening the nation. That got them nowhere.
Now, they are getting personal and going after Nehemiah. It’s a hail Mary, last gasp effort to prevent Israel from finishing the wall.
They set up an ambush and then tried 3 ways to get him to make a wrong turn and fall into their trap.
They baited their trap w/ things that spoke to him on a deep level that made him choose to either follow God for them or try to find them on his own.
Of course, had he gone his own way it would have made his life much harder and he would not have found what he was looking for until he returned to God’s way.
The first of the 3 ways they baited their trap was for peace.
Peace
Peace
Nehemiah 6:1-
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.
The wall was almost entirely finished. The only thing left was to hang the doors in the gates.
These are the same enemies he’d dealt w/ all along.
Now, they are getting personal. Before the threats were to the nation.
Now their bullseye is on Israel’s leaders.
Thinking that if they can cut off the head the body will die.
This first attempt to bait their trap is the most subtle of the 3.
If they could lure him out of the city, far enough away from the nearly completed wall and all the guards protecting him, he’d be vulnerable.
They had to come up w/ a scheme that would be plausible enough to get him to come to them.
It was a 1-day journey to get to the plain of Ono. So Nehemiah would have to plan to be gone for the length of the conference plus a day of travel on either end.
Like when we plan vacations. Our last cruise was a 6-night cruise. But, we had to plan 1 night and 2 days on both ends to be able to get there and back. 10 days.
Nehemiah might have been thinking the same time span.
What kind of a conference could tempt him enough to come out for a week or 10 days?
Peace.
The offer to end all threats of violence. No more stress. No more anxiety. No more worrying about what might happen.
This is the kind of stuff that keeps us awake at night, too.
How far would you travel? What would you leave behind?
What would you do for the promise of peace in your life?
Nehemiah knew one thing and suspected another.
He knew God was the source of peace in his life. Even if the work was physically exhausting and the threats were emotionally exhausting, spiritually he would remain fresh b/c he would stay close to God and right where God wanted him to be.
And, God wanted him to oversee the work of the wall until the last nail was hammered into the last door to be hung in the last of the gates.
God promised He’d provide everything they needed to complete the wall from the King’s okay to the supplies, equipment and manpower to do it. And, they were just about done.
Nehemiah knew where his peace would come from.
And, he suspected the motives of his enemies were less than pure.
He sensed trouble.
He gave them the opportunity to prove his sense wrong. He sent messengers in his place with the message that he was too busy with the wall to attend.
But, they could begin their peace talks w/ his representatives and make progress until he was available to come, finish and sign the deal.
The tipped their hand showing that Nehemiah’s senses were right.
They didn’t want to speak to his rep’s nor did they want to travel to Jerusalem where he’d be safe.
4x they tried to get him to come to them. 4x he patiently denied their request w/out attacking the motives.
The 5th time they requested he come to them they revealed even more about the evil in their motives.
This was their second attempt to bait him into their trap.
This time they said they were just trying to protect him.
Protection
Protection
Nehemiah 6:
Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter in which was written:
“It is reported among the nations—and Geshem says it is true—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.”
I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.”
They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”
But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”
The wanted to talk to him about a reported rumor.
They didn’t say that they started the rumor. But they did.
Plant a rumor w/ the media then respond when the media asks about the rumor. Sound familiar?
And, they’ve created a problem where there never was one.
The alleged rumor was that Nehemiah was trying to set himself up as the king of Judah rebelling against the king of Persia.
They made it sound like they had Nehemiah’s back and best interest at heart and in mind. They were concerned for him.
The wanted to protect him and talk about the best way they could do that.
It was a blatant attempt to scare him and get him to respond out of fear.
When we’re afraid, fear clouds judgment and were are more prone to foolish decisions and wrong turns.
Nehemiah’s response was to immediately and tersely deny the rumor. He didn’t give a lot of detail. He didn’t need to.
When you give too many details it gives enemies more opportunities for attacks, lies and stressors.
He was not afraid. He demonstrated his trust in God.
He told his fellow Jews what was really going on here. They were trying to scare all of them into quitting for fear King Artaxerxes would come and invade and kill them all.
But, remember, Artaxerxes wasn’t mad or concerned. He had given them his blessing to do what they were doing. He trusted Nehemiah enough to make him governor.
If they quit before the gates were finished they were still vulnerable to attack.
Nehemiah knew where his real protection came from. It came from God.
And, as long as he was where God wanted him to be and doing what he knew God wanted him to do he’d be the safest he could possibly be.
God promised to protect Isreal and fight their battles for them as long as they lived faithfully and obediently in the land.
Right then, obedience meant finishing the wall that God would use as part of their defense.
So, he prayed for strength.
The ppl were legitimately afraid. It hadn’t been that long since they were in captivity. They remember, either personally, or the stories told by their parents of what it was like when Nebuchadnezzar came thru and destroyed them.
They were desperate for protection. And, how tempting it was to run to their enemies and sign a deal for protection.
But, it was a lie. Their enemies didn’t want to protect Nehemiah or Israel. If they could convince them they’d protect them then they could turn on them and destroy them.
That’s how our enemy works. He will try to convince you that he will take care of you and God doesn’t care b/c you are struggling.
In reality, we’re struggling either b/c we made a wrong turn or we are on the right track but in a world controlled by our enemy and there are problems all along the way.
Either way, our protection comes from God. The farther away we wander, the more vulnerable we are.
Nehemiah knew this and he did not fall for this 2nd attempt to entrap him.
For their 3rd attempt to entrap him, they gave up on trying to kill him.
The next best thing would be if they could discredit him among the Jews then they’d stop following him.
So, they made a play to his pride.
Pride
Pride
One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, “Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you—by night they are coming to kill you.”
But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!” I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.
Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophet Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophets have been trying to intimidate me.
One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, “Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you—by night they are coming to kill you.”
But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!” I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.
Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophet Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophets have been trying to intimidate me. So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.
When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.
Nehemiah 6:10-
If they couldn’t lure him away from Jerusalem, maybe they could lure him into the sanctuary in the temple.
If they did this it would ruin his credibility w/ the ppl.
It was the most secure and safest room in the city b/c it was designed to keep ppl out. God occupied it and any person who would go into the direct presence of God would die immediately.
Holy God/sinful person.
The only person allowed in was a priest who had carefully prepared himself. And, only once/year was a priest allowed into the presence of God.
Their enemies didn’t believe in God. They just knew it t/b a secure room and most of the rest of Israel did believe.
So, if Nehemiah when where only priests could go, all Israel knew, that Nehemiah knew he was in direct disobedience to God.
This goes back to the Garden of Eden when the enemy tempted Eve and Adam to sin the very first time.
God didn’t mean what he said. He didn’t say you’d die. In fact, you don’t need God. You can be just like God.
He said created in his image. So, you don’t need to obey. Maybe God needs to obey you and do what you say.
God won’t punish you for disobeying. In fact, why don’t you punish God by not giving Him what He wants. You do your own thing.
It’s a play to his pride. You can do better. You don’t need God. Do your own thing.
In order t pull this off they needed someone on the inside. The recruited Shemaiah. A mole to do their dirty work.
He claimed t/b a prophet, a holy man of God. He played the part by locking himself in his house so he wouldn’t defile himself in the outside world.
He sent for Nehemiah. Probably telling him he had a word from God for him.
Nehemiah would have trusted him or he wouldn’t have come.
Shemaiah suggested they meet in the sanctuary for security purposes. Again, to protect him.
Nehemiah detected 2 flaws in his strategy.
First, God would not call him to run scared and hide anywhere when the wall is incomplete no matter how close they were to finishing it.
Second, no prophet of God would claim a word from God would direct anyone in violation of God’s law.
It was against the law for anyone other that that one priest annually to go into the sanctuary.
Had he gone in he would have defiled it b/c he went in as a sinful man. He would have come under God’s judgment and lost all credibility w/ the ppl.
They knew he knew better.
Once again, he prayed. He asked God to “remember” his enemies. That is, he asked God to treat them appropriately!
God Finished
God Finished
So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.
When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.
Nehemiah 6:15-
God finished it.
The ppl couldn’t take credit. God did it w/ them and thru them. But, w/out God’s intervention it wouldn’t have happened.
It took 52 days. Not humanly possible in such a short amount of time.
The opposition wilted away when they saw the work completed b/c they knew they were up against God.
Human effort combined w/ divine intervention got it done.
They were fighting a losing battle b/c God always finishes what He starts.
That was true for the wall and it’s true for us.
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,
God will finish what He has started in you.
No doubt you will look just like Jesus when He’s done w/ you.
The question for all of us is, how hard are we going to make it on ourselves between now and then?
Do you want peace in your life?
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Build up the trust in your life.
Strengthen mind to trust God even when your body says run!
Stay close and you will have access to all the peace you need.
Do you want t/b protected from trouble?
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
One of God’s promises is we are going to have trouble.
It’s lie that we can avoid it. Our enemy has set an ambush for us tempting us by trying to convince God doesn’t love us if we’re in a struggle.
Storms and struggles are a reality of this life.
But, God exists in the eye of every storm in our life so when we are close to him the storms can’t hurt us. We are protected.
Is there something lacking in your life and in your pride you think you deserve better?
You’re just as good as God and can punish Him for being so restrictive on your life. You’ll show Him!
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4:
What hunger pang are you dealing w/ right now?
Our enemy wants us to believe that if God gave us the desire then He must be okay w/ us getting whatever we want.
Not true.
Jesus didn’t get everything He wanted.
Just b/c we’re wired to want something doesn’t mean it’s okay for us to go and get it.
If it’s blatantly disobedient for us to have it then God wants us to have the self-discipline to say no.
These are your applications.
What do you need to do to get closer to Jesus today?
If you want peace and protection don’t follow your pride.
Feast on the words of God.
In bible study and prayer. And, in service to the rest of us and having fun w/ the rest of us.
Sound familiar? These are the means of our church that lead us to the core values that help us fulfill our mission.
God is going to finish what He has started in your life. How much easier, or how much harder, are you going to make your life until He does?
No matter how right you think you may be, don’t turn away from God to get where you want to go. That just makes life harder.