Nehemiah sought to follow God, and encountered opposition. But he discerned the malicious intent. If he refuses to talk he is “rude”. If he talks and does not stop the work he is “obstructionist”. There is only one path to victory when encountering people with malicious intent: keep working.
When we live faithfully, each one of us is doing a “great work”. We are constructing a wall of righteousness. When we live righteously, following God’s way, the world won’t like it. They will ask us to “come down”. The world does not actually desire to dialogue; it desires to get us to stop the work and cease living righteously.
Righteousness is living in harmony with God’s way, following His Spirit, which is full of truth and Grace. Seeking what is right and best for others, even in the face of opposition. By seeking the truth, we can discern which criticisms need to convict us and which we need to ignore.
One of the three things we control is what we do. When we choose a true perspective, we can see rejection and untrue criticism for what it is, an attempt to distract us from a great work.
**Thanks to Rev Ed Young: the idea for this Devotional came from his sermon given at the 2019 inauguration of Gov. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Patrick.
“And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?”
– Nehemiah 6:3