Nehemiah 6:17-19 – A Spiritual War
When people are involved in the work of the kingdom, it is absolutely essential that they are focused and have clear vision about what they are doing. It seems clear that the nobles in Jerusalem had no idea how deadly Tobiah and his allies were to the work of God. Nehemiah had realised that there could be no possible compromise with those who had tried so many different ways to undermine the work that God had sent him to do. The nobles could see some advantages to having a better relationship with Tobiah, and they attempted to convince Nehemiah that Tobiah was not such bad person, ‘they reported his good deeds before me’. Perhaps they thought that if there were a little softening of Nehemiah’s stance and some kind of co-operation with Tobiah the opposition would cease and the work would be able to proceed. What they completely failed to comprehend was the spiritual nature of the battle. This was not just a minor dispute between two people on how things should be done, this was a conflict between those who were seeking to be obedient to God and to do His work, and those who wanted to destroy the cause of God.
This demonstrates how easy it is for the work of the Lord to be penetrated by the influence of the evil one. There is a great need for spiritual discernment to understand and identify those things that are dangerous to the life of the church and the witness of the individual. The desire to be friendly with everybody and never to upset or annoy anybody can lead to the work of the Lord being compromised. Of course the believer is to seek to live at peace with all men, but that can never be at the expense of truth and faithfulness to the calling of God.
Questions
- How was Tobiah described to Nehemiah?
- What is the danger of not wanting to upset anyone?
Prayer Points
- Pray for our Session as they seek to make Godly decisions.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.