When the enemy can’t discourage us or distract us from the vision God has given us, he will seek to discredit us. That’s what Nehemiah’s enemies did. They sought to discredit him by spreading rumors about his motives and tempting him to compromise. They were relentless in their attempts to discredit Nehemiah.
After five attempts to get Nehemiah to stop building the wall, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem conspired to circulate a report accusing him of leading a revolt against the king. They assured him that a report of his scheme will not be favorable to the king. This was an intimidation attempt to discredit him. Nehemiah’s response: He denied the charge, prayed, and continued working on the wall.
You can be sure that when you seek to do something to please God, people will gossip about you, misinterpret your motives and misunderstand what you are doing. The more you are focused, the more likely the enemies will bad-mouth you and seek to discredit you.
When intimidation and rumors failed, the enemies tried to get Nehemiah to compromise. They tried to lure him to the temple through a false prophet for personal protection. They wanted to compromise his integrity, sin and discredit himself in the process. In addition, they planned to assassinate him. How cunning!
Nehemiah’s response: “Should a man like me
run away? Or should one like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!”
In other words, Nehemiah determined to maintain his integrity at all cost. It was important to him, especially as a leader. Is integrity important to you in your family, your marriage, your work, and your business?
Read: Nehemiah 6: 5 – 13
