Scripture Passage
“I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you?” (Nehemiah 6:3 NLT)
Observation
Do you ever have one of those passages where you know a “favorite verse” is coming…you tell yourself to stay open-hearted to anything else the Lord might want to show you…but when you get there (to that favorite verse)—well, there it is again, and there’s nothin’ better?
I feel that way about today’s reading from Nehemiah. What a great passage—what a remarkable leader Nehemiah was. What organizational skills he displayed (brilliantly scoping out the need in advance, assigning each family responsibility for their own section of the wall, etc.)—what team-building abilities, calling every family to mutual responsibility and mutual justice. But the verse that’s been my favorite from this passage for a long time is Nehemiah 6:3.
Because of the progress being made on the walls—because threats and propaganda have not stopped it—Nehemiah’s enemies invite him to a meeting. Probably it’s a plot against his life. At the least, it’s an unnecessary and unproductive interruption. To the invitation, Nehemiah replies…
“I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you?” (Nehemiah 6:3 NLT)
Here it is, bottom line: Oh, that we would be engaged in a great work—and so committed to the task…so sure of its significance and our calling…that we would consistently say “no” to the Enemy’s distracting invitations! Oh, that our consistent response to detours and diversions would equal Nehemiahs—“I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come.”
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