You’re reading NEHEMIAH: LESSONS IN REBUILDING, by Eric Elder, featuring 15 inspiring devotionals based on one of the most ambitious rebuilding projects of all time. Also available in paperback and eBook formats in our bookstore for a donation of any size!

Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 6:1-4

Some people will try to discourage you from reaching your dreams because they love you, they care about you, and they don’t want to see you get hurt in pursuing something that may never happen.

But others will try to discourage you because they’re afraid you might actually accomplish what you’ve set out to do.  They’re not interested in your future, your success, your well-being.  They’re interested in their own dreams and goals and will do whatever they can to stop you from achieving yours.

Nehemiah faced his share of opposition.  But one group opposed him throughout his project because they were afraid he’d actually accomplish what he had set out to do.  They tried to lure him away from his project, calling out to him:

“Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.”  (Nehemiah 6:2).

But Nehemiah saw through their plan.  He knew they meant to harm him, not help him.  So he 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?” (Nehemiah 6:3).

Those who opposed Nehemiah didn’t just ask him to leave the work and meet with them once or twice.  Four times they tried to lure him away.  And four times, Nehemiah gave them the same answer: “Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?”

Sometimes it may seem impolite if we don’t respond to all of our critics.  We feel we need to explain ourselves to them, hear them out, and negotiate with them through our disagreements.  But sometimes we just need to follow Nehemiah’s example.  You don’t negotiate with a wolf.

Even Jesus warned his disciples:

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16).

When others want you to give up on your plans, give careful thought to their reasons.  Is their advice really for your benefit, or simply for their own?  While it’s important to listen to those who truly care about you and who care about what you feel God has called you to do, it can be just as important to ignore those who don’t care about you, who care mainly about their own plans instead.

I was hard at work renovating our Clover Ranch retreat center one day when a man came by and asked if I would be willing to sell the place.  He wasn’t a wolf, but he also wasn’t aware of what God had spoken to me about the project.  He said he’d had his eye on the property for some time and would really like to buy it if I’d like to sell it.  His offer was tempting.  I was starting to wear out from working on the project myself.  It would be much easier, I thought, to just give in and sell the place to him.

I talked to my Dad later that day and mentioned this man’s offer.  My Dad said, “Don’t sell it to him.  You’ve put in too much work into it to sell it off now.”  His words woke me up to the reality of the situation, and to the vision that God had put on my heart for the project in the first place.  My Dad was right.  The project had been a lot of work, but this wasn’t the time to give in.  This was the time to press on and finish what God had put on my heart to do.

There are times when you might be tempted to give in to the demands of others.  You may even see their offer as a welcome relief at the time, getting you out of more hard work.  But if God has put this project on your heart, don’t even go there.  Don’t give up.  Don’t give in.  Don’t go down and meet with those who would try to distract you from what God has called you to do, especially wolves who don’t have your best interest at heart.

Don’t give in.  Keep pressing on with all that God has put on your heart to do.

Prayer: Father, help me to not give in to the demands of others who don’t have my best interest at heart.  Help me to put Your priorities ahead of even my own, so that I can finish the work You’ve called me to do.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.