Discernment is Key
Nehemiah 6
Mike Maglish
Part of Building Together—A Study in Nehemiah
August 4, 2024

Book: Tyranny of the Urgent by Charles E. Hummel

61T0yKW38eL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80.jpg">

Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates), 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm. 3 And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” 4 And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner. —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ne 6:1–4). (2016). Crossway Bibles.


Prioritize the and the


The Urgent Will
Demand your time
Pretend to have your best interest in mind
Be CLOSE to the truth
Arouse fear

5 In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. 6 In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports you wish to become their king. 7 And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.” —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ne 6:5–7). (2016). Crossway Bibles.


Do not give a for and

6 In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports you wish to become their king. 7 And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.” 8 Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.” 9 For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands. —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ne 6:6–9). (2016). Crossway Bibles.


The Urgent Will
Create Fear
Focus on Self-Preservation
Sound Pressing
Lie

10 Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.” 11 But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.” 12 And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ne 6:10–13). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

19 Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the Lord, by the altar of incense. —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (2 Ch 26:19). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

21 And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the Lord. —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (2 Ch 26:21). (2016). Crossway Bibles.


people can be


The Urgent Will
Get you to break rules
Try to “pay you off”
Use religion against you

15 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ne 6:15–16). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

17 Moreover, in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them. 18 For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah: and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as his wife. 19 Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid. —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ne 6:17–19). (2016). Crossway Bibles.


Recognize we can be by


The Urgent Will:
Use friendships against the vision
Demand you scratch backs
Line your friends pockets at the expense of your best interest

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Heb 5:12–14). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits —The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (1 Co 12:10). (2016). Crossway Bibles.


What God’s people could not do in 100 years, Nehemiah did in 52 days. Why? He ignored the urgent letters, gossip, lies, false accusations, fear tactics, religious manipulation, bad advice, and he recognized the gain others would receive if he didn’t fulfill the mission.


Takeaway: Discernment is to