day no. 16,794: too confident to stray; too humble to strut

Nehemiah 6:10-14

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.” 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.” 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. 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. Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.

Nehemiah acknowledged that he was too important to run away from this important work. Too many people depended on him being dependable. He could not withdraw or turn tail. He was the head and if the head becomes a tail, the whole project is elbows and asses. But Nehemiah also acknowledged he was too unimportant to strut around. Too many men, being the head of a project, assume their gravitas carries over into other arenas. Nehemiah was too humble to enter where only God's anointed were permitted. He did not presume to be an authority there simply because he was an authority somewhere else. His legitimacy in the one sphere did not convey to any in the other.

Nehemiah 6:11

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.”

Be both indispensable and humble. Do not abandon your duties or assume special status simply for doing them.

Luke 17:10

So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

May God give us more men like Nehemiah. Men confident in Christ to do the work He has called them to do: committed to carrying out their assigned responsibilities to the very end as well as confident in Christ that they do not imagine themselves to be on par with Him. May we see the rise of good and godly men who take their work seriously by sticking to it and who take Christ's work seriously by depending entirely on it without imagining that they add anything to it.

When you know who you are, you know what you have to do and what you must leave to Someone else to do. You can only do what you can do, but you must do what only you can do.