So I 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
Nehemiah and his men had begun the formidable task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem that had been destroyed by the Babylonians. He faced great opposition and ridicule but was determined to finish the assignment that God had given him. When the walls were almost completed, his enemies schemed to harm him, doing all that they could to make him stop his work and come down from the wall to meet with them.
Nehemiah was so focused on what God had called him to do that he would not be sidetracked or tricked into coming down. “Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” he answered his scorners. Therein was his power of focus. He would not engage in petty debates or any activity that would take him away from the great task that he had undertaken. In the midst of extreme pressure and a great battle, he was still able to clear away all the clutter and focus on what mattered most.
In the same way, if we consider the work that God has given us to do — the single most important thing — then it is easier to have the courage to say no to any lesser thing. Often we are easily distracted because we have not decided to focus exclusively on the one thing that God has given us to do. When you make the main thing the main thing, then everything else fits in around that priority. When you have not made that decision, then you leave yourself open to becoming sidetracked and eventually getting off course. Before you know it, you have done many things but not the one thing that was assigned to you to complete.
Extraordinary results in the kingdom of God are rarely happenstance. They come from the daily choices we make and the actions we take. We must determine to stay singleminded and remain focused on the task. There are so many semi-completed projects in the kingdom of God — great works unfinished because people came down from their wall to lesser things.
As we near the end of another year, decide to look at every area of your life and determine whether you are “still on the wall.” If not, then perhaps it is time to let go of the lesser thing and get back on your wall to complete the most important thing. It is never too late to go back and finish what God has asked you to do.
MOMENT OF REFLECTION
Do you consider the work that you are doing for the Lord a greater work than anything else you could be doing?
Have you left the wall for any reason?