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 6: 13,14 ESV)
Panic
Urgent fear leads to panic. And panic often leads to unrighteous choices, even though we know better.
Nehemiah was getting close to completing his task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. And God’s enemies were urgently working hard to stop the work. In Nehemiah 6, they send a messenger to warn him of a supposed assassin. Of course, if there actually were an assassin, THEY would have been sending him! But they urge Nehemiah to enter the temple, earlier rebuilt by Ezra, and hide there.
The temple would be a safe place! The temple gates, already strong enough, would stop any sneaky assassin! The very presence of God in that holiest of places would deter any action by any mere human!
But entering the temple in that way, at that time, by unpriestly Nehemiah would have blatantly gone against God’s Law. Only priests, and only at particular times, and never in a rushed reaction to events, were welcome in God’s Holy place. Period. Ever.
Because while God is present, He remains holy. While God does love His people, our sin is devastatingly dangerous, and abhorrent to God. Because the ONLY way for God’s people to approach Him is through a mediator… first the temple, and now wonderfully though Jesus.
Nehemiah did not panic, though. Because Nehemiah knew that God was God. Nehemiah knew that God would not ‘need’ Nehemiah to break God’s Laws for Nehemiah to be rescued.
Panic leads us to make foolish choices. For instance:
- The urgency of our dire needs seems to make us too busy to spend quality time in God’s Word.
- The urgency of the pain of our loved ones seems to make us panic and jump in to ‘help’ without praying first, second, and third.
- The urgency of our worries seems to give us permission to worry despite Jesus’ command to NOT worry. (Luke 12:29)
- The urgency of our strong enemies seems to push us to act unrighteously in the battle, through hating our enemies.
But we do not need to panic. Because Jesus.
We are peculiar, Jesus is stronger than everything.