Nehemiah 6:3, so that I cannot come down.

So I sent messengers to them, saying, "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?" NKJV

Nehemiah was no fool to fall for the trap of Sanballat and Geshem but not being a fool he also answered their request diplomatically and with all honesty.

Nehemiah could have replied, "You filthy dogs, raging before thyselves! Do you know no honor nor fear of the most High God? We have much work and no time for your yapping, take your swords and begone! Know that the strength our God is with us this day!"

But he didn't. He said, "I am busy with important work and cannot come. Should all this work be stopped so that we can meet?"

Nehemiah did not charge them with their sins or evil motives. He did not make excuses or lie in evasion of their invitation. He neither made his reasons because of them or because of something that was untrue. Nehemiah received their message and made it about himself.

Not, "I know your plans."

Not, "I'm sorry I'm too sick."

He only said, "I am doing something great, I cannot come. I will not stop to meet with you."

He did not say more than what was true or needed, but he did not sugarcoat or take away from his reply either.

He did not make others part of the equation for his own thoughts and actions. Others did not become his excuse. His action was his own, his reason was his own, and that only ceased for the Lord in that he was for the Lord.

It is very easy at times to make others the reasons for our actions or shortcomings, even the state of our hearts. I need to check myself and continue in prayer for peace and softness of heart. I am allowing myself to become infected with a poor spirit by the actions and behavior of another, and at times it is spilling over into my analyses of other situations, people and things as well. God keeps giving me peace and calmness, but I keep allowing that gift he's given me to be broken by them; except they are not breaking it, I am breaking it because of MY problem with them. They cannot touch my mind or heart, and they cannot touch the peace that Christ gives me. They don't even understand the effects of their behavior, and while it is their action, it is the reaction, both that is displayed and within my own heart, that I am responsible for and that I have control over.

Even in those times that I am rightly justified in having a problem with their actions or behavior, I am not justified in being bothered by what they have or have not done and am certainly not justified in making them an excuse for my own heart and clouding the way I look at the other, perfectly fine and right, things they do.

Christ has shown me agape and forgiveness, perfect love and mercy, when I was the one who nailed Him to the cross; He has justified me and sanctified me by a sacrifice greater than anything I could ever imagine or could ever know; and He, the man who has done all of that for me, asks that I do the same for others. He is justified in this, what He asks is only right. It is little more than a reasonable act of worship. Calmness of my own heart, a soul that does not waver, is hardly some great sacrifice simply because I am bothered and find it difficult to forgive and let be each time someone proves that, like me, they really are human. I need the same forgiveness, gentleness and longsuffering from them for my own screw ups and shortcomings, and I shouldn't expect it or even hope for it if such love can't first come from me, whether that lack of it burns on my face or is kept firmly in my heart to smolder.

I will lay all my burdens at the cross and praise God for the freedom He has given me to love and be loved by this body of which we are members.

***
edit:
Today I'd like to share Margaret DeStefano's IBS with everyone. :)

I pray
to God
that He brings
my heart
to want
what He wants
for the reasons
He wants it.
Amen.

Nehemiah 4:23, neither I,

So neither I, my brethren, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me took off our clothes, except that everyone took them off for washing. NKJV

The Bible can really get specific at times, such as by clearing up that there was one instance that they took off their clothes. However, this specification does clear up that the statement before it is no gross over-exageration.

In the previous verse Nehemiah puts forth that the men and their servants should remain within Jerusalem at night as guards and work during the day. That they never removed their clothes except to wash shows that they were doing exactly that.

They were camping out. All of their effort was going into building the wall and defending it's unfinished stones.

They worked, stood guard, went to sleep, woke up and worked some more.

They were not returning home to their families at the end of a long work day, seeing their children and wives, sitting down to a warm meal and relaxing by the house fire come night, rejuvenating themselves while looking forward to another day of good hard and productive work. What they were doing was hard.

They worked with all their might through the day carrying weapons on hand encase of attack. When it grew dark the men remained onsite, weapons ready and sleeping in shifts to ensure the wall was well guarded from enemies known to have a desire for blood. When their shift came to sleep these men did not change their clothes and crawl into a warm bed, it's possible they just got down on the ground, clothes as the verse says unchanged, weapons STILL on hand and ready encase of sudden attack. The only time they removed their clothes was to bath.

But look at other translations of the same verse:

So neither I, my brothers, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us removed our clothes, each took his weapon even to the water. NASB

So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon at his right hand. ESV

And I, my brothers, my men, and the guards with me never took off our clothes, each carried his weapon, even when washing. HCSB

Even in bathing they brought their weapons, always ready should the trumpet sound and everyone be called to rally.

In those days their weapons were swords and bows and spears of metal and wood for cleaving flesh and bringing death.

Today our weapon is living and powerful. Sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow. It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. [Hebrews 4:12]

Nehemiah had an enemy on the verge of attack and willing and wanting to strike at anytime, at the opportune and most destructive moment. Because of this Nehemiah set guards and prepared the defenses, calling the people to readiness.

If Nehemiah, in all evidence fully backed by the strength and might of God, had to put in so much effort to be prepared encase worst came to worst, how much more should we prepare ourselves being faced by the powers of darkness and the Prince of the Power of the Air? When our enemies are not of flesh and bone but spirits who cannot be deterred from attack by the readiness of a sword? When we could be called at anytime to make a defense? [1 Peter 3:15]

I fell out of the habit of verse memorization and am going to get back into it, working to memorize at least one verse a week and asking my fellow Ingite-ers to help keep me accountable. (God help me please, verse memorization is not my forte.)

I pray
to God
that He brings
my heart
to want
what He wants
for the reasons
He wants it.
Amen.

Nehemiah 4:6, we built

So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. NKJV

They built vertically, but they also built horizontally.

They built up, but they also built together.

It's so easy to forget in our seeking after God that as we build up our faith and love and desire, always looking up, that we also need to reach out to the sides as well.

In building the wall, the Israelites built up in sections. Each group seen in chapter three of Nehemiah taking responsibility for a portion of the wall. However, they did not keep building up and up and up until the wall reached it's full height, forgetting about the work of their brethren and having a mind only for their own task. As they went, at key points of the building process they began building together so as to give the upper portions a firm support and so that the true purpose of the wall would be fulfilled.

What's the point in building a high wall of defense if you leave gaps for an enemy to come through?

Our walk with the Lord is much like the wall we see the Israelites building, each their own sections, but all together. We seek with eyes turned upwards, but we can't forsake the brothers and sisters who climb with us. Our walk was not meant to be alone, God did not call us to walk alone. The Bible tells us that we shouldn't forsake the gathering of the brethren like some do [Hebrews 10:25], we are told to love each other and support each other, caring for each other and providing for each other's needs.

In our walk with God, just as the Israelites did, we should not only build up, but sideways to meet and strengthen our fellow workers and support their own work as they support ours.

What good is it to build a mighty wall reaching after God, only to ignore the gaps and divisions between you and your brother? Between me and mine? The enemy is a cunning serpent, he can see the walls we build of faith and love and will calculate the best way to attack. If he sees a gap what possible reason would he have of going after your 'mighty defenses', when all he needs to do is harass the younger brother beside you or sneak in through the point where your defense fails to meet that of another?

When we are able God calls us to lift up our brethren and strengthen them, to allow no divisions to come between us. Jesus exemplifies this by being the perfect son of God and teaching to weak willed and imperfect humans who would go on to hurt Him. He loves us even in our youth and weakness, how much more should we love those who are also called but have not yet reached the same heights we have? If we personally take such great joy when those who have climbed higher reach down to us, shouldn't we do the same to others?

If Jesus was willing to build across to us even as He built up to God, shouldn't we do the same, both for our sakes and the sake of our brothers and sisters who might also be hurt in the attack? It's not as if only those who's walls were touching the gap are at risk, once the enemy breaches the wall anyone can be harmed until he is routed, the inner buildings are placed at risk and from his attack repairs must be made.

I want to be used by God to help and strengthen my brothers and sisters in what ways I can, in what ways He'd have me.

It is not quite so great a thing as building a wall, lifting up a younger brother or sister in their walk with God or repairing a relationship that the devil would be quite content to have left as is, but there is at least one thing I know of that I can personally do to help one of my brothers. There has been some trouble with waking up in the morning and if nothing else, if they would accept my help, I can do what I can to make sure they get up at the time they intend to without hitting the snooze button or falling back asleep, and keep them accountable to the goals they set during the day while fully awake, but forget about while still half asleep.

Blogs I would like to share: Jaymi's, Kayla's, Michelle's, .poor is beautiful.

I pray
to God
that He brings
my heart
to want
what He wants
for the reasons
He wants it.