Nehemiah 6: 10-14, NIV

10 One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, “Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you by night they are coming to kill you.”

11 But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Or should one like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!” 12 I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.

14 Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who have been trying to intimidate me.

There are three quick lessons we can learn from this passage relating to keeping our eye on the ball:

  • Satan can even use good people to try to tempt you into rebellion.

Just because someone is a follower of Christ does not automatically mean they are telling your “Holy Spirit truth”. These good people, whether believers or not, can be influenced by the evil one to tempt us to rebell against the calling of God. This leads to the next lesson:

  • Not all counsel is wise counsel.

Again, just because someone tells you something (counsels you) does not mean that is wise counsel. How many times in Scripture and life do we see where someone was saved from catastrophe because they did NOT take the advice of someone. Remember, just because a friend tells you something, does not mean they have a market of the will of God.

  • Nehemiah was so confident because He knew God had given the vision of His will.

Nehemiah’s statement seems so arrogant at first but it isn’t. Nehemiah knew the will of God and because of this knowledge, he didn’t have to worry about what anyone else said. He already had the “green light” from the Master. What is there to fear?