I can't come!

Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks left in it (though at that time I had not hung the doors in the gates), that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they thought to do me harm.
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?” – Nehemiah 6.1-3

Nehemiah was one of those guys who just wouldn't quit. It simply wasn't going to happen. He had determination. He had doggedness. He had tenacity. He had resolution. He had steadfastness. He had stick-to-it-ivenss. His opposition tried everything to get him to stop.

Here they tried a nice little tactic. ‘Let's have a meeting and talk this out. Surely we can come up with a solution.’

Here we see his strength of character – ‘I am doing a great work! I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?’

He just wouldn’t be deterred for anything. There was a work to be done and he could not stop.

This is a challenge to me. I think about how easily I can be distracted I am ashamed. It takes nothing to get me off track. The slightest bauble or glimmer or excitement can grab me and hold my attention and keep it from the work that needs to be done.

I long for Nehemiah’s kind of devotion. I long to be able to keep my eyes on track and not be drawn away. There have always been distractions, but today it seems like they are around every corner. Sports and entertainment and news games and politics and Facebook and so many things are enough to keep us busily distracted for days on end. None of those things are evil on their own, but when they keep us from the important things it is time to be reminded of men like Nehemiah.

Redeem the time because the days are evil