June 18

So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it to go down to you?” — Neh 6:3 BSB

When work is pressing, many small things will demand your attention. It’s a great blessing to remain quiet and still, continue working, and trust God with the little things. He answers such trust in remarkable ways. If your soul has no time to fret, worry, or hold on to care, it has learned the secret of faith in God. A desperate desire to fix some difficulty takes your focus off of God and His glory. Some have been so anxious to achieve healing that they’ve spent too much time trying to claim it and have missed the spiritual blessing God intended. God sometimes teaches us that we must be willing to endure sickness before we’re fully yielded to receive His complete blessing.

The enemy often continues to attack. Sanballat came to Nehemiah four times, and each time he received the same answer. It’s best to stick with a good answer. How many fears have we stopped to fight, only to find they were nothing in the end? Nehemiah recognized that fear was a sin and refused to yield to it.