Neh 6:2-4 But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.
Where your focus is determines the direction in which you will go. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Cor 4:17-18). The greek word for “fix” literally means “to aim.” Again, aim determines direction.
Hebrews 12:2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…” Jesus is the place of our focus. Without that, our direction wavers.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” Matt 6:22-23 My focus, what I let my heart focus on, will determine the things I let in my heart. The things I let in can be good or bad. But they seep into the source of life within me, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” Prov 4:23 If the bad is let in, it will taint that source of life. If the good is let in, it will purify the source of life. But whatever is let in, affects our whole being.
Nehemiah refused to be distracted from his work on the wall. He wouldnt come down to deal with his enemies. I believe he understood that the Lord would deal with his enemies, so he didnt need to be distracted. He didnt need to carry that burden. He refused to let the worries and troubles of this life get in the way of his focus. I think we all need to get to a point where like Nehemiah we say, “Satan, I am not going to give you the time of you day. Im focused on Christ and I will not be distracted. I am growing and in the process of a great work, I cannot get distracted and stop.”
