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Discerning Hidden Motives

"One day I went to the house of Shemaiah…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.”

But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!”  I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.  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."  Neh 6:10-13, NIV

Nehemiah was a man of honour.  He loved God, and he loved his people.  He was busy doing good and helping others.  You would think a man like that would not have enemies.  Wrong.  Sometimes, the more we do for God, the more opposition there is.  After all, Satan wants to kill and destroy, and he uses people to do it. There are people who do evil while they think they are doing good. Hitler wanted to have a pure "race" of humans to build a better society. Pro-Choice pretends to be seeking the benefit and health of women while prompting self-harm through sexual promiscuity and the murder of millions of innocent children. And they will fanatically oppose all who come against them. The bottom line is satanic hatred and desire for the destruction of humanity, but it can be presented in deceptively innocent ways..

Shemaiah was an infiltrator.  He was within the body of believers.  One would have thought he could have been trusted to give good advice.  And it did sound good - people are coming to kill you, so you should hide in a safe place.  What could be better advice than that?

How was Nehemiah able to discern the hidden motive and see the danger?  Nehemiah was a man of principle.  He knew the Word of God, and he knew right from wrong.  He would not allow himself to be moved by emotions or fear.  Like the three Hebrew children in the Book of Daniel, he was determined to do what was right, regardless of the consequences. 

We need to be people who know and who can stand on the principles of God.  Many people today make life decisions based on a person's appearance, whether they have a winning personality, or if they know how to say the right things.  And then they wonder why their lives are a mess.  We need people of Godly character and Biblical principles.  Even many sincere Christian people do not understand how to apply Godly principles in practical situations.  Things like minimum wage may sound so good, but in fact cause unemployment and hurt the poor.  It is not enough to have good intentions.  We must know the right path to take.

Many Christians are Biblically illiterate. They don't know what the Bible teaches; they only know what their pastors and other teachers tell them. Maybe it is Truth, maybe it is not. There is no excuse for anyone who is a Christian and lives in a country where the Word of God is readily available not to study the Bible for themselves. It comes down to a matter of priorities. How important is Jesus and the kingdom of God? Of course, we will listen to the teachings of Godly men and women, but we must know for ourselves what the Word of God teaches us.

Nehemiah was also a man of courage.  He almost sounds offended at the suggestion that he should run from trouble!  He had a job to do, and he was going to do it.  No running and hiding for him.

The purpose behind this attack was to get Nehemiah to violate the temple…to go where only priests should go to ruin his reputation as a man of God.  If the devil cannot get us to abandon God, he may tempt us into situations where we could compromise our effectiveness for the Kingdom of God.  He tried this on Jesus on several occasions [Caesar's coin, etc.], but always failed. Two major attacks from within the Christian church against Jesus Christ today are the compromise with evolution and dispensationalism. Our modern-day Shemaiahs have been very successful in leading gullible Christians and even those who should know better into error.  The compromise with evolution undermines the integrity of the entire Word of God, and dispensationalism diverts people from the work of Christ and the building of His kingdom.  Yet many sincere Christians hold these views.

We need to be wise as we navigate life's challenges.  Things are not always as they appear.  We need to be able to discern hidden motives.  Being committed to Biblical principles, listening to the advice of Godly people, and having the discernment of the Holy Spirit will see us through.

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