What Kind Of Person Are You?


"Should a man like me run away?" Nehemiah 6:11.

What kind of person are you? Nehemiah seems to have known how to answer this question about himself. His story begins long before the day he speaks these words. He's living in exile in a foreign land when he gets word from home that things are terrible. The city of Jerusalem is in ruin. It doesn't take long for him to transition from cupbearer to the king to city rebuilder. Not everyone likes his plan.

Once the work of rebuilding the city walls gets under way Nehemiah is met with a lot of opposition. He's lied about, threatened, and people attempt to manipulate him. At one point it gets bad enough that it's a man of God who tells him you need to go. These folks are going to kill you. It is in this context we find his statement, "should a man like me run away?" His question is rhetorical. Nehemiah is going nowhere. What he's really saying is, "I'm not the kind of man who runs away just because things got tough. This is what God called me to do. I'm going to do what God called me to do no matter what."

Sadly people often run away when things get tough. They run away from marriages, run away from their children, run from whatever God has called them to do. Nehemiah believed that with God's help he would be able to do anything he was called to do. He understood what Paul understood when he declared,

 "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13.

The right thing, the godly thing, to do in a situation isn't always the easy thing. Yet, with God on your side you can do it. That's the kind of person you are. When the enemy comes in and lies to you, telling you that it isn't worth it to do what's right,...when he lies and tells you, you don't have what it takes,...when others gossip about you or threaten you when you're doing what you know you need to do,...respond as Nehemiah did. Declare, "that's the kind of person I am." Stand firm in the storms of life.  As with Nehemiah, God will help you to complete what He's called you to do.

Following the Son,
James A Williams


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