Satan is a schemer, part II

I'm hoping that this week's study will increase our discernment, our wisdom. It takes godly wisdom to navigate life in these times, and we absolutely must be able to see clearly -- to identify and resist Satan's schemes. Some of them are REALLY well disguised!

The first one we are going to look at in Nehemiah 6 is what I call (I love multi-syllable words, almost as much as quaint, antiquated ones!) chicanery. The dictionary would say that could mean deception, intrigue, and much more. A phrase that comes to mind is "wolf in sheep's clothing," and I say that because we'll see Satan has truly disguised his motives here.
Let's look at the verses:

When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates— 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.”But they were scheming to harm me; 3 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?” 4 Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer. (v 1-4, NIV)

I have been reading several commentaries and books about Nehemiah, and I was particularly interested in this from Donald Campbell's Nehemiah: Man in Charge. Campbell writes this in the form of a news article that one might have read about those four verses above......

Nehemiah Says No to Ono 

Samaritan officials have disclosed that Nehemiah, governor of Judah, has again turned down the offer of Governor Sanballat of Samaria to meet at one of the villages in Ono, on the Judah-Samaria border. The proposed conference would include the Big Four of the area: Geshem, leader of the Arabs; Tobiah, leader of the Ammonites; Sanballat, and Nehemiah. Sanballat issued a statement today in which he sharply criticized Nehemiah for his repeated refusals to cooperate. He reports that the purpose of such a meeting would be to work on a formula for lasting peace in the region. The Samaritan leader said with evident frustration, “This is the fourth time Nehemiah has turned down my invitation to meet and discuss our mutual concerns. These repeated refusals mean that the responsibility for increasing tensions and any violence that may result, rests solely upon Jerusalem.” (Adapted from Donald Campbell, Nehemiah: Man in Charge [Victor Books], p. 55.)

Isn't that great? Sounds just like some of the partisan wrangling in many countries today, doesn't it? (Grin) Thank you, Mr. Campbell!

So, Satan is trying some subtle deception here, some chicanery. (We will see that Nehemiah responds by "seeing through" the disguise and being firm in his priorities .)
Can we say "ambush"?
This appeal sounded plausible, but the intent was to ambush Nehemiah and destroy the Jerusalem efforts. Ono was a town about thirty miles from Jerusalem. Once Nehemiah was far away from his assistants and others who would come to his defense, he would be "easy pickin's" as my grandma used to say. He could easily be imprisoned or worse, and the work in Jerusalem would surely come to a grinding halt.
Nehemiah's opposition probably used innocent-sounding phrases like "we should try to iron out our differences," and "don't you want good relationships with your neighbors?"  Or even, "how can we understand each other's point of view if we don't meet and talk?"
It all sounds good, doesn't it?
Nehemiah is on to them, though. He perceived that their intent was to ambush him if he went to Ono.

Satan still uses plausible sounding appeals and subtle deception (chicanery) today. He wants to lure believers into his traps -- you see, he is NOT playing games. He wants to devour us (I Peter 5:8) One of the best ways is to lure a believer (guy or gal) into marriage with an unbeliever. Of course, the unbeliever is always a lovely, nice girl, or a successful, charming guy who promises to go to church with the Christian in the situation. That's a pretty effective way to lure one into a trap.

Here's another example . . . . many pastors, Christian leaders, and laypeople, too, nowadays get lured into Satan's trap. What's the issue?  They are pulled into compromising biblical principles for the sake of unity. Because they want to be seen as loving, not intolerant, they set aside essentials of the gospel; they sign "unity" documents and have multi-faith services. They turn a blind eye to men's words added to the Bible, to a gospel of works in addition to the gospel of the blood of Christ, and to incorrect doctrines and preference for tradition over the Word.
In our defense of the gospel, we need only to turn to Paul's words in Galatians.  He was opposing the "Judaizers." These were men who claimed to believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They believed that He is the Messiah. So what was wrong here? Paul opposed them strongly because they said that in addition to believing in Jesus, you had to be circumcised in order for salvation to be real. They added a work to faith. Paul's language here was really strong:

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! (Galatians 1:8-9)

Paul said that if we add any human work in order to be justified, we are severed from Christ; we have fallen from grace.

You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. (Galatians 5:4)

Even in the Old Testament we find admonitions to not add to God's Word:

“Every word of God is flawless;    he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words,    or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar." (Proverbs 30:5-6)

Satan's aim is to destroy us though subtle deception and appeals that sound oh, so innocent. I've singled out the issue of adding to the gospel because I feel it's one that we may bump up against fairly often, and I've needed the reminders myself, sometimes. "We worship the same God! Are you against unity? What's wrong with you?"
Nothing is wrong with me.
Something is wrong with compromise on biblical doctrines!

The devil will be persistent, too! Did you see that they sent messengers to Nehemiah four different times? Each time with the same invitation . . . and each time, he sent back the same answer!

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?”

Kinda like . . . what part of "no" do you not understand? (Grin)  Just because we are successful in resisting the devil once, doesn't mean we have time to pat ourselves on the back and he will leave us alone. He's likely to hit us again and again with the same temptation, and try to wear us down. (Remember Delilah working on Samson?)
Nehemiah resisted by standing firm in his priorities. It's not that he was being arrogant. It's just that he knew that God had given him a task -- and that it was important for the Lord's sake, and for the sake of His people. His work wasn't quite finished. Walls are awesome, but walls without gates? Not so much. His priority was to finish the wall of the city, and he wasn't going to let an unnecessary meeting with an enemy distract him. Nor was he going to lose track of his priorities and fall prey to an ambush!
As believers, our top priority is to glorify God -- that's our number one task! We do this by knowing Jesus and by being conformed to His character; when that happens, we want to tell others about the gospel of salvation. He gives us other tasks, too, according to our talents. Anything that pulls us away from those priorities, even if it's "good" things, is something that must be examined with godly discernment. If we determine that it's a ploy of the devil, we must keep our priorities uppermost in our minds and ask the Spirit to help us stay on track.
Satan will use subtle deception, and even things that sound good on the surface, but his intent is to distract and destroy.
We'll talk more about his tactics and how to resist them, tomorrow.