Do you know your "great work?" Nehemiah 5-9

Nehemiah 6:1-3
​ Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, to Geshem the Arab and to the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall, and that no breach remained in it, although at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates, then Sanballat and Geshem sent a message to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me. So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”

One of the many topics I talk about in my leadership training for CEOs and organizational top leaders is the concept of "strategic abandonment."   That is a fancy phrase for deciding what to keep on your plate and what to toss off.   People who have a high level of responsibility often have to make strategic decisions about to keep doing and what to abandon.   The fact is, in our "busy" world, we all have to make those same decisions for our families and lives.   Great strategic abandonment is what is happening with Nehemiah in the above passage.  He is in the middle of a great work; rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem through the hands of discouraged people.   He was being dissuaded by his own people and their lack of initiative.    But, once he overcame their resistance, it was the enemy from the outside that came up against him, as stated in the above passage.   Nehemiah's quote in verse three above is one for the ages and one we should mediate upon and memorize and be ready to use, often:  "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down."    This is the core of great strategic abandonment.   God had given Nehemiah a great work.  He was not about to leave the work to have another "meeting."   Especially with a man who was really out to get him away from the work.   God has a job for each of us and we are put here to do that job.   It is our core purpose of life.  We are put here to build a wall (Nehemiah); lead a nation out of slavery (Moses); kill a giant (David); build a church (Paul); save a nation (Esther).  We can't do proper strategic abandonment until we know what the Divine calling is.   We need to find our "wall to build" (our great work) and refuse to come down for any more meetings!!!