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Nehemiah 4.13

The threats have intensified and Nehemiah must take action. He analyzes the situation and figures out where to best utilize the people. He stations them at the lowest points of the wall. These are the points the enemy will likely attack. Of course, when doing this he makes another choice. He chooses areas to neglect. He doesn’t have enough people to put them everywhere.

When rebuilding we must set priorities. The goal of setting priorities isn’t just to decide what’s most important, but also what’s least important. Where are you in the greatest danger? Is it the care of your heart, spirit, soul; maybe your spouse or one of the kids; or your job? Do we know what the one thing is, or maybe the two things, to which we need to give priority?

People who attempt to make everything a priority often discover nothing becomes a priority. It’s essential to recognize the areas of our life we need to neglect to get through the rebuilding process.

Maybe our job needs to be less of a priority, maybe our friends or the bowling league or golf league, or maybe the book club needs to go for a season. Prioritizing requires recognizing the one or two things which are incredibly important while also identifying the areas to neglect.

Today, invite a trusted spiritually mature friend or mentor into a conversation to honestly help you identify areas you need to address and areas you need to neglect.