Nehemiah 6:10-13

What saves Nehemiah is that he knows who and what he is in God's eyes, and that he has protection. Should such a man as I flee? Is he just a great egotist, or is he guilty of overstating his worth? Not at all. He just knows who he is. He recognizes that fear is a sin. Fear shows a lack of love for God. It is a sign of faithlessness, and he is confident of salvation once he remembers who he is. That is, as soon as he recognizes the deceit to try to make him fearful, he steadies himself by remembering who he is.

The advice he had gotten from Shemaiah is not characteristic of God or consistent with God's way. Nehemiah recognized this. He remembers who he is: He is God's servant. "Should such a man as I flee?" Should a servant of God be fearful and flee? The moment he recognized the vital fact that he was a man of God, it became clear to him that God had never sent this messenger at all. Instead, it was Tobiah and Sanballat, his enemies, who had used a trick and deception to hire a man to act as a traitor in order to defeat Nehemiah.