Nehemiah Challenge - Day Six

My dear family,

As the wall of Jerusalem was nearing completion, Nehemiah and his people are met with challenges, false accusations and deception.

Throughout this book of the Bible I am continually amazed at Nehemiah’s strength, singleness of mind, and perseverance. His faith in his purpose was so strong that nothing anyone said or did stopped, swayed or deterred him. He never lost faith. He never even paused!

When met with false accusations he did not become ashamed or dance around the charges because he knew he had nothing to hide. He had done nothing but follow the purpose God gave him. He called the accusers out point blank, v. 8 “Such things as you are saying have not been done, but you are inventing them in your own mind.”

With the determination of Nehemiah as their driving force, the wall was completed. The people, working together with single purpose repaired the wall around the whole city of Jerusalem in just 52 days! (Looking back to yesterday’s chapter, remember, their minds were set to work!)

So the wall was completed and all of the enemies who had tried to come against Nehemiah personally and the Jews collectively lost their motivation to battle the people of God. Verse 16 reads, “When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.”

If we will stand strong and rebuild our church with confidence found in God, then even our enemies, those who try to cause us to lose our faith and give up, will come face to face with the power of God moving among us. If we will yield ourselves to Him then HE will enable us to rebuild and stand strong in the end. In HIM we live. In HIM we move. In HIM we have our begin. And now, in HIM, we rebuild.

Tomorrow we continue our Nehemiah Challenge with Chapter 7!

Your friend and servant,
Elise