Monday - Nehemiah 6 - In 52 Days

E

ven in the success of Nehemiah, he continued to face opposition. In 52 short days the walls had been completed. It was such an amazing accomplishment that, even the enemies of Jews had to admit that God had been with them to help them (Nehemiah 6:16). Nevertheless, Sanballat and Tobiah continually rose up to threaten and harass God's people. But, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).

Sanballat and Tobiah (and Geshem too) tried (unsuccessfully) to defeat Nehemiah.  First, they attempted to blackmail him into coming out of Jerusalem for a "meeting of the minds" of sorts (Nehemiah 6:2).  Then they sent letters in which they accused Nehemiah of disloyalty to the Persian king.  Then they accused him of hiring false prophets to preach his bidding and to promote his agenda. (Sanballat and Tobiah were the ones guilty of that).  The enemies of Nehemiah even paid one by the name of Shemaiah to invite and advise Nehemiah to go into the temple at night in order to keep himself safe.  But, he wisely refused.

So, despite all the hindrances and opposition which Nehemiah and his followers faced, they finished their work in 52 days. Doing it in 52 days does surely seem surreal. But, when God undertakes to bring something to pass, there are no limitations. Obviously, Nehemiah didn't have the benefit of possessing the writings of the apostle Paul, but if he had, he would no doubt have quoted Philippians 4:13. With God, nothing is impossible (Matthew 19:26).