Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Yesterday we left off with Nehemiah and his crew working on the wall with a sword in one hand and a shovel in the other.

Today as they're about to wrap up the finishing touches on the wall, two of his bullies, Sand Valed and Gessham, send him a threatening letter.

It's veiled as a party invitation, but Nehemiah knows better.

So he writes back, sorry you guys, going to have to RSVP no to this one? I've got a big project do at work.

They write back three more times because they can't take a hint.

Sandballit's servant rides up on his Harley and hands him another invitation slash threat.

This time it includes some false accusations

the team of bullies invented. They say he wants to be king and he's making profits

lie about everything. He calls their bluff because he knows this is part of their plan to intimidate him.

As they're trying to weaken his resolve, he prays, now, oh God, strengthen my hands.

And God answers that prayer with a yes. We'll see it in the discernment God continues to give Nehemiah.

He seeks guidance from a local prophet named Shimiah, but he realizes something is off when Shimiah suggests he goes to hide in the temple.

He knows he's not allowed in the temple, he's not a priest.

And God reveals to Nehemiah that his enemies have hired prophets to lie to him.

Shimaya was in on the conspiracy. If Nehemiah had been

responding to his fears and not to his God, he would have ended up committing an

egregious sin. He stands firm and the wall is finished in just 52 days to think that it has been

lying in ruins for nearly a century and it's completed in less than two months of

God appointed work. All the surrounding nations are afraid of Judah because they realize

that this is an impossible task apart from God. They have to face the fact that God is definitely

working on behalf of these returned exiles that they didn't even really like.

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