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, Sanballot and Gresham, 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. Sandballot'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

prophets 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 Shemaiah, but he realizes something

is off when Shemaiah

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. Shemaiah 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.

Despite the wall being finished and God being glorified, Nehemiah's personal life isn't exactly

aces.

He continues to suffer taunts, lies, betrayal, manipulation, and public

...