Day 270 (Nehemiah 6-7) - Year 8

Tara-Leigh Cobble (0:01)

Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara-Leigh 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, Sanvaled and Gesham, send him a threatening letter. It's veiled as a party invitation, but Nehemiah knows better. So he writes back, Sorry, you guys, gonna have to RSVP no to this one. I've got a big project due at work. They write back three more times because they can't take a hint. Sanvaled's servant rides up on his Harley and hands him another invitation slash threat. This time it includes some 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, O 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 Shemiah, but he realizes something is off when Shemiah 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. Shemiah 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 humiliation. In Chapter 7, Nehemiah sets everything in order for the grand opening. He hires his brother and the castle governor to run things in Jerusalem because he knows that this job in particular requires a man who is faithful and God fearing. Even though Jerusalem is big, not many people live inside the city walls yet. So he gives orders to the gatekeepers about when the city gates should be opened and closed. He says they should keep the gates closed most of the time. This probably helps them be wise in preventing potential attacks. Then after Nehemiah gives everyone else their assignments, God gives Nehemiah his next assignment, write a phone book. God has him record all the heads of families who have returned from exile and the number of people in their household, and he also records the Levites, priests, temple servants and descendants of Solomon's servants. Then we get to the people who are claiming to be Israelites but who don't have their paperwork. They're allowed to live among the Israelites but they aren't allowed to be priests, unless or until a priest can seek God on the matter and get a definitive yes.

Altogether, there are about 50,000 people and 8,000 animals. These people donate from their own wealth to the work of restoring the city and the temple. All told, they give nearly 800 pounds of gold worth roughly 13 million in today's money, and over 600 pounds of silver worth roughly 1.2 million.

Today, my God Shot was the discernment and strength God granted Nehemiah in the midst of the conspiracy of powerful people around him. They were threatening his livelihood and even his life. They were trying to get the people under his authority to doubt him and rebel against him. And they were relentless in their campaign against him even though he kept taking the high road. Since Nehemiah repeatedly sought God for strength and direction and discernment, it's clear that he knew where those things originated. With God, not with him. I bet all those years of working as an assistant were the training ground. He was used to taking orders and following authority. It helped him stay humble. And when he got promoted, he didn't get full of himself and show it off or pull out any humility in that position either. True humility is confident humility. The confidence comes from looking to God as our source and the humility comes from seeing ourselves in light of who God is.